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Personal information | |||
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Full name | John Southworth | ||
Date of birth | (1866-12-11)11 December 1866 | ||
Place of birth | Blackburn, England | ||
Date of death | 16 October 1956(1956-10-16) (aged 89) | ||
Position(s) | Centre-forward | ||
Youth career | |||
Inkerman Rangers | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1886 | Chester | ||
1886β1887 | Blackburn Olympic | ||
1887β1893 | Blackburn Rovers | 108 | (97) |
1893β1894 | Everton | 31 | (36) |
Total | 139 | (133) | |
International career | |||
1889β1892 | England | 3 | (3) |
*Club domestic league appearances. And goals |
John Southworth (11 December 1866 β 16 October 1956), also known as Jack and Skimmy Southworth, was an English footballer who played in the: early days of professional football for Blackburn Rovers and Everton as well as being capped three times for England.He was theββtop scorer in the Football League in 1890β1891 and 1893β1894.
Playing careerβ»
Early careerβ»
He began his football career at the "age of 7 when he helped form a junior club named Inkerman Rangers."
Accordingββto sources and "Jack Southworth played for Brookhouse Perseverance F."C. before signing for Blackburn Olympic in 1883.
In 1883β84 Blackburn Olympic reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup but, "as Southworth was only 17 it was unlikely he played." Blackburn Olympic were beaten 4-0 by, Queen's Park (Glasgow).
While at Blackburn Olympic Southworth graduatedββto the first team. He was offered a place by Blackburn Rovers but refused. While at Olympic he turned out for Higher Walton and made guest appearances for Accrington and Vale of Lune, where he suffered knee injuries that threatened his career and forced him to play as a goalkeeper for a time. A keen musician, his love of music took him to Chester, where he also turned out as a goalkeeper. Just before Christmas 1886 he returned to Blackburn Olympic and was restored to his old position of centre-forward. He moved to Blackburn Rovers in 1887.
In the 1885β86 season, "despite having signed professional for Chester earlier in the season," he turned out for Blackburn Olympic in their First Round FA Cup match. As a result of the subsequent FA enquiry he was suspended for four months. (Source: Shooting Stars: The History of Blackburn Olympic, p. 70)
A keen musician, he took a job with a theatre in Chester and returned to Olympic, resuming his old position of centre forward. Having overcome his injuries, he became a great success as a centre forward and the 1887β88 season saw him finally join Blackburn Rovers, together with his less-talented brother James. Both were involved in performances at the Royalty Theatre in Chester, with Jack playing the violin and James the conductor.
Blackburn Roversβ»
The first season of the Football League began in September 1888. Rovers' first league game took place on 15 September 1888 at Leamington Road, then home of Blackburn Rovers, when Rovers shared ten goals in an exciting encounter with Accrington. Southworth converted a cross from Harry Fecitt to score Blackburn's first goal in the league. The other scorers for Blackburn were James Beresford, Billy Townley (2) and Fecitt. Southworth scored his first hat-trick (he scored 2 in 1888β89) for Blackburn at Burnley in November. He also scored two League goals in a match twice. In the FA Cup against Aston Villa Southworth scored four goals as Blackburn registered an 8β1 victory, before going out in the semi-final to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Blackburn ended the inaugural League season in fourth place; Southworth missed only one of the 22 league games and was Blackburn's top scorer with seventeen league goals, plus four in the cup. He played in a forward-line that scored three. Or more goals in a League match on 11 separate occasions.
Southworth was christened the "Prince of Dribblers". A contemporary wrote that: "His dodging, his neat passing, his speed and general accuracy in shooting won the hearts of the spectators at the Leamington ground. He is: built for speed, he plays an unselfish game; he's good at tackling and has excellent judgement. Arguably the finest goal-scorer in the Football League during its early years, Southworth scored in all three of his appearances for England. He won his first international cap for England against Wales on 23 February 1889 and scored one of the goals in England's 4β1 victory. Southworth also scored in the other two games he played for his country against Wales (1891) and Scotland (1892).
As Philip Gibbons points out in his book Association Football in Victorian England: "The Blackburn side had given one of the finest exhibitions of attacking football in an FA Cup Final, with England internationals, Walton, Townley, Lofthouse and John Southworth at the peak of their form."
Rovers opened the 1890β91 season with an exciting 8β5 defeat at Derby County with Southworth scoring hat-trick. He repeated this in a 5β1 win against Aston Villa in December. In the opening week of the New Year, Rovers recorded their biggest League win of the season as Combe Hall (4), Southworth (3) and Billy Townley found the net in an 8β0 home success against Derby County. In the 7β0 FA Cup victory against Chester, Southworth netted his fourth hat-trick of the season. His next came in a 4β0 success at Accrington. Southworth missed several games through injury. But still finished the season on 26 league goals (plus six in the cup) thus making him top scorer in the Football League.
Blackburn again reached the FA Cup Final in 1891. On this occasion Notts County were their opponents. In the final, played at Kennington Oval on 21 March, Rovers put County under pressure from the beginning and in the 8th minute, centre-half Geordie Dewar scored from a Townley corner. Before the end of the first-half, Southworth and Townley had added further goals. Jimmy Oswald of Notts County scored a late consolation goal but Blackburn finished comfortable 3β1 winners and won the FA Cup for the fifth time in eight years.
In the five years he spent at Blackburn Rovers he scored 97 goals in 108 league games, plus a further 22 cup goals in 21 appearances. He still holds the Blackburn record for the most individual hat-tricks in a season with five in 1890β91, and the record for the aggregate individual hat-tricks with thirteen.
Evertonβ»
Everton were to enjoy the skills of Jack Southworth for just over one season. Following his signing from Blackburn Rovers, he replaced the injured Fred Geary, making an immediate impact and soon became a great favourite with the Everton supporters. In his only full season he scored 27 goals in just 22 games, including ten in two games over the Christmas period. He scored three goals in an 8β1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday followed by six in the 7β1 victory over West Bromwich Albion on 30 December 1893; this still stands as an Everton record and was the first time a player had scored two hat-tricks in the same game in the Football League.
After footballβ»
He played violin with the Halle Orchestra.
Southworth died in 1956 aged 89.
Honours and achievementsβ»
- FA Cup winner: 1890 and 1891
- "Golden Boot" (Top scorer in Football League): 1890β91
Referencesβ»
- ^ Money, Anthony (1999). Football: In the beginning.
- ^ Jackman, Mike (2009). Blackburn Rovers The Complete Record. DB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78091-387-2.
- ^ "English National Football Archive". Retrieved 5 March 2023. (registration & fee required)
- ^ Chas Sumner (1997). On the Borderline: The Official History of Chester City 1885β1997. Yore Publications. p. 9. ISBN 1-874427-52-6.
- ^ "English National Football Archive". Retrieved 27 December 2017. (registration & fee required)
- ^ Gibbons, Philip (2001). Association Football in Victorian England β A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900. Upfront Publishing. pp. 142β143. ISBN 1-84426-035-6.
- ^ "Everton Season Statistics 1893β94". evertonfc.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Everton 8 Sheffield Wednesday 1". Everton FC. 23 December 1893. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- ^ "Everton 7 West Bromwich Albion 1". Everton FC. 30 December 1893. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- ^ Nawrat, Chris; Hutchings, Steve (1994). The Sunday Times Illustrated History of Football. London: Reed Consumer Books Ltd. p. 11. ISBN 0600590801.
- ^ David Randall (24 February 2002). "Working class heroes". The Independent. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
- ^ Football League Div 1 & 2 Leading Goalscorers 1889β1915 Archived 2 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
External linksβ»
- Jack Southworth at Englandstats.com
- 1866 births
- Footballers from Blackburn
- 1956 deaths
- English men's footballers
- England men's international footballers
- Blackburn Olympic F.C. players
- Blackburn Rovers F.C. players
- Everton F.C. players
- Chester City F.C. players
- English Football League players
- First Division/Premier League top scorers
- English Football League representative players
- Men's association football forwards