Albert Aldridge

Albert Aldridge
Personnel
Surname	Albert James Aldridge
birthday	4th August 1863
place of birth	Walsall ,  England
date of death	June 22, 1891
Place of death	Birmingham or Walsall ,  England
position	defender
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1882-1886	Walsall Swifts
1886-1888	West Bromwich Albion
1888-1889	Walsall Town Swifts	13 (0)
1889-1890	Aston Villa	17 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1888-1889	England	2 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Albert James Aldridge (born August 4, 1863 in Walsall , † June 22, 1891 in Birmingham or Walsall) was an English football player . The two-time international won the FA Cup with West Bromwich Albion in 1888 and was active for Aston Villa in the Football League .

Career

The successful Cup team from 1888, Aldridge back row far left

Aldridge was active with the Walsall Swifts from 1881 or 1882 . With the club, the defender reached the fourth round in the FA Cup 1883/84 and was defeated there by Notts County 4-0, in the FA Cup 1885/86 he was eliminated with the team against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round. He also reached the final of the Birmingham Senior Cup three times in a row with the Walsall Swifts from 1884 to 1886 . Either Aston Villa (1884 0: 4, 1885 0: 2) or West Bromwich Albion (1886 0: 1 in the replay) proved too strong. The games against West Bromwich are said to have been decisive for his move to that club shortly afterwards.

Only a few days before the replay West Bromwich had lost the FA Cup final in 1886 against Blackburn Rovers . Albion also belonged to the leading clubs in England for the following two years with Aldridge, who can be used equally in both defensive positions. He mostly formed the defender pair with Harry Green , including in the FA Cup finals in London's Kennington Oval in 1887 and 1888 . While Aston Villa prevailed 2-0 in the cup final in 1887, West Bromwich managed to win the national cup competition for the first time a year later. In the stadium, which was completely filled with almost 20,000 spectators, the favored Preston North End was defeated 2-1. The Ipswich Journal commented on the contribution of the two Albion defenders to the final: "We cannot give enough praise to Green and Aldridge for their great defenses and who were mainly responsible for Preston failing to equalize." With West Bromwich, Aldridge stood too two more times in the final of the Birmingham Senior Cup, but these two games also ended in defeats (1887 0-1 against Long Eaton Rangers , 1888 2-3 against Aston Villa).

In April 1888 he played together with two teammates - goalkeeper Bob Roberts and right winger Billy Bassett - for the first time for the English national team. The international match against Ireland at the Ulster Cricket Ground in Belfast was won 5-1 by the favored Englishmen, Aldridge had formed the defenders in the match with Percy Walters . In the summer of 1888 he returned to Walsall, where the two leading clubs, the Swifts and Walsall Town , had merged to form Walsall Town Swifts . The club played in the newly created league The Combination , which consisted of teams that were not accepted into the Football League . Since the league was organized on a decentralized basis and each club was supposed to organize its own schedule, the league was unsuccessful and was finally discontinued in April 1889. Aldridge had formed the defenders pair with Alf Jones for most of the season

Almost a year after his international debut, Aldridge came again in March 1889 against Ireland for his second international appearance. The national team was changed a lot because the quarter-finals of the FA Cup were taking place parallel to the international match and so many top players were not available. In addition to Aldridge, only Joe Lofthouse was able to show international appearances. Nevertheless, the English team was clearly superior in this game and won the game at Anfield Road in Liverpool 6-1. Aldridge became the second and last England international after Alf Jones who was active at a club from Walsall at the time of his assignment. In addition, Aldridge has also been called up repeatedly for prestigious selection games of the football associations of Walsall and Birmingham . He played for Birmingham in August 1888 against Aston Villa (final score 0: 1), in December 1888 against London (final score 5: 0) and in February 1889 against Derbyshire (final score 0: 1).

Already in April 1889 he was obliged by the Birmingham club Aston Villa , which played in the Football League , and by the beginning of the 1889/90 season , Thomas Clarkson and Frederick Gray were followed by two other Walsall teammates. Aldridge made his first appearance for Aston Villa in a friendly against Scottish amateur club FC Queen's Park , one of the strongest British clubs, the game ended in a 2-6 defeat. In the Football League, he played 17 of 22 season games over the course of the season, but did not appear in any competitive game for the first team after the turn of the year. He formed the pair of defenders with Gershom Cox or Frank Coulton , and as eight of the table, the club narrowly avoided the need to stand for re-election.

In March 1890 he had an appearance in a "theater football game", on the other side was a group of 18 actors from the "Prince of Wales's Theater and Ohmy's Circus", who among other things secured their own goal with an additional network. After a little more than a quarter of an hour of playing time, the benefit event held in Villas Perry Barr Stadium had to be canceled after spectators had attacked twice. Aldridge's possibly last appearance as a football player was in April 1890 on the reserve team against the Brierley Hill Alliance , when health problems are said to have become apparent. A correspondent described Aldridge's accomplishments in August 1890 as follows: "His final appearances last year were characterized by symptoms of waning football fame". Aldridge was also part of the squad for the 1890/91 season , but no longer appeared for Aston Villa.

Aldridge died at the age of 27 on June 22, 1891 in Birmingham , presumably of tuberculosis . An obituary wrote about him: “Aldridge was one of the most distinguished as well as one of the most skillful exponents of the game to ever nudge a ball, and his popularity among players and spectators was due to the complete absence of a hint of raw or unfairness Tactics in his game. ”In a club publication published 15 years after his death, his style of play was characterized as follows:“ A tenacious, fearless defender, reliable in hand-to-hand combat, with moments of real brilliance in the open field. The harder the scramble, the better he played. "

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} ATHLETIC NOTES. . In: Walsall Observer, and South Staffordshire Chronicle , June 27, 1891, p. 3.  (paid link)
2. ↑ englandfootballonline.com: Albert Aldridge , accessed September 4, 2019
3. ^ Tony Matthews: The Complete Encyclopaedia of Aston Villa Football Club . Britespot Publishing, Cradley Heath 2001, ISBN 0-9539288-3-7 , pp. 5 .
4. ^ ^{A b} Douglas Lamming: A English Football Internationalists' Who's Who . Hutton Press Ltd, Beverley 1990, ISBN 0-907033-93-8 , pp. 9 .
5. ↑ NOTTS COUNTY v. WALSALL SWIFTS. . In: Athletic News , January 27, 1885, p. 2.  (link with costs)
6. ↑ ^{a b} Patrick Talbot: White Shirt, Black Country . Black Country Society, Kingswinford 2004, ISBN 978-0-904015-72-0 , pp. 35 f .
7. ^ ^{A b} Steve Carr: The History of the Birmingham Senior Cup. Part One 1876 to 1905 . Grorty Dick, Wednesbury, S. 72 ff . (no year (approx. 2000)).
8. ↑ cf. Lineups in Tony Matthews: West Bromwich Albion - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, Derby 2007, ISBN 978-1-85983-565-4 , pp. 506 ff .
9. ↑ THE ASSOCIATION CHALLENGE CUP. . In: The Ipswich Journal , March 26, 1888, p. 6.  (paid link)
10. ^ The North End at Dartmouth Park. . In: Cricket and Football Field , August 11, 1888, p. 7.  (paid link)
11. ↑ englandfootballonline.com: Club Affiliations: Walsall / Swifts / Town Swifts , accessed September 4, 2019
12. ↑ THE ENGLISH CUP. . In: Lancashire Evening Post , March 24, 1888, p. 4.  (paid link)
13. ↑ BIRMINGHAM CHARITY SPORTS. . In: Sporting Life , August 22, 1888, p. 2.  (link subject to charge)
14. ↑ BIRMINGHAM AND DISCTRICT v. LONDON. . In: The Sportsman , December 3, 1888, p. 4.  (link subject to charge)
15. ↑ DERBYSHIRE ASSOCIATION v. BIRMINGHAM ASSOCIATION. . In: Derby Daily Telegraph , February 25, 1889, p. 3.  (paid link)
16. ↑ ASTON VILLA. . In: Cricket and Football Field , August 24, 1889, p. 6.  (paid link)
17. ↑ YESTERDAY'S FOOTBALL MATCHES. . In: Birmingham Daily Post , April 23, 1889, p. 3.  (paid link)
18. ↑ THEATRICAL FOOTBALL. . In: The Era , March 22, 1890, p. 14.  (link liable to costs)
19. ↑ FOOTBALL. SATURDAY'S MATCHES. . In: County Express , April 19, 1890, p. 7.  (paid link)
20. ↑ CRICKET, CYCLING, AND ATHLETIC GOSSIP. . In: County Advertiser & Herald for Staffordshire and Worcestershire , 23 August 1890, p. 6.  (paid link)
21. ↑ astonvillaplayerdatabase.com: Aldridge, Albert , accessed September 3, 2019