Archie Hunter

Archie Hunter
Personnel
Surname	Archibald Hunter
birthday	September 23, 1859
place of birth	Joppa , Ayrshire ,  Scotland
date of death	November 29, 1894
Place of death	Aston , Birmingham ,  England
position	striker
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
	Third Lanark
	Ayr Thistle
1878-1890	Aston Villa	32 (8)
1 Only league games are given.

Archibald "Archie" Hunter (born September 23, 1859 in Joppa , Ayrshire , † November 29, 1894 in Aston , Birmingham ) was a Scottish football player . As captain , he led Aston Villa to an FA Cup victory and the first title in the club's history in 1887 .

Athletic career

Hunter learned to play football in his Scottish homeland at Third Lanark in Glasgow and at Ayr Thistle , a predecessor of today's Ayr United. From there he originally wanted to join the works team at FC Calthorpe in Wolverhampton , England , but was then persuaded by his compatriot George Ramsay to move to Aston Villa in Birmingham . Aston Villa was still in the development phase and was not the best address in young football, but Hunter, as the future team leader, was to lead the steadily strengthened team based on the Scottish model to the top of English football.

Hunter completed his first game for Aston Villa in October 1878 against Queen's Park FC , who came to Perry Barr with star players George Ker , Malcolm Fraser , James Richmond , Charles Campbell and John Kay , among others . Although he performed well with his new team and at the side of his brother Andy Hunter , he was clearly defeated by the Scottish team. In the following decade, Hunter was instrumental as a center forward in making Aston Villa a national fixture. In his career he scored a total of 33 goals in 41 cup games, with the FA Cup success in 1887 being particularly noteworthy. There he scored a goal in every round and his performance in the 2-0 final victory against West Bromwich Albion at The Oval Stadium on April 2, 1887 was classified in newspaper reports from this time as decisive for winning the title. With the second goal in the last minute, he himself made the decision in the final.

After ten years at Aston Villa, in which he had only played cup and friendly matches, the founding of the Football League in 1888 ensured that Hunter took part in a national championship round for the first time. In the first season he won the runner- up behind Preston North End . The following season started much weaker when Aston Villa settled in the lower half of the table. At the beginning of the year, the team had only won six of the 18 games and lost at Everton FC significantly with 7-0. Far more tragic than the result, however, was that Hunter collapsed with a heart attack shortly after half-time and had to end his career after only 32 championship games in the young Football League. The dream of an international match for the Scottish national team could no longer be fulfilled - during this time the Scottish Football Association had always refused to include Scots playing in England in the selection.

After football

The heart attack hit Hunter so badly that he had to stay in bed from now on. He witnessed the first English championship at Aston Villa shortly before his death at the age of 35. Whenever his health permitted, he asked to be raised in his bed to watch the spectators on their way to his old club's game.

In 1998, in recognition of its importance for early English football, the Football League Association included it in the list of the "Football League 100 Legends".

successes

• English cup winner : 1887

literature

• Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Monday January 6, 1890; Issue 9839.
• Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Monday December 3, 1894; Issue 11375.
• Michael Joyce: Football League Players' Records. 1888 to 1939. (p.133) , 4Edge, Hockley, Essex 2004 ISBN 1-899468-67-6