Bob Benson

Bob Benson
Personnel
Surname	Robert William Benson
birthday	February 9, 1883
place of birth	Whitehaven ,  England
date of death	February 19, 1916
Place of death	London ,  England
position	defender
Juniors
Years	station
	Dunston Villa
	Shankhouse
	Swalwell
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1902-1903	Newcastle United	1 0(0)
1903-1905	Southampton FC	19 0(0)
1905-1913	Sheffield United	273 (20)
1913-1916	Woolwich / The Arsenal	52 0(7)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1913	England	1 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

Robert William "Bob" Benson (born February 9, 1883 in Whitehaven , † February 19, 1916 in London ) was an English football player . The defender , who played his only international match for the English national team in 1913 , gained greater fame by the fact that he died immediately due to physical exertion during an official football match.

Born in the north-west English coastal town of Whitehaven, Bob Benson began his professional career at Newcastle United , but after his debut on March 7, 1903, he was no longer used. He then moved south, where he completed two seasons for Southampton FC in the Southern League before returning to the Football League in 1905 to play for Sheffield United . In Sheffield, Benson was also an international and played as a left-back on February 15, 1913 a game against Ireland , which was lost 2-1. Previously, he had already been in a selection team of the League Association, which had carried out a tour of South Africa in 1910 .

After 283 competitive games and 21 goals for Sheffield United, Benson moved to Woolwich Arsenal in November 1913 . The club had just moved to the new Highbury Stadium and on November 29, 1913, New London Benson made his debut against Bristol City . Over two years Benson came to 52 league appearances, where he played mostly on the defender position. He was later called up as a center forward and in this role Benson scored seven goals for the team that was playing in the second division at the time and battling for promotion in 1915 - the fifth place should ultimately be sufficient for the return in after the end of the First World War be the First Division .

The game in the Football League was suspended in 1915 due to the fighting and Benson retired from his active career to work full time in the Royal Arsenal ammunition factory in Woolwich . The connection to his club was not broken and so he attended a game of his club against Reading FC in the London Combination , which had been established as a regional league after the outbreak of war, on February 19, 1916 . When his former teammate Joe Shaw reported unable to play, Benson, who was no longer in training, spontaneously took his place. Benson had not played a game for over a year and was therefore no longer in the required fitness. He collapsed in the second half and died in the locker room immediately afterwards. According to later investigations, the cause of death was a burst blood vessel. Benson was buried in an Arsenal jersey and three months later the club held a charity match against a selection of "Rest of London", which attracted 5,000 spectators and the proceeds of the game went to the widow.

literature

• Michael Joyce: Football League Players' Records. 1888 to 1939. (p.24) , 4Edge, Hockley, Essex 2004 ISBN 1-89946-867-6

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "NUFC Players - One Hit Wonders" ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Newcastle-Online.com)  
2. ^ "Bob Benson" (EnglandStats.com)