Harold Walden

Harold Adrian Walden (born October 10, 1887 in Ambala , India , † December 2, 1955 in Leeds ) was an English amateur football player . He took part in the 1912 Summer Olympics and was the top scorer of the football tournament.

Life

Harold Walden joined the Army in 1903 and served in India and Ireland. He also played for a soccer team in the Army and competed several times against the Navy. He fought in the West Yorkshire Regiment in World War I and even reached the rank of captain. Walden began his athletic career as a center-forward in Halifax Town before moving to Bradford City in December 1911 . He stayed there four seasons and was their top goalscorer in the 1911/12 season. That summer he also played in the English amateur national team at the 1912 Summer Olympics. He was Olympic champion with the British team. At the tournament he scored nine goals in three games and was thus also the top scorer.

After the end of the First World War, Walden went to Arsenal London . However, he only played there twice, scoring a single goal, his debut at Arsenal was on February 12, 1921, at the end of the 1920/21 season he went back to Bradford. After retiring from his career and leaving the army, he became a musician. He moved to Yorkshire and performed in the vaudeville theater there. He made his debut as a singer in 1919 as an active footballer. He starred in the 1920 film The Winning Goal , one of the first films about football. He died of a heart attack at Leeds train station in 1955 .

Filmography

• The Winning Goal (1920) as Jack Metherill
• Cup-Tie Honeymoon (1948) as himself

literature

• Jim Appleby: Past Times. In: Telegraph & Argus. , March 10, 1999.

Web links

• Harold Walden in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Harold Walden in the Internet Movie Database (English)