James Richardson Spensley

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James Spensley
JamesRichardSpensley.jpg
James Richardson Spensley
Personnel
Surname James Richardson Spensley
birthday May 17, 1867
place of birth LondonEngland
date of death November 10, 1915
Place of death MainzGermany
position Goal , defense
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1896-1906 CFC genoa 20 (1)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1896-1908 CFC genoa
1 Only league games are given.

James Richardson Spensley (born May 17, 1867 in London , † November 10, 1915 in Mainz ) was an English doctor , football player and coach . As a footballer, he played in the position of goalkeeper or as a defender . He is considered one of the founding fathers of Italian football .

biography

He was born to William Spensley and Elizabeth Alice Richardson in the London district of Stoke Newington and grew up there. As an adult, he had the opportunity to travel long distances and broaden his interests in the process. So he was interested in oriental religions, languages ​​(he was well versed in Sanskrit and Greek), sports that he was interested in were boxing and football. In addition to his work as a doctor, he also worked as a correspondent for the English newspaper Daily Mail .

In 1896 he came to Genoa to serve as a doctor there for sailors. He became a member of the Genoa Cricket & Athletics Club, a cricket club founded by British people abroad. There he built up the football department almost single-handedly and headed it as chairman, coach and player. The club was renamed Genoa Cricket and Football Club , under this name it still exists today. In addition to this club there were a few others in northern Italy and so on May 8, 1898 the first Italian football championship was played, which Genoa won.

As a player, he won the Italian championship six times with Genoa . At the age of almost 40 he retired, but remained faithful to football as a referee .

In addition to his innovative role in Italian football, he and a man from Genoa, Mario Mazza , founded the first Italian scout organization, Federazione Italiana dello Scautismo (1910).

During the First World War he worked as a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps , while caring for a German soldier he sustained a gunshot wound, from which he died a short time later in Mainz. He is buried in the Niederzwehren cemetery in Kassel . His grave was rediscovered by two Genoese students in 1990.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. English players in Italy
  2. ^ History of football in Genoa
  3. a b Brigitte Schönau: Calcio - The Italians and their football , Kiwi, Cologne, 2006, p. 19