Walter Anthony (soccer player)

Walter Anthony
Personnel
birthday	November 21, 1879
place of birth	Basford ,  England
date of death	January 26, 1950
Place of death	Basford ,  England
position	Winger (left, right)
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
	Osmaston
	Heanor Town
	Arnold FC
1904-1905	Nottingham Forest	7 0(0)
1905-1908	Brighton & Hove Albion	80 0(8)
1908-1915	Blackburn Rovers	149 (11)
1915	Stalybridge Celtic
1 Only league games are given.

Walter Anthony (born November 21, 1879 in Basford , † January 26, 1950 ibid) was an English football player . The winger won a championship medal with the Blackburn Rovers in 1912.

Career

Walter Anthony, whose older brothers George and Henry played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire , played in Derbyshire local football for Osmaston and Heanor Town before playing for Arnold FC in the Notts and District League . From there he moved in February 1904 to First Division Nottingham Forest for a transfer fee of £ 25 . At Nottingham he remained mostly active in the reserve team, after his debut in the First Division on April 3, 1904 against Middlesbrough FC (final score 1: 1), followed in the 1904/05 season in November and December a total of six more league appearances as a left or left right winger.

In May 1905 he left the club again and joined the Brighton & Hove Albion club , which was active in the Southern League . There he played, mostly on the right wing, in two and a half years 119 competitive games and scored 13 goals before he and his two teammates Dick Wombwell and Joe Lumley were committed in February 1908 for a "considerable sum" from the first division club Blackburn Rovers . The decisive factor for the commitment is said to have been the first-round pairing in the 1907/08 FA Cup against Preston North End , when Brighton prevailed against the favorites after two replays.

Although Anthony tended to "often disappoint despite promising facilities", he mostly occupied the left wing of the Rovers in the following five seasons. He benefited from his ability to "hit precise flanks at full speed" as well as from his two-footed ability, his speed and his tricky playing style. In his first two full seasons at Blackburn, he finished 4th and 3rd in the championship, before it was only 12th place for the team in the 1910/11 season .

Although the line-up of Blackburn's assault row changed regularly in the 1911/12 season and the occupation of the center-forward position in particular caused problems, they fought their way to the top of the table thanks to a successful streak during which they lost only one league game from the end of December to mid-April. In the FA Cup 1911/12 , which the Rovers had won five times by then (most recently in 1890), they reached the semi-finals for the second time in a row, but failed there in early April in the replay at West Bromwich Albion . A few weeks later they met again in the league on West Bromwich and won the club's first championship title with a 4-1 home win; Anthony had contributed to this with one hit in 27 missions. Another success came on May 4, 1912 in the Charity Shield , in which you defeated the champions of the Southern League, the Queens Park Rangers , 2-1 by two hits from center forward Walter Aitkenhead .

With the arrival of Joe Hodkinson, ten years his junior, in early 1913, Anthony's missions became significantly less frequent. After he was last used in February 1914 - his only use in the 1913/14 season , the Blackburn finished again as champions - he finally moved to Stalybridge Celtic in the Lancashire Combination in January 1915 . Previously, in April 1914, the Rovers had successfully asked the League Committee for permission for a special payment to Anthony.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Tim Carder, Roger Harris: Albion A – Z - A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion FC Goldstone Books, Brighton 1997, ISBN 0-9521337-1-7 , pp. 15 .
2. ↑ SPORTING NOTES . In: Nottingham Evening Post , February 20, 1899, p. 6.  (paid link)
3. ↑ Tony Matthews: The Forest Who's Who . Britespot Publishing, Cradley Heath 2004, ISBN 978-1-904103-20-2 , pp. 9 .
4. ↑ NEW PLAYERS FOR BLACKBURN ROVERS . In: Sheffield Independent , February 15, 1908, p. 3.  (paid link)
5. ^ ^{A b} Mike Jackman: The Essential History of Blackburn Rovers . Headline Book Publishing, Swindon 2001, ISBN 978-0-7553-1022-7 , pp. 30th f .
6. ^ Mike Jackman: Blackburn Rovers - The Official Encyclopaedia . Breedon Books, Derby 1994, ISBN 1-873626-70-3 , pp. 11 .
7. ↑ FOOTBALL LEAGUE MEETING . In: Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer , January 12, 1915, p. 10.  (paid link)
8. ↑ LEAGUE MANAGEMENT . In: Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough , April 25, 1914, p. 6.  (paid link)