William Henry Foulke

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William Foulke as goalkeeper for Chelsea

William Henry "Fatty" Foulke (also written Foulkes and Foulk ; born April 12, 1874 in Dawley , † May 1, 1916 in Sheffield ) was an English cricket and football player .

Life

William Foulke as FA Cup winner in 1902 with Sheffield United

William Foulke weighed 110 kilograms at a young age. Still wanting to play sport - a sport that shouldn't be too demanding on him - he began to play cricket. For the Derbyshire County Cricket Club he made four first-class games in 1900 . However, he realized that he was more interested in football. Therefore he changed the sport in 1894 and joined the Blackwell Colliery club . Because he didn't like running, he decided on the position of goalkeeper . His body was less of a hindrance than useful to him in those early days of football. On the one hand, he was much more agile than you would have expected from a man of his stature, on the other hand, a goalkeeper was still fair game at this time. He could be jumped at, pushed or even carried into the goal by opposing players. With a player like Foulke, however, that was difficult to do. On the contrary, it was not uncommon for Foulke to plunge the opposing players into puddles or even put them on goal. So began a great career for him at his second club Sheffield United . He quickly became a regular at United, the newspapers raved about him, he was "agile as a cat".

Foulke's career was very successful. In the only championship title of Sheffield United in 1898 he was in goal, as well as in the FA Cup victories of 1898 and 1902, which were even more prestigious at this time. At his club, he was a crowd favorite, he was mostly ridiculed by opposing fans, and was often in the Stages “Who ate all the pies?” (“Who ate all the cake?”). Foulkes reacted calmly and with humor: “I don't care how they call me. The main thing is that they don't call me too late for lunch. ”In 1897 he was called up to the English national team for a game against Wales .

Foulke on a team picture of the English national team (back center)

During the turn of the century, football became more and more a popular sport. In a game Sheffields against Tottenham Hotspur , Foulke played in front of a world record crowd of 114,815 spectators. Football became more and more a business. So it was not surprising that Foulke also received offers from other clubs. For a £ 20 transfer fee - other sources speak of £ 50 - and a lucrative annual salary, he moved to Chelsea FC in London. There, too, he quickly became a crowd favorite, but moved to Bradford City after just one season . At the end of his career, he weighed 140 kilograms.

After his career, Foulke had no more success. He couldn't find work and became impoverished. In 1916, at the age of 42, he died of pneumonia in a Sheffield nursing home.

Others

William Henry Foulke is considered the heaviest football player according to the Guinness Book of Records . He is listed with a body length of 1.90 m with a mass of 165 kg.

Web links

Commons : William Henry Foulke  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Guinness World Records - Mini Book: Das Schwerste , Guinness Verlag, Hamburg 2001, p. 6
personal data
SURNAME Foulke, William Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Foulke, William; Foulke, Fatty (nickname); Foulkes, William; Foulk, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English cricket and soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Dawley
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1916
Place of death Sheffield