Joe French (footballer)

Last updated

Joe French
Personal information
Full name Joseph French
Place of birth Southampton, England
Position(s) Centre-half
Youth career
Clifton
Southampton Oxford
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1899–1901 Southampton 6 (0)
1901–1902 New Brompton 17 (0)
1902–19?? Freemantle
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joseph French was an English professional footballer who played at centre-half for Southampton and New Brompton in the 1900s.

Football career

French was born in Southampton and was playing football in the local parks, where he was spotted by Harry Haynes who was coming to the end of his football career. French was given a trial by the Southern League champions Southampton in the summer of 1899 which led to a professional contract. [1]

French spent most of his time at The Dell in the reserves but was a "capable understudy" [1] to England international Arthur Chadwick. French made his first-team debut playing at centre-half on 31 March 1900 in a 3–2 victory over Bedminster, [2] when Chadwick was one of several players who had been "rested" having played in the FA Cup semi-final against Millwall on the previous Saturday, followed by his England debut against Wales on Monday 26 March and the FA Cup semi-final replay on Wednesday 28 March, when the "Saints" won 3–0 to reach the Cup Final for the second time in three seasons.

As Chadwick was still away on England duty, French retained his place for two further matches, before Chadwick's return to the side at the start of a run of four defeats, as a consequence of which Southampton fell away in the league, eventually finishing in third place. [2]

French made three further appearances in September/October 1900, [3] before relinquishing the centre-half shirt to new signing Bert Lee, who was to go on to make nearly 300 appearances for the "Saints". [4]

In the summer of 1901, French was transferred to fellow Southern League side, New Brompton where he made 17 appearances before returning to Southampton to play for Freemantle. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Jefferis</span> English footballer

Frank Jefferis was an English footballer.

Arthur Chadwick was a professional footballer whose playing career included spells at Portsmouth and Southampton, before going on to be manager at Exeter City, Reading and Southampton. He also made two appearances for England in 1900.

Samuel Meston was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a half-back for Stoke and Southampton. Whilst with Southampton, he appeared in two FA Cup Finals and won six Southern League championship medals, being the only player ever to do so.

Harry Wood was a professional footballer who played most of his career as an inside forward for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton.

Thomas Bowman was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a half back in the 1902 FA Cup final for Southampton.

Arthur "Archie" Turner was a professional footballer who played at outside-right in the 1900 and 1902 FA Cup Finals for Southampton, and made two appearances for England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Petrie</span> Scottish footballer

Robert Petrie was a professional footballer who won the FA Cup with Sheffield Wednesday in 1896 and was on the losing side in the 1900 FA Cup final with Southampton.

Wilfred Toman was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward for Burnley and Everton around the turn of the twentieth century.

Stanley Woodhouse was an English footballer who played initially as an inside forward and later as a half back with Bury and Southampton in the 1920s and 1930s.

George Cecil Harkus MBE was an English professional footballer who played as a half back for Southampton in the 1920s before serving with distinction in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

Harry Haynes was an English footballer who played as a full back for Walsall Town Swifts, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Small Heath and Southampton in the 1890s.

Frederick Albert "Bert" Shelley was an English footballer, who played as a half back for Southampton, for whom he made nearly 450 appearances, before becoming a coach at Southampton. His total of 448 appearances remained a club record until passed by Tommy Traynor in the mid-1960s.

John Hogg was an English footballer who played as a half-back for various clubs in the 1900s.

Edward Killean (1874–1937) was an English professional footballer who played as a half back around the turn of the 20th century, spending the largest part of his career with Blackburn Rovers.

Alfred Littlehales was an English professional footballer who played at centre-half for Southampton in the 1890s.

The 1898–99 season was the 14th since the foundation of Southampton F.C. and their fifth in league football, as members of the Southern League.

Henry John Small was an English footballer who played as an inside forward for Southampton and Manchester United in the 1900s.

The 1899–1900 season was the 15th since the foundation of Southampton F.C. and their sixth in league football, as members of the Southern League.

The 1900–01 season was the 16th since the foundation of Southampton F.C. and their seventh in league football, as members of the Southern League.

The 1901–02 season was the 17th since the foundation of Southampton F.C. and their eighth in league football, as members of the Southern League.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 131. ISBN   0-9514862-3-3.
  2. 1 2 Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. pp. 26–27. ISBN   0-907969-22-4.
  3. ↑ Saints – A complete record. pp. 28–29.
  4. ↑ The Alphabet of the Saints. p. 206.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.