Albert Frederick Brown (1 April 1879 – 6 April 1955) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who scored a goal in the

1902 FA Cup Final The 1902 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Sheffield United and Southampton on Saturday, 19 April 1902 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the 1901–02 FA Cup, the 31st edition of the ...

for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, and also scored a record seven goals in one match.

Playing career

Brown was born in Austrey, near Tamworth, England and started his career with the local Tamworth club, before joining

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in February 1898. He only made two first-team appearances for Villa in the 1900–01 season (in which he scored two goals) before moving (along with

Tommy Bowman Thomas Bowman (26 October 1873 – 27 August 1958) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a half back in the 1902 FA Cup final for Southampton. Playing career Bowman began his professional career at Blackpool in 1896, making hi ...

) to

in May 1901. Brown was reputed to be the fastest sprinter in English football and was known as the "Tamworth Sprinter". His career at Southampton got off to a slow start, scoring only once in his first three games before injury forced him to miss three games in October/November 1901. On his return from injury, he started to score more freely and by Christmas he had scored seven goals. In his next game he doubled his tally for the season as he scored a club record seven goals in a match against

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

at The Dell on 28 December 1901. His first goal came almost straight from the kick-off and within five minutes he had completed his

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

. By half time Saints were 7–0 up, with Brown contributing four. He added three more in the second half as Saints completed the rout, winning 11–0 (the other goals came from Sam Meston (2), Fred Harrison and

Archie Turner Arthur "Archie" Turner (June 1877 – 4 April 1925) 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. Playing career Archie Turner was born in ...

). He finished the 1901–02 season having scored 25 league goals from 25 games, as Saints ended the season in third place in the Southern League. He also made eight appearances in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, scoring four times including Saints' goal in the replay of the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

on 28 April 1902, as Saints went down 2–1 to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. During the summer of 1902, he sustained a serious injury which lost him his place in the starting line-up to

John Fraser John Fraser may refer to: Politics *John Simon Frederick Fraser (1765–1803), commanded the Fraser Fencibles in Ireland and was (M.P.) for Inverness-shire *John James Fraser (1829–1896), 5th Premier of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, 18 ...

. Brown only made one further appearance for Southampton, before being sold to

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in October 1902. After two seasons with QPR, he moved on to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

in May 1904 and then to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

in March 1906, where he finished his career.

Honours

Southampton *

finalist:

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's f ...

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Albert 1879 births Sportspeople from Tamworth, Staffordshire 1955 deaths English footballers Tamworth F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Southern Football League players Association football forwards FA Cup Final players