Albert Edward Goldthorpe (3 November 1871 – 8 January 1943) was an English

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

er from the period around 1895's schism in English rugby, which led to the formation of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

football around the turn of the century.

Career

One of five brothers (four of whom at one period played together in the same Hunslet team), Goldthorpe made his first team début with

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamentar ...

, at , as a 16-year-old in October, 1888. He went on to become one of the best known figures in English rugby, both before and after the split, and he was one of the finest individual talents in the game at the time of the Northern Union's formation in

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

. He was also a successful

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er, captaining the team for several years. Goldthorpe was still playing for Hunslet twenty years after his debut, when in the 1907-08 season he led the club to unprecedented success, winning all four cups (the Challenge Cup, the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

, the Yorkshire Cup and the Yorkshire League). Hunslet were the first team to achieve that feat. Albert Goldthorpe played in

's 14-0 victory over

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

in the 1907–08 Challenge Cup Final during the 1907–08 season at

Fartown Ground The Fartown Ground or just simply Fartown is a sports ground located in the Huddersfield suburb of Fartown in West Yorkshire, England and is predominantly famous for being the home ground of Huddersfield Rugby League Club from 1878 to 1992. T ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

on Saturday 25 April 1908, in front of a crowd of 18,000. Albert Goldthorpe played in

's 13-3 victory over Halifax in the

1905–06 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

County Cup Final during the 1905–06 season at

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Av ...

, Bradford on Saturday 2 December 1905, and played , and scored 3-

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kicki ...

s in the 17-0 victory over Halifax in the 1907–08

County Cup Final during the 1907–08 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Rugby Stadium,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

on Saturday 21 December 1907. When he finally retired in 1910, Goldthorpe had scored more goals and points than any player in the game's history at that time. He had played at least 713 games for Hunslet, scoring over 80 tries and kicking over 1000 goals. After his playing career ended he served on the Hunslet committee until, in 1924, he was appointed as the club's second full-time secretary-manager, a post he held for seven years. He had been a member of the committee from at least 15th Nov, 1895, along with his brother James. Albert farmed Urn Farm on Middleton Road, Belle Isle, Leeds and is buried in Hunslet Cemetery nearby.

Legacy

Goldthorpe died in 1942 aged 72. In 1988 an Australian television movie, ''

The First Kangaroos ''The First Kangaroos'' is a 1988 British–Australian made for TV sports film directed by Frank Cvitanovich and starring Dennis Waterman, Chris Haywood and Dominic Sweeney. It depicts the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, the first-eve ...

'' actor

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', '' Minder'' and '' New Tricks'', singing the theme tunes of th ...

's villainous depiction of Goldthorpe drew formal complaints from Goldthorpe's granddaughter. In 2008, the

Albert Goldthorpe Medal The Albert Goldthorpe Medal is an award that has been created by '' Rugby Leaguer & League Express'' to honour the leading players in the Super League and to honour Albert Goldthorpe, who was English rugby league's first superstar at the turn ...

was created by British rugby league newspaper

Rugby Leaguer & League Express ''Rugby Leaguer & League Express'' is a weekly newspaper published every Monday in the United Kingdom. Other rugby league titles published by League Publications Ltd include the monthly magazine ' Rugby League World' and the annual 'Rugby League ...

to honour the leading players in the Super League. On 20 August 2009, transport company

Arriva Yorkshire Arriva Yorkshire is a major bus operator providing services primarily within and across West Yorkshire, although it also provides service in some parts of South Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and southern areas of North Yorkshire. It is a ...

honoured 13 rugby league footballers at a ceremony at

The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a 1906 novel by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair's primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. However, most readers we ...

, the home of the Castleford Tigers. A fleet of new buses were named after the 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team'. Members of the public nominated the best ever rugby league footballers to have played in West Yorkshire, supported by local rugby league journalists; James Deighton from BBC Leeds, and Tim Butcher, editor of

Rugby League World ''Rugby League World'' is a dedicated rugby league magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Other rugby league titles published by League Publications Ltd include the weekly newspaper ''Rugby Leaguer & League Express'' and the annual ''G ...

. The 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team' is; Trevor Foster MBE, Neil Fox MBE, Albert Goldthorpe, Alan Hardisty,

Stan Kielty Stanley "Stan" Kielty (20 July 1925 – 31 December 2008) was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and Coach (sport), coached in the 1960s. He played at representative level for England national rugby league team, ...

, Lewis Jones,

Roger Millward Roger Millward (16 September 1947 – 2 May 2016) was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. A goal-kicking , he gained a high level of prominence in the sport in England by p ...

MBE, Malcolm Reilly,

Garry Schofield Garry Edward Schofield OBE (born 1 July 1965) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and is a member of the British Rugby League Hall of Fame. At the time of his retirement he was the most ...

Keith Senior Keith Andrew Senior (born 24 April 1976) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Sheffield Eagles and the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League. A Great Britain and England international representative , he is ...

David Topliss David Topliss (29 December 1949 – 16 June 2008), also known by the nickname of "Toppo", was an English Rugby League World Cup, World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and Coach (sport), ...

, Dave Valentine and Adrian Vowles.

References

External links

Albert Goldthorpe
''The Goldthorpe Brothers'', Retrieved 25 May 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldthorpe, Albert 1871 births 1943 deaths English rugby league players English rugby union players Hunslet F.C. (1883) players People from Hunslet Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Leeds Rugby union players from Leeds