Alfred Ward (1885 – August 1926) was an English

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 played as an

outside-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for various clubs in the 1900s.

Football career

Ward was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire and played as a youth for the village team at nearby

Clowne Clowne is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2001 Census was 7,447 increasing to 7,590 (and including Harlesthorpe) at the 2011 Census. It forms part of the Bolsover constituency. ...

, from where he joined Notts County of the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

in October 1903. He made eight first-team appearances for Notts County before moving to the south coast to join Brighton & Hove Albion of the Southern League in May 1904. The following summer, he moved to Scotland to join Aberdeen, who had just been elected to join an expanded Scottish Football League First Division. Ward spent two seasons at Pittodrie, in both of which the "Dons" finished 12th in the league. He then returned to England in 1907, to join

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

who, despite being based in Yorkshire, had been elected to join the Southern League. The following summer, he returned to the south coast to join another Southern League club, Southampton. He joined the "Saints" 1908 summer tour of Europe; at Leipzig, in the final match of the tour, Ward displaced the cartilage of his right knee. On his return to England, he underwent three operations on his knee in an effort to repair the injury. By January 1909, he had recovered sufficiently to make his league debut in place of

Frank Jefferis Frank Jefferis (3 July 1884 – 21 May 1938) was an English footballer. Playing career He initially played football for his local non-league team, Fordingbridge Turks, before being invited for a trial at The Dell by Southampton of the Southe ...

, when he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. Still troubled with his knee, he only managed three further first-team matches before deciding to retire in the summer of 1909. Ward died in Burton-on-Trent,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, in August 1926.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Alf 1885 births 1926 deaths People from Eastwood, Nottinghamshire Footballers from Nottinghamshire English men's footballers Men's association football defenders English Football League players Southern Football League players Scottish Football League players Notts County F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Southampton F.C. players