Arthur Coates (10 August 1882 – 13 March 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 played as a full-back for various clubs in the early years of the 20th century.

Football career

Coates was born in

Feetham Feetham is a hamlet opposite Low Row in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. The origin of the place-name is from Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects bef ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

but started his football career in the

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

area, first with Salford United before joining Heywood United of the

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 it ...

. In 1910, he was spotted by former

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international

Arthur Chadwick Arthur Chadwick (July 1875 – 21 March 1936) was a professional footballer whose playing career as a centre-half included spells at Portsmouth and Southampton, before going on to be manager at Exeter City, Reading and Southampton. He also mad ...

, then manager of Southern League team

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. After a season at Exeter, Coates moved along the south coast to join fellow Southern League team,

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 ...

as a replacement for

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Jack Eastham who had just retired. Coates made his debut for the "Saints" in the opening match of the 1912–13 season, a 2–2 draw with

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 ...

. Nine matches into the season, he lost his place to the veteran

Bert Lee William Herbert Lee (11 June 1880 – 23 January 1946) was an English songwriter. He wrote for music hall and the musical stage, often in partnership with R. P. Weston. Life and career Lee was born in Ravensthorpe, Yorkshire, England.Richard A ...

but returned in December. Despite showing "''early promise''", his form faded as the season went on and in March he was dropped in favour of

Richard Brooks Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, Oscars in his career, he was best known for ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), ''Cat on a ...

. In the summer of 1913, Coates was released and returned to Lancashire to re-join Heywood United.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coates, Arthur 1882 births 1955 deaths Footballers from North Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Salford United F.C. players Heywood United F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Southern Football League players