George Arthur Nineham (23 July 1873 – 8 May 1950) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Southampton St. Mary's in the 1890s. He was one of the few locally born players to make the transition from mainly friendly matches to Southern League football.

Football career

Nineham was born in Southampton and joined the recently created Southampton St. Mary's club in late 1892. His first recorded appearance was at inside-right in a Hampshire Senior Cup semi-final match against Portsmouth on 4 February 1893. This match ended 2–0 to "the Saints" who met then arch local rivals,

Freemantle Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England. There are similarly named places in Hampshire: notably Henry II's hunting lodge in Kingsclere; a suburb of Hannington, Hampshire, Hannington; and Freemantle Common in Bitterne. ...

in the final. The Saints had won the trophy in each of the previous two years and were favourites to make it a hat-trick, but Freemantle won the match with a hotly disputed penalty late in the match. In 1893–94, Nineham played in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup, a 3–1 victory against Uxbridge but lost his place to Bob Kiddle for the next match at Reading. Nineham did, however, appear regularly in various local cup competitions, helping the Saints reach three finals, winning the

Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Hampshire. Hampshire teams formed by earlier organisations, principal ...

Charity Cup, defeating the Royal Artillery 5–0 in the final. In

1894 Events January–March * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United S ...

, Southampton were one of the nine founder members of the Southern League, which had been created to enable clubs in southern England, who were not admitted to the Football League to play competitive football on a regular basis. Nineham, who enjoyed taking on and beating defenders, made his league debut in the opening match, playing at

outside-right 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 ...

in a 3–1 victory over

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

on 6 October 1894. In the next match, Southampton met Newbury on 13 October 1894 in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup at the Antelope Ground. Saints were "''in particularly rampant mood''" and won 14–0, with Nineham and

Herbert Ward Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, ...

scoring hat-tricks; this is still Southampton's biggest victory in a competitive match. He made one further FA Cup appearance, scoring twice against Warmley in the fourth qualifying round. His league appearances during the 1894–95 season were fairly infrequent, making seven in total, scoring four goals as the Saints ended their inaugural league season in third place.

Later career

Nineham left St. Mary's in the summer of 1895, to join

. He was employed at Southampton Docks throughout his working life and committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

in May 1950, aged 77.

References

External links

Descendants of James Nineham
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nineham, Arthur 1873 births Footballers from Southampton 1950 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Southampton F.C. players Freemantle F.C. players Southern Football League players Suicides in England 1950 suicides