Robert John Roberts (9 April 1859 – 20 October 1929) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He spent the majority of his career at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, with whom he won an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

winner's medal, and also played for Sunderland Albion and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He won three caps for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and is the first West Bromwich Albion player to have appeared at international level. He was nicknamed ''Long Bob'' and ''The Prince of Goalkeepers''.

Club career

Amateur years

Roberts was born in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...

as one of five children to James Roberts in April 1859. After leaving Christ Church school Bob became a

plasterer A plasterer is a tradesman who works with plaster, such as forming a layer of plaster on an interior wall or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering, has been used in buildin ...

by trade, while his interest in sport led him to join the George Salter's Spring Works football team, the West Bromwich Strollers. On 23 November 1878 Roberts played in the first recorded Strollers game, a 12-a-side friendly against Hudson's soap factory that finished 0–0. Roberts continued to play for the club after they changed their name to West Bromwich Albion in 1880. He played in various positions, including full-back, half-back and forward, and there is record of him scoring against Smethwick Holy Trinity in February 1880 in a 3–0 victory. However, he was generally not a success as an outfield player, one observer describing him thus: Roberts kept goal for the first time during the 1880–81 season. His first match between the posts appears to have taken place on either 18 December 1880 against Wednesbury Royal George, or else on 29 January 1881 against Hockley Belmont. He helped Albion reach the semi-final of the

Birmingham Senior Cup The Birmingham Senior Cup is a regional Association football, football competition for Birmingham County FA club teams, organised by the Birmingham County Football Association. It began in 1876 and is the oldest County Football Association, count ...

in both 1881–82 and 1882–83. In the latter season the club won their first trophy, the

Staffordshire Senior Cup The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup is a football cup tournament based in the county of Staffordshire in England first competed for in 1877–78 (then under Sheffield Rules. Organised by the Staffordshire Football Association, it is competed ...

, beating

Stoke Stoke may refer to: Places Canada * Stoke, Quebec New Zealand * Stoke, New Zealand United Kingdom Berkshire * Stoke Row Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stoke Gifford * Bradley Stoke * Little Stoke * Harry Stoke * Stoke Lodge Bucking ...

3–2 in the final. According to the newspaper ''The Athlete'', Roberts could take "a lot of credit for the win by his fine keeping". In 1885 Albion reached the FA Cup quarter-final, but lost 2–0 to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

; Roberts was unable to participate in the match due to " rheumatics".

Professional era

With the legalisation of professionalism in the summer of 1885, Roberts and his teammates all became professional players in 1885–86, and proceeded to win both the Birmingham and Staffordshire cups. Albion lost to Blackburn Rovers (via a replay) in the 1886 FA Cup Final, the first of three successive

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

s in which Roberts played. He received another runners-up medal the following year as Albion were defeated 1–0 by rivals

in the 1887 final. During the cup run he is credited with scoring a goal from a long kick downfield against Derby Junction. Twelve months later he helped his team to victory in the 2–1 win over

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

in the 1888 final. His performance for Albion was described as "most remarkable" by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', while ''

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'' said that his keeping was "brilliant all through the game". Later that year Roberts played in the "Championship of the World" match, which pitted the English FA Cup holders against the winners of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Renton at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

. Roberts played in Albion's first ever

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

match on 8 September 1888, keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

in the 2–0 victory over Stoke (the match was played at

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

(registration & fee required)). His appearance made him one of only two players (alongside Ezra Horton) to have played in both Albion's first FA Cup game and their first league game. He was ever-present in that first league season of 1888–89, making 22 appearances and keeping four clean sheets (and kept the opposition to one-in-a-match on four separate occasions. When Bob Roberts played as goalkeeper on 13 October 1888 against

he was 29 years 187 days old; that made him, on that sixth weekend of League football, West Bromwich Albion' oldest player.). In October 1889 he was suspended by

the FA The Football Association (the FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsibl ...

for four matches, after he took part in an unsanctioned match at Walsall. Roberts made 84 appearances in the league and the FA Cup during his Albion career; taking into account friendlies and local cup competitions, he appeared around 400 times for the club. In May 1890 Roberts moved on a free transfer to Sunderland Albion; their offer of 50

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s per game was one that West Bromwich were unable to match. He failed to settle in the

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

, enduring homesickness as well as his wife's illness. On the pitch however, he helped Sunderland Albion finish as runners-up in the

Football Alliance The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92. History In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...

and was ever-present in the league. He returned to West Bromwich Albion on another free transfer in May 1891, and was initially given his place back, at the expense of Joe Reader. By this time however, Roberts' wife was seriously ill and she died in October 1891. Goalkeeping duties were alternated, and as Roberts' form declined further, Reader won his place back permanently. Roberts thus played no part in Albion's 1892 FA Cup Final win over

, and left Albion to join Villa at the end of the season, again for no transfer fee. Villa director William McGregor said that Roberts was "Unquestionably the finest goalkeeper of his time". After playing in just four games for Villa, Roberts retired from playing football in June 1893. He moved back to the North East, where he settled for the remainder of his life, working as a plasterer, and died in

Byker Byker is a district in the east of the City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. Home to the Byker Wall estate, made famous by TV series ''Byker Grove'', By ...

on 20 October 1929.

International career

On 19 March 1887, Roberts made his debut for

; in doing so he became West Bromwich Albion's first ever international player. England lost 3–2 to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the match, which was played at

Leamington Road Leamington Road was a football ground in Blackburn in England. It was the home ground of Blackburn Rovers between 1881 and 1890. History Blackburn Rovers moved to Leamington Road from their Alexandra Meadows ground in 1881.Paul Smith & Shirley ...

ground. He was so proud of winning his first England

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

that he wore it in every subsequent match in which he played. He won two further caps for his country in 1888 and 1890 respectively, on both occasions lining up against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. England were victorious in both matches, in the latter by a 9–1 scoreline. Roberts won various other representative honours during his career, including an appearance for the Birmingham FA in their 4–1 win against the

Sheffield FA The Sheffield and Hallamshire Football Association is a County Football Association in England. It was formed in Sheffield in 1867 as the Sheffield Football Association, and is the second-oldest football governing body after the Football Assoc ...

. He also turned out for the Players v Gentlemen match at the

Kennington Oval Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

and played in a county match for

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. When he represented Birmingham for a match against Glasgow, such was his popularity that "dozens, possibly even hundreds" of West Bromwich Albion supporters neglected their own team's match against Walsall Swifts to watch him play.

Honours

;

winners:

1888 Events January * January 3 – The great telescope (with an objective lens of diameter) at Lick Observatory in California is first used. * January 12 – The Schoolhouse Blizzard hits Dakota Territory and the states of Montana, M ...

runners-up:

1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...

and

1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Bob 1859 births 1929 deaths Footballers from West Bromwich English men's footballers England men's international footballers English Football League players Football Alliance players Men's association football goalkeepers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Sunderland Albion F.C. players