Charles Boyd Hare (16 March 1870 – 10 August 1947) 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 in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, Woolwich Arsenal and Small Heath in the 1890s. An inside forward or

centre 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 ...

, he also represented

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in the Southern League.

Life and career

Born in Ladywood,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, Hare played in

in the 1890s for

, contributing to their first league title in the 1893–94 season. He was transferred to Woolwich Arsenal in February 1895 and made his debut for the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side on 9 March 1895 against Leicester Fosse, which ended as a 3–3 draw. In one-and-a-half seasons at the club he was in and out of the side, mainly playing at inside forward, although he also deputised for Joe Powell at

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 ...

. With 20 appearances and 7 goals to his name for Woolwich Arsenal, in November 1896 he moved to Small Heath. He then played for

in the Southern League, and is joint holder of the club record for most

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

goals in a season, with seven in the 1899–1900 campaign. Hare served in South Africa during the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

. On his return he tried to revive his career with

in the Southern League, but with little success, and he left the professional game in 1904. He ran a hotel in Liskeard,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, before returning to Birmingham where he died in 1947.

Honours

Aston Villa *

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 ...

champions: 1893–94

References

1870 births 1947 deaths Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English footballers Men's association football forwards Warwick County F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players British Army personnel of the Second Boer War People from Ladywood {{England-footy-forward-1870s-stub