Eric Senior Worthington (29 December 1925 – 16 November 2006) 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 ...

and football coach 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 ...

. After a playing career which included spells 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 ...

with

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

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, he was appointed the first ever manager of the England women's national team in 1972. He later coached the men's national teams of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. He is a member of Australia's

Football Hall of Fame Football Hall of Fame may refer to: American football *College Football Hall of Fame *Pro Football Hall of Fame, located in Canton, Ohio Association football *English Football Hall of Fame *Football Federation Australia Hall of Fame *National Soc ...

Playing career

After two years at

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

without appearing in the first team, Worthington made his

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 ...

debut with

after joining in August 1949. He combined his duties as a schoolmaster and professional footballer, making 30 appearances for the Hornets over two seasons before dropping into non–league with

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

. A prolific spell with Dover saw a brief return to the league ranks with

in September 1953, before, weeks later, he was back in Kent with

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

while doing a teacher training course. Worthington remained with Margate eight years, overcoming injuries to make 243 appearances in both attack and midfield, scoring 36 goals and captaining the team on occasion. He retired in 1961 to take up a position at

Loughborough College Loughborough College is a general further education college located in Leicestershire, England which offers a range of courses including further education, higher education, apprenticeships and professional qualifications. List of princip ...

Coaching career

Worthington was the original manager of the

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, also known as the Lionesses, have been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first in ...

, taking charge for their first official match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1972. The following year he was appointed director of coaching by Australian Soccer Federation and was tasked with overhauling the entire structure of football coaching in Australia. He was later hailed as an "outstanding servant" and "pioneer", though his administration's apparent preference for British coaches led to allegations of "jobs for the boys" and a "

pommie This glossary of names for the British include nicknames and terms, including affectionate ones, neutral ones, and derogatory ones to describe British people, and more specifically English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish people. Many of th ...

mafia". In 1975 Worthington took charge of the

Australia national soccer team Australia national soccer team may refer to: * Australia men's national soccer team ** Australia men's national under-23 soccer team ** Australia men's national under-20 soccer team ** Australia men's national under-17 soccer team ** Australia ...

for four

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

at B level. Worthington coached the Papua New Guinea national team during their Olympic qualifiers in 1976. He retired as director of coaching in 1989 and his last official role was taking an Australian student select team to his home city of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

for the

1991 Summer Universiade __NOTOC__ The 1991 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XVI Summer Universiade and generally referred to as the World Student Games, were held in Sheffield, England from 14 to 25 July 1991. The Games were the largest sporting event to be ho ...

. He was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...

in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worthington, Eric 1925 births 2006 deaths Footballers from Sheffield English footballers Association football forwards Hendon F.C. players Willesden F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Watford F.C. players Dover F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Margate F.C. players English Football League players English football managers England women's national football team managers Australia national soccer team managers Academics of Loughborough University Expatriate soccer managers in Australia