Frank Stokes (7 June 1881 – 1945) 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. He made more than 250 appearances 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 ...

playing for

Burslem Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

and Small Heath / Birmingham between 1898 and 1910. In between these two spells, he spent 1901 to 1903 at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and helped the club to finish second in the Southern League in the 1902–03 season. He played in several

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 ...

trials but was never selected.

Career

Burslem Port Vale

Stokes was born in

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. T ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. He joined

from local side Burslem Park in October 1898. He made his debut on 4 March 1899 in a 4–1 win over

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

at the Athletic Ground, and went on to play a further two

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 ...

games in the 1898–99 season. He became a first-team regular in the 1899–1900 campaign, featuring in 32 league and 10 cup games and missing just two league games all season long, he played more matches than any other Vale player. In the 1900–01 season, he again played 32 league games, with just two absences throughout the season. He signed for Southern League club

in the summer of 1901.

Reading

The "Royals" posted a fifth-place finish in 1901–02, before finishing as runners-up to

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 ...

1902–03 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

. He then left

Elm Park Elm Park is a suburban planned community in East London within the London Borough of Havering. Located east-northeast of Charing Cross, it is identified as a district centre in the London Plan with several streets of shops and a priority for r ...

and returned to the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

and the

in 1903 to sign for

Small Heath Small Heath is an area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre. History Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman times, sits on top of a small hill. Th ...

(later renamed Birmingham). The ''

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'' reported that

Small Heath

A muscular yet mobile defender, he formed an excellent full-back pairing with Jack Glover. He went straight into the first-team and played 26 First Division and four

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 ...

games in

1903–04 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

. He was an ever-present in the 35 games

1904–05 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

season and featured 37 times in the

1905–06 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

campaign; the club changed its name to Birmingham F.C. in 1905. He played 38 of the club's 39 games in the

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

season and scored his first goal at

Coventry Road Coventry Road Cricket Ground was a cricket ground in Hinckley, Leicestershire. It was located along Coventry Road to the south, Trinity Lane to the east, with Trinity Vicarage Road to the north. Established in 1946, the ground had a capacity of ...

on 6 October, in a 2–0 win over

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

. In the 1907–08

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

season, the first full season to be played at St Andrew's, he made 29 appearances. He featured in 23 Second Division games in the 1908–09 season and played 21 times in the 1909–10 campaign. In his seven years at the club, he made 213 appearances in all competitions before a serious knee injury forced his retirement.

Career statistics

Source:

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Frank 1881 births 1945 deaths Footballers from Burslem English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Port Vale F.C. players Reading F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Date of death missing Place of death missing