Frederick Ralph Forman (8 November 1873 – 14 June 1910) 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 was one of three members of the same family who started his professional career with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

before joining

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and going on to play for

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 ...

, for whom he made three appearances (scoring three times).

Playing career

Forman was born in

Aston-on-Trent Aston-on-Trent is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district, in the county of Derbyshire, England. The parish had a population of 1,682 at the 2011 Census. It is adjacent to Weston-on-Trent and near Chellaston, very close to th ...

, Derbyshire, the elder brother of

Frank Forman Frank Forman (23 May 1875 – 4 December 1961) was an English professional association football, footballer, who was one of three members of the same family who started his professional career with Derby County F.C., Derby County before joining ...

and uncle to

Harry Linacre James Henry Linacre (20 June 1880 – 11 May 1957) was an English professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and who was one of three members of the same family who started his pr ...

and all three followed a similar career path. Forman played youth football for the local village side before moving up to Beeston Town, where he was spotted by

. County signed him in January 1892 but, after only making only four appearances, he was transferred to

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

rivals

in 1894, where he was soon joined by his brother.

Nottingham Forest

Fred Forman made his debut for Nottingham Forest in the

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...

on 15 February 1894 in the 3–1 victory against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

at the Town Ground. His league debut was next season on 22 September 1894 against Everton also at the Town Ground. He soon became an established player on the wings for Forest, putting in the crosses for centre-forwards Tom McInnes and

Charlie Richards Charles Henry Richards (9 August 1875 – ?) was a professional footballer most notable for playing almost 100 matches for Grimsby Town. Born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, Richards began his career as an inside right with Derb ...

, contributing a handful of goals each season as Forest finished each season in mid-table. Illness and injury restricted his appearances in 1897–98 and he played no part in Forest's

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 ...

success in which they defeated Forman's former club, Derby County in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

3–1. Forman continued to appear regularly for Forest over the next few seasons, until he retired in 1903, after making a total of 181 appearances, scoring forty goals.

England

By the end of the following season (1898–99), he was restored to fitness and was selected for all three

matches in the

1899 British Home Championship Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

, in all of which he played at outside right with his brother

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...

wing half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He made his international debut in the match against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, played at

Roker Park Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated; ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

on 2 March 1899 when he and Frank became the first brothers from the same professional club to represent England at the same time, a record that stood until Manchester United's Neville

brothers A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

repeated the feat in 1996, nearly a century later. England totally dominated the Irish team and the England forwards "''scored at will''" with four from Gilbert Smith, three from

Jimmy Settle James Settle (5 September 1875 – 1 June 1954) was an English professional footballer. A fast-paced inside or outside right, he could have chosen sprinting if he had not taken up football. Settle played for Bolton Wanderers and Bury before joi ...

and two each from Fred Forman and

Steve Bloomer Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem " Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played at ...

. Frank Forman also got on the score-sheet with the opening goal as England ran out victors by a 13–2 margin. This is still the record number of goals scored by England in a single match and the highest aggregate goals (15) in a game involving England. Forman retained his place for the next match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, played at Ashton Gate, Bristol on 20 March when he scored the third goal in a 4–0 victory, with two from Bloomer. In his third and final appearance, England defeated

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 ...

2–1, and thus England retained the Championship. Fred Forman went on the Unofficial FA Tour of Germany in November 1899. He played in 3 of the 4 games and scored 4 goals.

Career post football

After retiring from football, he pursued his profession as a railway draughtsman. He died at

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, i ...

on 14 June 1910, aged 36.

Career statistics

Club

International

:Source:

International goals

''England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Fred Forman goal.''

References

External links

*
Profile on www.englandfc.com

Article on "You and Yesterday"

Nottingham Forest career summary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forman, Fred 1873 births 1910 deaths People from Aston-on-Trent Footballers from Derbyshire English men's footballers England men's international footballers Derby County F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football inside forwards