Arthur Grenville Morris (13 April 1877 – 27 November 1959) was a Welsh

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

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 ...

. He is the club's all-time highest scorer with 217 goals. He also played for

Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional Association football, football team, currently playing in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of football in Wales. They are the only top flight men ...

and

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

, and represented

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 ...

internationally, earning 21 caps between 1896 and 1912.

Club career

Usually just known as Grenville Morris, he was born in

Builth Wells Builth Wells (; cy, Llanfair-ym-Muallt) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of ...

, Wales. He was educated at

Ellesmere College Ellesmere College is a fully Independent school (United Kingdom), independent co-educational day and boarding school set in rural northern Shropshire, located near the market town of Ellesmere, Shropshire, Ellesmere. Belonging to the Woodard Corpor ...

, Shropshire from May 1892 to December 1893. Morris began playing football for his local team, Builth Wells F.C. He was still recorded as playing for this team (described as "Builth Football Club" in the press) in the ''Brecon County Times,'' of 29 December 1893, scoring a goal in a 4–1 win over Brecon. By January 1894, he was playing for

. Morris scored 111 goals for the team in 75 appearances. He moved from

making his debut on 6 February 1897. At this time Swindon played in both the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

, and the

Western Football League The Western Football League is a football league in South West England, covering Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, western Dorset, parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The league's current main sponsor is Toolstation, so it is also known as ...

. Grenville scored on his debut for Swindon in a game away against North Fleet in the Southern League. He then scored a goal in the game at home to New Brompton in the same league a week later. He went on to play 50 games for the Robins in all competitions, scoring 44 goals. This total consisted of 31 appearances in the Southern League, scoring 23 goals. Sixteen appearances in the Western League, scoring 20 goals. And three appearances in the FA Cup, with 1 goal. He was one of the greatest players of his generation and was known as ''The Prince of the Inside-Lefts''. Morris moved on to

in 1898 for a sum of £200. He still holds Forest's all-time goal scoring record with 217 in all competitions.

International

On 29 February 1896, at the age of 18 years and 321 days old"Wales national football team statistics and records: youngest players".
Via 11v11.com. Retrieved 4 October 2021. he won his first full international Welsh cap against Ireland, scoring a goal in a 6–1 victory. It took place at the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home i ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. Morris went on to play 21 times for his country, the last 16 of which were whilst he was with Forest. His last Welsh cap came on 11 March 1912 against England. He scored a total of nine goals in international football.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;Nottingham Forest *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

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 ...

References

External links

Aberystwyth career profile

Ellesmere College, Shropshire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Grenville 1877 births 1959 deaths People from Builth Wells Sportspeople from Powys Welsh footballers Wales international footballers Nottingham Forest F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Association football forwards Aberystwyth Town F.C. players Builth Wells F.C. players