Herbert James Leopold "Rigger" Coates (29 September 1901 – 25 October 1965) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 an

inside 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 ...

for

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 ...

in the 1920s and 1930s.

Royal Navy

Coates was born in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, where he served on the

Royal Yacht A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head. The royal yacht is most often c ...

"''Victoria and Albert''". He represented the Royal Navy at football at an amateur level, but in October 1927 he joined

of the

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 ...

Southampton

He made his Southampton debut away to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

on 27 October 1928, replacing the ageing

Charlie Petrie Charles Petrie (8 August 1895 – 8 March 1972) was an English professional footballer who played at inside-left for various clubs in the 1920s. Football career Petrie was born in West Gorton, Manchester and played as a youth for the nearby Ope ...

at inside-left. After six matches, in which he failed to score, he was replaced by

Dick Rowley Richard William Morris Rowley DCM (13 January 1904 – 18 April 1984) was an Irish professional footballer who played as an inside-forward or centre-forward for Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Preston North End in the English Football L ...

. His duties on the Royal Yacht tended to restrict his appearances, but by the end of the season he had made 14 appearances, scoring seven goals (including one in each of his last five appearances), as the Saints finished fourth in the table, their highest League finish to date. In the following season, he was a regular starter until early March, with

Peter Dougall Peter Dougall (21 March 1909 – 12 June 1974) was a Scottish footballer who played at inside left for various clubs in the 1920s and 1930s. He later managed in the Netherlands. Football career Dougall was born in Denny, Stirlingshire and play ...

generally filling in when Coates was not available; Coates made a total of 25 appearances during the season, with four goals. He played for the "Amateurs" in the

1929 FA Charity Shield The 1929 FA Charity Shield was the 16th FA Charity Shield, an annual football match. It was played between the Professionals and the Amateurs at The Den, New Cross in London on 7 October 1929. The Professionals won the match 3–0. Teams Matc ...

. For the 1930–31 season, he was restricted to sixteen appearances, most of which came in a spell between late September and December in which he scored seven goals, including two in a 5–0 victory over

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

on 13 December. Coates made a total of eight appearances for the

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 ...

amateur international side, the last of which came against Scotland in 1931. He was described by one of his teammates as:

"One of the finest inside lefts that ever wore an England Amateur jersey, and his clever dribbling, his brilliant anticipation and his terrific shots more than compensated for the fact that his play may have been a bit on the showy side."

For the 1931–32 season, Arthur Wilson had taken over from Dougall as the regular inside-left, but Coates did manage a run of seven games between September and November, plus three later appearances across the forward line. At the end of the season, both Dougall and Wilson had left the club and Coates hardly missed a match in 1932–33 (making 30 appearances) until April, when

Tom Ruddy Thomas Ruddy (1 March 1902 – 11 November 1979) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside-forward for Darlington, Derby County, Chesterfield and Southampton in the 1920s and 1930s. Football career Ruddy was born in St ...

replaced him. In a league match at

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 ...

on 15 October 1932, Coates had to deputise in goal for

Bert Scriven Herbert Richard Scriven (2 February 1908 – 2001) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Southampton in the 1930s. Football career Scriven was born in Winsor on the edge of the New Forest and started his football ...

when he was injured. The "''Football Echo''" reported that "''Coates was tucking his jersey into his shorts when Bradford scored immediately following the restart and before the amateur was ready''" – this was the only goal of the game. After a further four appearances early in the 1933–34 season, Coates moved to

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

and was an FA Amateur Cup finalist with them that season. Samuel, Richard (2003). The Complete F.A. Amateur Cup Results Book. Soccer Books Limited, p.40. ISBN 1-86223-066-8 Leyton were then a top amateur side, playing in the

Athenian League The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...

Later career

Coates continued to play for the Royal Navy until 1937. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he settled in the

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

area where he became the manager of a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

in 1945. He later worked for the

Southern Electricity Board Southern Electric plc was a public limited energy company in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998, when it merged with Scottish Hydro-Electric plc to form Scottish and Southern Energy plc (now SSE plc). The company had its origins in the so ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coates, Herbert 1901 births 1965 deaths Footballers from West Ham English men's footballers English Football League players Southampton F.C. players Royal Navy sailors Leyton F.C. players Men's association football forwards 20th-century Royal Navy personnel