Ivan Gordon Sharpe (15 June 1889 – 9 February 1968) was an English amateur

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 ...

. Although an amateur himself, he played for several professional clubs, including

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 ...

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 ...

— with whom he won the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

in 1911–12–and later

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. He represented the

England national amateur football team The England national amateur football team was the amateur representative team for England at football. It was formed in 1901, due to the growth of the professional game which meant that amateur players could no longer easily find places in the ...

, and also the

Great Britain Olympic football team The Great Britain men's Olympic football team is the men's football team that represents the United Kingdom at the Summer Olympic Games (where it competes as Great Britain, currently branded Team GB). The team is organised by the English Footb ...

, with whom he won an Olympic gold medal at the 1912 games in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. He is also one of very few players to have played for both

Leeds City Leeds City Football Club was the leading professional club in Leeds, England, before the First World War. It was dissolved in 1919 due to financial irregularities, after which Leeds United was established as a replacement. History The club was ...

(65 appearances and 17 goals) and

(1 appearance 0 goals). After retirement he enjoyed a long career as a sports journalist, becoming president of the

Football Writers Association The Football Writers' Association (FWA) is an association of football journalists and correspondents writing for English newspapers and agencies. It presents the Footballer of the Year Award, the oldest and most distinguished award given in the d ...

. He served as editor of the

Athletic News Football Annual The ''Nationwide Football Annual'' is a compact British football reference book which is produced at the start of each football season. It contains information from the previous football season, and also contains updated records going back to the b ...

and also of the

Athletic News Cricket Annual The ''Athletic News Cricket Annual'' was one of several sporting annuals published initially by the ''Athletic News'', a Manchester-based newspaper devoted almost entirely to reporting sports events. It was first issued in 1888 and it had reached ...

. In 1936 he was selected by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

to be one of two journalists (the other being Norman Creek) who for the first time provided live commentary on the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

. He continued to contribute a hard-hitting article to the

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

match day programme for many years right up to his death. He produced a volume of memoirs "40 Years in Football" in 1954, as well as writing "Soccer Top Ten" in 1962, detailing his ten favourite players.

International goals

:''England Amateurs score listed first, score column indicates score after each Sharpe goal.''

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharpe, Ivan 1889 births 1968 deaths English footballers England amateur international footballers Watford F.C. players Glossop North End A.F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Leeds City F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Footballers at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Great Britain English Olympic medallists Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Southern Football League players English Football League players Olympic medalists in football English sportswriters Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Association football wingers Sportspeople from St Albans