John Bertram Wood, better known as Jack Wood (20 October 1872 – 10 October 1921), was an English

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 ...

and

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

. He is best known for being the fundamental head behind the foundation of French club White Rovers in 1891, one of the first football clubs in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and then serving the club as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

between 1891 and 1896. He then became a referee and officiated at the football tournament of the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 1 ...

, in which he oversaw a match between the representative sides of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He also refereed a match between the official sides of those two nations on 22 April 1906. His brother Tom also played for White Rovers.

Biography

Born in

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

in 1872, he began to play football in North London. In October 1891, when he arrived in Paris to continue his education, one of his first priorities was to form a football club in the French capital (since there was practically none at the time), so he could organize and play football in his new home. Within a few months of his arrival in his new country, Jack Wood and his brother Tom, together with other football pioneers in the city, mostly made up of Anglo-British and Americans, formed the ''White Rovers Football Club'' after a meeting at the Café Français on rue Pasquier in Paris, where they voted narrowly to play association football rather than rugby rules, thus founding one of the first football club in Paris. They were named the White Rovers because of the white shirts they wore. White Rovers was one of the most important clubs in the amateur beginnings of football in France, being one of the six football clubs that participated in France's first-ever football championship in 1894, in which they faced Standard AC 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 ...

, but despite Wood captaining by example and scoring once in a 2–2 draw, the Rovers ended as runners-up after losing the replay 0–2. Wood also played for Standard AC and

Club Français Club Français was a French association football club based in Paris which was founded in 1890. Club Français won the 1896 USFSA Football Championship and Coupe de France Final 1931. In 1900 the USFSA elected players from Club Français to ...

, before retiring and becoming a referee. He officiated in one of the only two games at the 1900 Paris Olympics, between a French side represented by

USFSA U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee "USOPC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act an ...

and a Belgian side made up almost entirely of students of the University of Brussels, which ended in a 6–2 win for the French side. He was also in charge of the 1902 USFSA Football Championship final between

RC Roubaix Racing Club de Roubaix was a French association football team that played in Roubaix, Nord. History The team was founded in 1895 and was very successful before the establishment of professionalism in France. In 1933, after losing twice in a ...

and RC de France, which ended in a 3–3 draw, so he decided to play

extra-time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

for 15 minutes. However, the winning goal was only scored in the sixth extra-time, after nearly three hours of play. He also referred the 1903 Coupe Dewar Final, in which US Suisse Paris beat Club Français 4–3 after extra time. He also oversaw the

of the 1905 USFSA Football Championship between Gallia Club Paris and

, which ended in a 1–o win to the former. Wood refereed his first and last international match on 22 April 1906, in a meeting between France and Belgium at

Stade Français Stade Français Paris Rugby () is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The ...

, ending in a 5–0 win to the latter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Jack 1872 births 1921 deaths English footballers Association football midfielders English football referees Olympic football referees English referees and umpires English expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France English expatriate footballers