James Brown (31 July 1862 – 4 July 1922) 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 ...

of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

Playing career

Born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, he played for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

and was part of the team that won the

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 ...

in three successive seasons between 1884 and 1886 (captaining the side in 1885 and 1886), as well as appearing on the side which lost in

1882 Events January–March * January 2 ** The Standard Oil Trust is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates. ** Irish-born author Oscar Wilde arrives in ...

. He scored goals in both the

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 – ...

and

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

cup finals. Brown had a break from football from 1886-1888 but returned to Rovers to play in the inaugural Football League season of 1888–1889. Brown made his League debut at outside-left on 17 November 1888 at

Leamington Road Leamington Road was a football ground in Blackburn in England. It was the home ground of Blackburn Rovers between 1881 and 1890. History Blackburn Rovers moved to Leamington Road from their Alexandra Meadows ground in 1881.Paul Smith & Shirley S ...

, Blackburn as Rovers took on top team rivals

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Rovers were superb and won 5–1. However, those Rovers fans who thought that Brown would re-produce his dribbling skills, delicate touch, devastating pace and eye for goal were unduly optimistic. Brown played only 3 more matches after his debut from 1 December 1888 until 29 December 1888. He played once at centre-forward and twice at inside left. Brown retired from football in 1889 having played a small part in assisting Rovers to finish 4th in the League.

International career

Brown was capped on five occasions by the England national team. His debut was 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 ...

on 26 February 1881. He was 18 years and 210 days old making him the 10th youngest player for England of all time. He scored his first goal 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 ...

on 18 February 1882. His last cap was versus

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 ...

on 21 March 1885. He scored three goals in total for England.

References

External links

English footballers Association football inside forwards Blackburn Rovers F.C. players 1862 births 1922 deaths Footballers from Blackburn England international footballers FA Cup Final players {{england-footy-forward-1860s-stub