Jesse Pennington (23 August 1883 – 5 September 1970) 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 ...

in the early part of the 20th century. He was nicknamed "Peerless Pennington".

Career

Born in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, c ...

, Pennington was a left-back for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

for 19 years, from March 1903 to May 1922. Although his career was interrupted by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Pennington made 455 league appearances for the club, captaining them to the league title in 1919–1920. He had also been a part of the team promoted from the Second Division in 1911 and had received an

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 ...

runners-up medal in 1912. During

, with regular league play suspended, Pennington was employed in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

to work in a munitions factory. While in the city he made a number of guest appearances for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

in the 1918–19 Football League Midland Section, a temporary wartime division operating while the main league was suspended. On the international front, Pennington earned 25

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

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 ...

between 18 March 1907 and 10 April 1920, captaining the side in his last two matches. At the time of his final cap he was, at 36 years and 231 days, England's oldest capped outfield player. This record has since been exceeded by

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...

, Leslie Compton and Stuart Pearce. After retiring, he worked as a scout for West Bromwich Albion from 1950 to 1960 and was made a life member of the club in 1969, a year before he died in

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...

. Pennington was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations in 2004. Until the shop was bought by the Co-operative in 1934, Pennington also owned a fishing tackle shop at 33 Smethwick High Street, where his family had lived since 1911.

The Bioletti scandal

In 1913, Pennington was approached by

Pascoe Bioletti Pascoe Bioletti (''fl.'' 1913–1914) was an English criminal who attempted to influence the results of English football games. Pascoe's son, William Alfred Bioletti, was operator of a football betting business in Geneva. In 1913, Bioletti approac ...

who offered £5 per player for Albion corruptly to endeavour not to win their forthcoming game against Everton on 29 November. ''p.''5 Pascoe's son, William Alfred Bioletti, was operator of a football betting business in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

. Pennington alerted the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

and after the game, which ended in a draw, he met Bioletti, ostensibly for the payoff, at which point the police moved in to arrest Bioletti. Bioletti was sentenced to five months' imprisonment in 1914.

Honours

West Bromwich Albion * Football League First Division: 1919–20 *

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 t ...

: 1901-02, 1910-11 *

: runner-up: 1912 * FA Charity Shield: 1920

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pennington, Jesse 1883 births 1970 deaths English footballers Association football fullbacks England international footballers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Coventry City F.C. wartime guest players Sportspeople from West Bromwich English Football League players English Football League representative players FA Cup Final players