James Osborne (died 23 December 2002) was an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a

left midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Osborne began playing with Plattsburg School. In 1929 Osborne joined Wallsend. After a season with Wallsend he transferred to

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

where he only spent a year before moving back to Wallsend. In 1934 he moved to Granville, staying two seasons before signing for Metters. Osborne played ten seasons for Metters, playing his last season in 1945.

International career

Osborne played seven times for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, captaining the national team once in a friendly against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1938.

Death

Osborne died on 23 December 2002. Before his death he was the oldest living former member of the national team.

References

2002 deaths Australian men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Australia men's international soccer players Year of birth missing Place of birth missing {{Australia-footy-bio-stub