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 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 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