Joseph E. Davies (12 July 1864 – 7 October 1943) was a Welsh

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 ...

who played at half-back for

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial Re ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in the late 1880s and early 1890s. He also made seven appearances for the

Welsh national team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth Bal ...

Paying career

Born in

Cefn Mawr Cefn Mawr () is a village in the community of Cefn within Wrexham County Borough, Wales. Its name translates as "big ridge".Mills, D. ''A Dictionary of British Place Names'', OUP, p.104 The population in 2001 was 6,669, increasing to 7,051 in ...

, near

Ruabon Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church ...

, he began his football career with local-based

Druids A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

in 1882. He immediately became a key member of the side which reached the

fifth round Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash th ...

of 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 ...

, going out to

Blackburn Olympic 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 ...

in February 1883. A "solidly built" and totally reliable player, who was "strong in the tackle", his enthusiasm "drew the best out of his colleagues". In 1886, he joined Newton Heath, along with his Druids teammates, brothers

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

and Roger Doughty. He made his competitive debut for the club in their first ever

match against Fleetwood Rangers on 30 October 1886, playing at centre-half. Davies played for Newton Heath for four seasons, making just over 50 competitive appearances and scoring seven goals, including 21 appearances in the

Football Alliance The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92. History In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...

in 1889–90. In August 1890, he was transferred to

of the First Division, where he made his debut on 15 September 1890 in a 4–2 win at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. Wolves reached the final of the FA Cup in

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

, but despite being a regular in the Football League with 18 appearances in 1892–93, Davies was not selected for the final against Everton, with Wolves fielding an all-English side. After the final, Davies made only one further appearance for Wolves and quit them in the summer. Having made 34 league appearances over his three seasons for the club he moved back to Wales to play for Druids again. Davies won his first cap for Wales on 4 February 1888 in a 5–1 loss to

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 ...

at Crewe. He added four more before leaving Newton Heath in 1890, and two final ones during his time at Wolves. He retired from football in 1895 at the age of 31 and became a farmer, keeping a butcher's shop in

until his death there in October 1943.

Family

Three of his brothers also played for Wales: Lloyd (16 appearances),

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

(1 appearance) and

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

(4 appearances).

References

External links

Manchester united profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Joe 1864 births 1943 deaths People from Ruabon Footballers from Wrexham County Borough Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Druids F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players Football Alliance players