Joseph Little (25 January 1902 – 1965) 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 ...

who made 95 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

playing at

outside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

left half 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 ...

for

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

and

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

in the 1920s. He also played

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for Castleford Town.

Life and career

Little was born in Leeds, and began his senior football career with

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History Th ...

club Castleford Town. Together with teammates Walter Cook and

Cecil Eastwood Cecil Milner Eastwood (7 May 1894 – 1968) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle, Preston North End and Stoke City. Career Eastwood was born in Castleford and began his career with Plymouth Argyle in ...

, he transferred to

in May 1920, ahead of the club's first season in the newly formed

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

. The players were allowed to remain with Castleford to play in the remaining rounds of the West Riding Senior Cup; they won the semifinal, but lost 3–1 to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

in the final. He made his Football League debut on 8 September for an injury-hit Argyle team at home to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

, forming a new left-wing pairing with Billy Kellock; the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' reporter felt their inclusion "did not improve the combination" between the forwards. Little himself was injured during the match, and did not play again that season. Cartilage problems in both knees restricted him to just seven appearances in four seasons – the ''

Derby Daily Telegraph The ''Derby Telegraph'', formerly the ''Derby Evening Telegraph'', is a daily tabloid newspaper distributed in the Derby area of England. Stories produced by the Derby Telegraph team are published online under the Derbyshire Live brand. Histor ...

'' described him as "well known in the South as one of the unluckiest men who ever received a pay packet from the Plymouth Argyle club" – and he was made available on a free transfer in 1924. Restored to fitness, Little signed for

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

early in the 1925–26 season. He enjoyed regular football, with 13 goals from 62 league appearances by the end of the following season, when the team were relegated to the third tier. In August 1927 he moved on to

of the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

. He contributed one goal from two appearances as Bradford won the title and promotion to the Second Division. The club re-signed him for the coming season, but he appeared only in the reserve team, and he moved on to

at the end of the 1928–29 season. He scored on debut for Rotherham, in a 5–4 defeat away to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

, and played 24 times for the club, initially in his usual position of left-sided forward, and later at

. Little died in 1965.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Joe 1902 births 1965 deaths Footballers from Leeds English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders Castleford Town F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Midland Football League players Date of death missing Place of death missing