Josiah "Joe" Reader (27 February 1866 – 8 March 1954) 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. He spent his entire professional career with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

and served the club as a player, coach and steward for a total of 65 years. He made one appearance 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 ...

in a 2–2 draw against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

on 3 March 1894.

Biography

Reader was 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 ...

, where he attended Beeches Road School and St Phillips School. He joined

as an amateur in January 1885 and turned professional in August of the same year. Reader made his league debut in October 1889 in a Division One match away to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

. He won an FA Cup winners medal with Albion when they beat Villa 3–0 in the 1892 final. In 1894 he won his only

cap, in a 2–2 draw with

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

. He helped Albion reach the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

once more in 1895, but this time was on the losing side as Aston Villa won 1–0. Following Albion's move to

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of Championship club West Bromwich Albion since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the clu ...

in 1900, Reader became the only player to have represented the club in a competitive match at three different grounds, namely Four Acres, Stoney Lane and The Hawthorns. After 370 senior appearances for Albion, Reader retired from playing football due to illness in April 1901. He then took up the role of trainer-coach at the club, and later became a ground steward at

until 1950. He died in West Bromwich in March 1954, aged 88.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reader, Joe 1866 births 1954 deaths Sportspeople from West Bromwich English footballers England international footballers Association football goalkeepers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players English Football League representative players FA Cup Final players