Joseph James Rogers (born 1876) was an English professional footballer who played either as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

or full back for Southampton, Grimsby Town and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

Football career

Born in Foleshill, near Coventry (then in Warwickshire), Rogers was playing for

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

when he was signed by Southampton in December 1894, midway through the inaugural Southern League season. Shortly after joining "the Saints" he scored ten goals in a friendly match against the Wiltshire Regiment, which was won 13–0 on a quagmire of a pitch at Southampton's Antelope Ground. He made his first few league appearances at either

centre forward 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 ...

or inside forward before Southampton's coaches persuaded him to play as a full back. In this position "''his speed, control and kicking ability came in useful''", but Rogers soon became unsettled on the south coast and moved to Grimsby Town in May 1896. In his two seasons with Southampton, he made 15 Southern League appearances, scoring twice. He spent two seasons at Grimsby in the Football League Second Division scoring quite prolifically, reaching third place in the table in 1896–97. In these two seasons he played 53 league games, scoring 23 goals. In 1898 he moved to

who had just been promoted to the First Division. He made such an impression in Newcastle's first two First Division seasons that he was selected to join a FA tour of Germany, scoring five goals in one of the three matches in which he appeared. He was thus Newcastle's first "international" player. He moved on to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

in January 1901 for two seasons before taking up a coaching post in Germany. He subsequently returned to Grimsby where he joined Grimsby Town's coaching staff in 1906.

References

External links

Newcastle United profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Joe 1876 births Date of death unknown Footballers from Warwickshire Footballers from Coventry English men's footballers Southern Football League players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Men's association football defenders Men's association football forwards