John Mitchell was a

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 as a full-back with Doncaster Rovers, Newton Heath LYR and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

in the late 19th century. He played in Doncaster's first match in 1879, and for Bolton on the first day of the inaugural season of

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 ...

1888 In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late ...

. He was born in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, probably in 1861, and died on 22 July 1938, also in Doncaster, from burns sustained at his home.

Career

Mitchell played at left-back in the first match Doncaster Rovers played under that name, at Rawmarsh on 3 October 1879. He scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in the first game of the 1881–82 season at Frodingham and Scunthorpe Town, and at least one other goal in a 12−a−side meeting at Bentley Trinity in 1880. While Mitchell was with Doncaster, their matches were all

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

, mainly against teams in the south of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

or very north of the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

, and at least half of the goal scorers were unrecorded. At the beginning of the 1883–84 season, he was made team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, replacing the club's founder, Albert Jenkins, and was present in the side until Doncaster played Newton Heath LYR in a 2–2 draw on 7 February 1885. Newton Heath signed him soon after that game. As football was predominantly amateur in those days, they also found him a job in the railway carriage shops of the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

, from where the club had originated. In July 1888, he briefly moved to Bolton Wanderers. John Mitchell made his League and Club debut on 8 September 1888, playing at full-back, at Pike's Lane, then home of Bolton Wanderers. The opposition were Derby County and Bolton Wanderers lost the match 6–3. When Mitchell played at full-back on 15 September 1888 against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, he was approximately 27 years and 123 days old; that made him, on that second weekend of league football, Bolton Wanderers' oldest player. John Mitchell lost the title of oldest player to

Bethel Robinson Bethell Robinson (1861 – 26 October 1933) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Bolton Wanderers. He also played for Preston North End (the season they reached the FA Cup Final; It is unknown if Harrison played in ...

on 22 September 1888 as Robinson played and Mitchell did not. Mitchell only played two of the 22 league games played by Bolton Wanderers in season 1888–89. He returned to Newton Heath in October 1888, making his return debut in a friendly against a Canadian XI on 6 October. He played for Newton Heath until 1891, appearing in a total of 204 games (including friendly matches). He was also on the winning side in four out of the six

Manchester Cup The Manchester FA Senior Cup (originally known as the Manchester and District Challenge Cup, later the Manchester Cup) is an annual football tournament held between the clubs of the Manchester Football Association which was first played in 1885; ...

finals in which he appeared for Newton Heath, in 1886, 1888, 1889 and 1890. He scored three goals in his six years with the club, all in friendlies; the first came on his debut in a 6–0 win over

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century Hi ...

on 21 February 1885, the second in a 4–2 win over

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 ...

on 6 November 1886, and the final effort was scored from the half-way line in a 2–1 win over Witton on 14 September 1889. Most of Mitchell's appearances were played at left-back, although in his last two seasons with Newton Heath, he found a more settled role at right-back. He also played very infrequently as a left- or centre-half, or even on the forward line as an outside or centre-forward. Mitchell was recorded in the

1891 United Kingdom census The United Kingdom Census 1891 was a census of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland carried out on Sunday 5 April 1891. A question was added to record the number of rooms in a household, in response to concerns about overcrowding in ci ...

as 29 years of age, born in Doncaster, and living at 19 Durham Street, Newton Heath with his 24-year-old wife Bertha and a four-year-old daughter, Ada.The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 3251; Folio: 87; Page: 38; GSU roll: 6098361

Honours

Club

Newton Heath LYR *

: 1885–86, 1887–88, 1888–89, 1889–90

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, John Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Association football fullbacks English Football League players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players English footballers