James Kenyon "Kenny" Davenport (23 March 1862 – 27 September 1908) was an English international

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 an

inside right Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

Career

Born in the Deane area of

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

, Davenport played for

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 ...

, after joining them from local side Gilnow Rangers in 1883. He later played for

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, and was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

twice by

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 ...

, in 1885 and 1890. He retired from professional football in 1893, and returned to Bolton Wanderers to

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

their reserve team. Davenport was the scorer of the first

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 ...

goal, scored at 3:47pm on 8 September 1888 against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. Until 2013, it had been thought that the first goal had been an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

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 Park ...

full-back

Gershom Cox Gershom Cox (28 September 1863 – October–December 1918) was an English professional footballer who played as a full-back for Aston Villa from 1887 to 1893. Early career Gershom Cox was first signed for Birmingham Excelsior in 1886. The cl ...

. Davenport made his League debut on 8 September 1888, playing as a winger, at

Pike's Lane Pike's Lane was a football ground in Bolton, England. It was the home ground of Bolton Wanderers between 1880 and 1895, and the venue of the first goal scored in league football anywhere in the world. History Pike's Lane opened in 1880, with th ...

, then home of Bolton Wanderers. The opposition were

and Bolton lost 6–3, Davenport scoring the first and second of Bolton's three goals. In season 1888–89 Davenport appeared in all 22 League games played by Bolton and scored 11 goals. He was one of five Bolton players who played in every (22) League game; the other four were, James Brogan,

John Milne John Milne (30 December 1850 – 31 July 1913) was a British geologist and mining engineer who worked on a horizontal seismograph. Biography Milne was born in Liverpool, England, the only child of John Milne of Milnrow, and at first raised in ...

Bob Roberts ''Bob Roberts'' is a 1992 American Satire, satirical mockumentary film written, directed by, and starring Tim Robbins. It depicts the rise of Robert "Bob" Roberts Jr., a right-wing politician who is a candidate for an upcoming United States Senat ...

and Davie Weir. Davenport's 11 League goals included one League hat-trick and he scored two-League-goals-in-a-match twice. Davenport twice played centre-half in a defence-line that kept the opposition to one-League-goal-in-a-match once. He also played as a forward 19 times in a front-line that scored three-League-goals-or-more in a match on nine occasions. On 22 November 2016 a plaque was unveiled in Bolton that commemorates Davenport's achievement in scoring the first League goal.

References

External links

1862 births 1908 deaths Footballers from Bolton English footballers England international footballers Association football inside forwards Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Southport F.C. players Place of death missing English Football League players Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff {{England-footy-forward-1860s-stub