John Owen Jones (July 1871
/ref> – 23 September 1955) was a Welsh

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

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 ...

for several clubs in Wales and England, including

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

and

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial Re ...

Career

Club career

Born in

Bangor, Gwynedd Bangor (; ) is a cathedral city and community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated ...

, Jones began his football career with

Bangor F.C. Bangor Football Club is an intermediate Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League. The club, founded in 1918, hails from Bangor and plays its home matches at Clandeboye Park. Club colours are gold and royal ...

, before joining

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

side

in October 1894. After three years with Crewe where he played in 54 matches and scored 21 goals, Jones transferred to

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

, the 1896–97 Lancashire League champions, in September 1897. After Chorley could only manage a fifth-place finish in the Lancashire League in 1898, Jones signed for

of the Football League Second Division. Jones made his Newton Heath debut in the first fixture of the 1898–99 season, playing in the centre forward position in a 2–0 away win over

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

on 3 September 1898. However, he only made one more appearance for the Heathens, a 5–1 away defeat to

Burton Swifts Burton Swifts Football Club was a football club based in Burton upon Trent, England. Established in 1871, the club joined the Football League in 1892, remaining members until merging with Burton Wanderers to form Burton United in 1901. Hist ...

on 1 October 1898, before being suspended by the club for "not obeying orders". By 1899, he had transferred back to Bangor, where he remained for the next two seasons, before transferring to Stalybridge Rovers, via a brief stint with

Earlestown Earlestown is a town and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside, England. It forms the western part of the wider Newton-le-Willows urban area. At the 2011 Census the ward population was 10,830. History Earlestow ...

International career

During his second spell with Bangor, Jones received his first call-up to the

Welsh national team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

. Selected in the Welsh squad for the 1901 British Home Championship, Jones made his Wales debut on 2 March 1901, playing at

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 ...

in a 1–1 draw with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. He was dropped for the following game against

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 ...

on 18 March, to allow Pugh to move to inside right and

Billy Meredith William Henry Meredith (30 July 1874 – 19 April 1958) was a Welsh professional footballer. He was considered one of the early superstars of football due to his performances, notably for Manchester City and Manchester United. He won each ...

could take up his usual position at

outside 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 ...

. Jones returned to the Wales team for the game 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 23 March at Pugh's expense, lining up alongside Meredith on the right side of the forward line. Jones ended up scoring the winning goal for Wales, as the match finished 1–0 to the away side. The result meant that Wales finished in third place in the 1901 Home Championship, ahead of Ireland.

References

External links

Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Owen 1871 births 1955 deaths Footballers from Bangor, Gwynedd Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Bangor City F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Chorley F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Stalybridge Rovers F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football forwards Earlestown F.C. players