Abel Roberts Finch (31 August 1908 – 2000) was an footballer who played as a full-back. He joined Hednesford Prims in 1922 and Hednesford Town in 1923, but after only a few first- team games he was approached by West Bromwich Albion, signing professional forms for them in 1925, making his debut at home to Leicester City, 27 February 1926, at the age of 17. Bob made two England International trials, one of them for the Rest v England, opposite the great

Dixie Dean William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in ...

. On 6 March 1937, he played against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in a 6th Round FA Cup game before 64,815 Hawthorn supporters. Transferred to

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

in May 1939, Bob managed only one game before War was declared. Bob made 216 senior appearances for Albion and 231 more for their Central League side, many as captain, winning Championship medals in 1926–27, 32–33, 33-34 and 34–35, but was unlucky in being out of the Albion team for most of the 1930–31 season when they won promotion from Division Two and the FA Cup in the same season. Bob died locally in 2000, aged 92.

References

1908 births 2000 deaths People from Hednesford English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Hednesford Town F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Footballers from Staffordshire {{England-footy-defender-1900s-stub