Robert Ernest Evans (21 November 1885 – 28 November 1965) was an English professional

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 left-winger for

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 ...

(1906–1908) and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

(1908–1915). He won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

with Sheffield United in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

and played international football for both

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

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 ...

Career

Evans was born in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, England of Welsh parents. He started his football career with

Saltney Saltney is a cross-border town, split between Flintshire, Wales and Cheshire, England. The town is intersected by the England–Wales border, with its larger part being a community of Wales in the historic county of Clwyd. The town forms par ...

Ferry F.C. In December 1904 he moved to

but played just one league and one

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...

match for the club (both against

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 ...

) and returned to Saltney Ferry. He was then spotted by the Welsh professional club

for whom he signed in the summer of 1905, in time for their inaugural season in the Birmingham and District League. He made his debut for Wales in a 2–0 victory over

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 ...

on 3 March 1906; this was followed by a 1–0 defeat by

a few days later. These performances attracted the attention of

who signed him in the summer of 1906 for a fee of £30. Whilst at Villa he continued to add to his tally of Welsh caps. Despite this, he made only occasional appearances for Villa, playing nine league games in

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

and seven in 1907–08 when Villa finished runners-up in

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 ...

. In 1908 he moved (with

Peter Kyle Peter Kyle (born 9 September 1970) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2021. A member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parl ...

for a combined fee of £1100) to

where he soon became an automatic first choice player. He continued to appear for Wales until by 1910 he had ten Welsh caps with two goals to his credit. He had played four times against England, the 1–0 loss in 1906, the 1–1 draw in 1907, the 7–1 loss in 1908 and the 1–0 loss in 1910. His final appearance for Wales was 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 11 April 1910 when he scored twice in a 4–0 victory. It was then discovered that, although both his parents were Welsh, he had been born in Chester and under the rules of the time was therefore qualified to play only for

.Robert Evans
England Football Online He then made four appearances for England, all at

outside left 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 ...

and all as a Sheffield United player, in 1911 and 1912, including 3–0 and 2–0 victories against Wales. He scored his only England goal on his debut against Ireland on 11 February 1911. Evans was a member of the Sheffield United team that won the

. This was his final competitive appearance for Sheffield United and he retired from playing professionally during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, although he turned out in the

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Footba ...

for Crichtons Athletic. He took up employment at the Shell Mex oil company in

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...

and turned out for their works team. He died on 28 November 1965, shortly after his 80th birthday.

Honours

Sheffield United *

: 1914–15

References

External links

England profile
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Robert 1885 births 1965 deaths Footballers from Chester English men's footballers England men's international footballers Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Dual men's international footballers Chester City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Men's association football outside forwards English people of Welsh descent

Career

Honours

See also

References

External links