Robert Stevenson (born 10 May 1869) was a Scottish
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
er, a versatile full and half back who could also play at centre forward. He was the first captain of
Thames Ironworks, who were later reformed as
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
.
Career
Born in
Barrhead
Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268.
History
Barrhead was formed when ...
, Scotland, Stevenson first played for
Third Lanark
Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...
in
1892–93, before joining
Woolwich Arsenal in May 1894. He spent a single season with the Gunners, playing at half-back for the first seven
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
matches of the
1894–95 season. Stevenson also briefly captained the club.
In March 1895, Stevenson was allowed to join up with
Old Castle Swifts
Old Castle Swifts Football Club, the first professional football club in Essex, was formed by Scottish shipowner Donald Currie in September 1892 as Castle Swifts Football Club. The club's first home ground, located in West Ham, was named Duno ...
, but they soon folded and he returned to Scotland.
[
On his return to England, Stevenson was called up to play for the newly established Thames Ironworks team for the 1895–96 season. His return to ]Hermit Road
Hermit Road was a stadium located in Canning Town in London, England. It was the first home ground of football club Thames Ironworks, the works team of the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company. The club would later be reformed as West Ha ...
saw him instantly installed as their first ever club captain and went on to play for the Irons for a season and a half, covering full-back and centre-forward
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 ...
roles as well as his usual position of half-back.West Ham Charity Cup
The West Ham Charity Cup was an annual amateur football tournament which was contested by teams from West Ham and the surrounding area, an area of Essex that is now part of London. Only players that lived locally were eligible to compete. The compe ...
. In February 1897, after 16 appearances and 5 goals in the Irons' second campaign of 1896–97, Stevenson left the club. He once again returned to Scotland and joined Arthurlie.[
]
References
External links
Robert Stevenson
at ''westhamstats.info''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Robert
1869 births
Year of death missing
People from Barrhead
Scottish men's footballers
Men's association football wing halves
Third Lanark A.C. players
Arsenal F.C. players
Old Castle Swifts F.C. players
Thames Ironworks F.C. players
Arthurlie F.C. players
Footballers from East Renfrewshire
Scottish Football League players
English Football League players