Seth Powell (1862 – 3 February 1945) 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 at full-back for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

in the English

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 ...

. He made seven appearances for

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 ...

in the 1880s and 1890s.

Football career

Powell was born in Cerney, near

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 played his early football in the nearby village of

Summerhill Summerhill or Summer Hill may refer to the following places: Australia * Summer Hill, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney *Summerhill, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston * Summerhill (Mount Duneed), a prefabricated iron cottage in Victoria Canada * ...

. In 1883, he moved just over the border into England to become assistant schoolmaster at the

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

Board School. He played for two Oswestry based football clubs; firstly with Oswestry White Stars with whom he won the

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 ...

in 1884 and reached the final the following year. He then joined Oswestry Town where he remained until 1890. His first international cap came on 23 March 1885 at the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home i ...

in Wrexham when the Welsh suffered an 8–1 defeat at the hands of

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 ...

, with

Joseph Lindsay Joseph Lindsay (13 November 1858 – 12 October 1933) was a Scottish footballer. Career Lindsay played for Dumbarton, Rangers, Renton and the Scotland national team. Honours ;Dumbarton * Scottish Cup: Winners 1882–83 – Runners Up 1880� ...

scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

. He was recalled to the side the following year for matches against Ireland and England. Towards the end of the 1889–90 season, Powell joined

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 ...

on a wage of £2 per game plus expenses. He remained with Albion for two years during which they finished each season at or near the foot of the table. Whilst with Albion, he made a further four appearances for Wales, all of which ended in defeats. Powell then spent a season with

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 ...

without making any League appearances before moving to

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 ...

, then playing in

The Combination The Combination was a league during the early days of English football. It had two incarnations; the first ran only for the 1888–89 season for teams across the Northern England and the Midlands, and was wound up before completion. The second ...

, before returning to Oswestry United.

Later career

From 1900 until his retirement in 1930, Powell was the district relieving officer for the Oswestry

Board of Guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the poor ...

. He also served Oswestry F.C. as secretary and spent twenty years in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the

King's Shropshire Light Infantry The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in the Childers Reforms of 1881, but with antecedents dating back to 1755. It served in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. In 196 ...

International appearances

Powell made seven appearances for Wales as follows: Powell also played in the first match against a touring Canadian XI in September 1891.

Honours

; Oswestry White Stars *

**Winners: 1884 **Finalists: 1885

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Seth 1862 births 1945 deaths Footballers from Wrexham Welsh footballers Wales international footballers Association football defenders English Football League players Oswestry Town F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Chester City F.C. players King's Shropshire Light Infantry soldiers Oswestry United F.C. players