Samuel Ernest Brooks (28 March 1890 – 13 January 1960) was an English

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 spent the majority of his career with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. He played for the club in the

1921 FA Cup Final The 1921 FA Cup Final was contested by Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers, which at the time was a Football League Second Division club, at Stamford Bridge. Spurs won by a single goal, scored by Jimmy Dimmock, eight minutes into the se ...

. After 13 years with Wolves, he joined

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in 1922, and later played for Southend United, Cradley Heath, and

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

, before retiring in 1927.

Career

Brooks was born in Brierley Hill, and played local non-league football before he joined

in July 1909. He eventually made his debut on 11 April 1911, in a goalless draw with

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

. He made only sporadic appearances in his first few seasons before establishing himself in the 1912–13 season, as Wanderers posted a tenth-place finish in the

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 ...

. He finished the 1913–14 season as the club's top goalscorer with 11 goals. His best season came in 1914–15 when he missed just one game and scored 18 times, his best seasonal tally; the club pushed for promotion, but ended the campaign in fourth place. During the war he guested for

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

. He won a cap from his country in a Victory International in October 1919 and also represented 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 ...

against the Irish League. He returned to Molineux after the war, as the club struggled at the foot of the Second Division table in 1919–20 and 1920–21. Despite their poor league form, the club put together a series of results in 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 ...

and went on to reach the final. Brooks won a runners-up medal in the

after a 1–0 defeat to

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

. Their cup run proved to be a flash-in-the-pan, as they exited the cup in the First Round and continued to struggle in the league in 1921–22. Brooks signed with Tottenham Hotspur in 1922, having scored 53 goals in 246 league and cup appearances in total for Wolves. However he struggled at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

, and scored one goal in only ten First Division appearances in the 1922–23 and 1923–24 seasons. He spent the 1924–25 campaign at Southend United, and scored two goals in 12

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

appearances. He soon dropped into non-league with clubs such as Cradley Heath and

, before retiring in 1927.

Statistics

Source:

Honours

;Wolverhampton Wanderers *

runner-up:

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Sammy 1890 births 1960 deaths English footballers Association football wingers Bilston Town F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. wartime guest players Port Vale F.C. wartime guest players Coventry City F.C. wartime guest players Stoke City F.C. wartime guest players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Cradley Heath F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players English Football League players FA Cup Final players