Thomas Henry Crawshaw (27 December 1872 – 25 November 1960) was a 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 almost his entire League career with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. Crawshaw was a

centre-half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

whose career lasted from 1894 to 1909 during which time he played a total of 492 games in all competitions, scoring 27 goals. Crawshaw has gone down in the annals of Sheffield Wednesday as one of the key figures in the early history of the club. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries he appeared in The Wednesday side which lifted 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 ...

on two occasions and won the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

title twice. He is the only Sheffield Wednesday player to win two FA Cup winners medals with the club. He appeared for the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

on ten occasions.http://allfootballers.com/.
Gives statistics for career.

Playing career

Tommy was born on in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

and was brought up in the Park Hill area of the town along with his brothers Percy and George. Both of his brothers played football with Percy appearing nine times for Wednesday while George played for Worksop Town for many years. Tommy Crawshaw's early football was played with local clubs Park Grange and Attercliffe, in 1893 he moved to play for Heywood Central in the newly formed

Manchester Football League The Manchester Football League is a football league in England, affiliated with Manchester FA, covering a 30-mile radius from Manchester Town Hall. It was formed in 1893, although play ceased between 1912 and 1920. Currently it consists of fiv ...

and his good form attracted the attention of Sheffield Wednesday. Crawshaw signed for Wednesday on 24 April 1894 as a replacement for the long serving

Billy Betts William Betts (26 March 1864 – 8 August 1941) was an English footballer who played for The Wednesday, as well as the England national side. Betts played as a centre-half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield pos ...

Sheffield Wednesday

Crawshaw made his Wednesday debut on 1 September 1894, the opening day of the 1894–95 season, in a 1–3 away defeat at Everton. He made an immediate impact in the side missing only two matches that season and was called up for the England side before the season was out. In the following campaign Crawshaw was part of the Wednesday side which won the FA Cup, he played in all six ties, scoring in the 3–1 semi-final replay victory over

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. However he did make an uncharacteristic mistake in the final against

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

when an error allowed David Black to equalise before Wednesday went on to win 2–1 through two Fred Spiksley goals. The 1896 publication ''Famous Footballers'' described Crawshaw as "A thorough worker always …he plays a good game from first to last and is unselfish to a degree. A good tackler he uses his head cleverly as well.""''Sheffield Wednesday 1867–1967''", Nick Johnson, Page 24 Gives the quote from Famous Footballers. In the 1899–1900 season Crawshaw led Wednesday to promotion from 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 ...

in their first season at their new home at Owlerton. Back in the top flight of English football Crawshaw formed an imposing line of defence with Bob Ferrier and Harry Ruddlesdin. Crawshaw made his England international debut on 9 March 1895 in a 9–0 win over

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 ...

at the County Ground,

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

. Crawshaw's international career spanned nine years in which time he only made 10 appearances, all these were in the

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

. His England career included a four-year absence from the team between March 1897 and March 1901, although only 10 matches were played in this time. He marked his return to the England team by scoring one of the goals in a 3–0 victory over Ireland on 9 March 1901. This one match return was followed by a three-year break out of the team before returning to play two matches in 1904 with his final appearance being against Ireland in Belfast on 12 March 1904.www.englandfanzine.co.uk.
Gives details of England career. When Wednesday lifted back to back First Division championships in

1902–03 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

1903–04 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 ...

Crawshaw only missed three League matches over the two seasons as captain of the side. By 1905 Crawshaw was 32 years old, however he was still an automatic choice for Wednesday, playing in 71 consecutive matches between March 1905 and December 1906.SWFC Archive.
Record of consecutive appearances for Wednesday. 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 ...

he played in all eight FA Cup matches as Wednesday won the cup again, beating Everton 2–1. The cup winning season was his last as a regular member of the side although he did play in 14 League matches in 1907–08 with his final game for the club being on 7 March 1908 in the

Steel City derby The Steel City Derby (also known as the Sheffield Derby) is a local derby that takes place between Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, the two professional football league teams based in the city of Sheffield, England. It is widely consi ...

with Wednesday triumphing 2–0 over United. In April 1908, the 35-year-old Crawshaw was granted a free transfer by Wednesday in recognition of his sterling service for the club.Stuart Jackson's SWFC Archive.
Gives details of Sheffield Wednesday career.

Latter career

Several clubs were interested in signing Crawshaw, he eventually opted for

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, playing 25 League matches in 1908–09 as the team struggled in Division Two and failed to be re-elected at the end of the season. In January 1910 he joined non-League

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

for a short time before taking a job as Secretary of

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is located east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of the county town, Matlock. Glossop lies near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Manches ...

until the outbreak of

World War I 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 ...

. After the war he opened a newsagents in Bramall Lane, Sheffield. In the 1920s he became the landlord of the ''Sportsmans Group''

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

in Owlerton, near to the Wednesday ground. He later took a pub in the centre of Sheffield, running ''The Yorkshireman's Arms'' on Burgess Street for many years. Crawshaw died on 25 November 1960, aged 87.''"The Wednesday Boys"'', Jason Dickinson & John Brodie, Page 75 Gives biographical information.''"The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club"'', Tony Matthews, Gives details of Sheffield Wednesday career and biographical information.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawshaw, Tommy 1872 births 1960 deaths Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Castleford Town F.C. players Footballers from Sheffield England men's international footballers English men's footballers Men's association football central defenders English Football League players English Football League representative players