Arthur Henry Gibson, known as Victor Raine Gibson (18 July 1888 – 8 April 1958) was an English professional

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 ...

player and coach active in Spain and France.

Early and personal life

Arthur Henry Gibson was born in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

in 1888. He married in 1910 and had an infant daughter who died. He divorced his English wife in 1938 and married a Frenchwoman in 1939, with whom he also had a daughter.

Playing career

Under the name 'Victor Raine Gibson' he toured

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

with Plumstead FC, and in a match against

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

on 18 May 1911, he put up a great performance which impressed the Catalan club enough for them to sign him, along with Frank Allack and

William Hodge William Thomas Hodge (November 1, 1874 – January 30, 1932) was an American actor, playwright, and theatrical producer. He was born to Thomas Hodge and Mary Anderson. He appeared in the original 1904 Broadway hit play ''Mrs. Wiggs of the Ca ...

. After a year in Spain he moved to French side Olympique Cettois.

Coaching career

Gibson coached the club sides of

FC Cette FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakist ...

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy Soc ...

, SC Bastidienne and Hispano-Bastidienne. He guided FC Cette to the

1923 Coupe de France Final The 1923 Coupe de France Final was a soccer, football match held at Stade Pershing, Paris on May 6, 1923, that saw Red Star Olympique defeat FC Sète 4–2 thanks to goals by Marcel Naudin (2), Lucien Cordon and Robert Joyaut. Match details S ...

, which they lost 4–2 to

Red Star Olympique Red Star Football Club, also known simply as Red Star (), is a French association football club founded in Paris in 1897, and is the fourth oldest French football club, after Standard AC of Paris, Le Havre AC and Girondins de Bordeaux. In t ...

. He also performed the functions of a coach with the Catalonia national team once, in what was the team's first-ever game recognized by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

on 20 February 1912, which ended in a 7–0 loss to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Later life and death

He returned to England in the 1930s, working as a gardener or groundsman. He divorced his English wife in 1938 and married a Frenchwoman in 1939, with whom he also had a daughter. He died in

Ruislip Ruislip ( ) is an area in the London Borough of Hillingdon in West London, and in the historic county of Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London. The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...

in 1958.

References

1888 births 1958 deaths English men's footballers RCD Espanyol footballers FC Sète 34 players English football managers FC Sète 34 managers Montpellier HSC managers Olympique de Marseille managers FC Sochaux-Montbéliard managers English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate football managers English expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain English expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate football managers in France English gardeners Men's association football players not categorized by position Footballers from Woolwich {{England-footy-bio-stub