Walter Gwynne Evans (1867 – 10 May 1897) 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 as a full-back for English clubs,

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in the 1890s. With Villa, he was on the losing side in the 1892 FA Cup Final. He made three 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 ...

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, each of which was a defeat.

Football career

Evans was born in

Builth Builth Wells (; cy, Llanfair-ym-Muallt) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of ...

Brecknockshire , image_flag= , HQ= Brecon , Government= Brecknockshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= Brycheiniog , Status= , Start= 1535 , End= ...

, the son of the local butcher. As a youth, he excelled at many sports including

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and soccer. Having started his career with his local club, he moved to England in 1889 when he joined

; Evans made four appearances for Bootle in the

1889–90 Football Alliance The 1889–90 Football Alliance was the first season of the Football Alliance, an association football league which was set up in England as an alternative to The Football League, which had begun in the 1888–89 in English football, 1888–89 seas ...

season at the end of which Bootle finished as runners-up. Evans made his international debut while still a Bootle player when he was called up for 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 ...

match against

played at

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 ...

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 ...

on 15 March 1890. England were scheduled to play two international matches on the same day and fielded their strongest side against Wales with a slightly weaker team going to Belfast to play

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 ...

; England won both matches, with

Edmund Currey Edmund Samuel Currey (born 28 June 1868) was an English footballer who earned two caps for the national team in 1890, scoring two goals. Currey played club football for Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county to ...

scoring twice on his debut and

Tinsley Lindley Dr. Tinsley Lindley OBE (27 October 1865 – 31 March 1940) was an English footballer. He was described as "an ideal centre forward". He scored three goals in his debut aged 16 for Nottingham Forest. He was an amateur who did not wear football ...

continuing his run of goals in a 3–0 victory over Wales. In July 1890, Evans joined

where he became a regular member of the team. He made a total of 23 appearances in 1891–92 and 28 in the following year helping Villa to reach the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

against local rivals,

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 ...

. Despite being favourites going into the game, Villa lost 3–0 with Albion's goals coming from Geddes, Nicholls and

Reynolds Reynolds may refer to: Places Australia *Hundred of Reynolds, a cadastral unit in South Australia *Hundred of Reynolds (Northern Territory), a cadastral unit in the Northern Territory of Australia United States * Reynolds, Mendocino County, Calif ...

. Evans made two further international appearances, both against England, with a 4–1 defeat in March 1891 and a 2–0 defeat a year later. In his 1891 assessment by the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, Welsh national foo ...

, Evans was described as "a very good back, tackles unflinchingly and a safe kick; (has) done himself credit". Evans remained with Villa for a further season before returning to Builth in August 1893. He continued to turn out for

until his death in 1897.

International appearances

Evans made three appearances for Wales as follows:

Non-football career

On returning to Builth, Evans became landlord of the Lamb Inn. This public house became the headquarters and changing rooms of the Builth Football Club. In May 1897, Evans caught a chill while attending a funeral and died within a few days. His death was described as "a calamity for the Builth club".

Honours

;

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 ...

finalists:

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...

References

External links

*
Lamb Inn website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Walter 1867 births 1897 deaths People from Builth Wells Sportspeople from Powys Welsh footballers Association football defenders Bootle F.C. (1879) players Aston Villa F.C. players Wales international footballers FA Cup Final players