William Cropper (27 December 1862 – 13 January 1889) was an English

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 ...

er and

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 cricket for

Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falcons ...

between 1882 and 1888 and football, as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, once for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. He was one of nineteen sportsmen to achieve the Derbyshire Double of playing cricket for Derbyshire and football for Derby County, but died aged 26 as a result of an accident while playing football for

Staveley Staveley may refer to: Places * Staveley, Cumbria, village in the former county of Westmorland and now in Cumbria, England ** Staveley railway station * Staveley-in-Cartmel, village formerly in Lancashire, now in Cumbria, England * Staveley, D ...

. Cropper was born at

Brimington Brimington is a large village and civil parish in the Borough of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, England. The population of the parish taken at the 2011 census was 8,788. The town of Staveley is to the east, and Hollingwood is nearby. The parish in ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, the son of Thomas and Mary Cropper, and was a bricklayer. He made his debut for Derbyshire in the 1882 season. He also played for the North of England team. He shared most wickets for the club in the

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...

1884 Events January–March * January 4 – The Fabian Society is founded in London. * January 5 – Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Princess Ida'' premières at the Savoy Theatre, London. * January 18 – Dr. William Price atte ...

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 – ...

and 1886 seasons. In 1886, he played one football match for Derby County. Derbyshire lost first-class status for the 1888 season but Cropper continued playing for the side. Cropper played 113 innings in 60 first-class matches to score 1638 runs with an average of 15.00 and a top score of 93 not out. He took 171 first-class wickets, with an average of 17.13 and a best performance of 7 for 25. From 1888, Cropper played football for the Derbyshire side of

. While playing for Staveley, on 12 January 1889 against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

at Clee Park,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, Cropper collided with Dan Doyle, the Grimsby

rightback 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 ...

, after fifteen minutes. He was badly injured by Doyle's knee in his

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

and left the field in obvious distress. The collision resulted in a ruptured bowel and he died in the dressing room at Grimsby in the arms of his Staveley and Derbyshire County Cricket Club teammate George Hay. Cropper was buried in Brimington churchyard and a memorial stone was erected from the proceeds of a subscription fund raised by his family and friends which can still be seen today.On This Weekend In Football: The First Reported Death From An Injury
The Daisy Cutter, 11 January 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cropper, William 1862 births 1889 deaths Men's association football forwards Derby County F.C. players Derbyshire cricketers English cricketers North v South cricketers Staveley F.C. players English men's footballers British bricklayers Sport deaths in England Lord March's XI cricketers Non-international England cricketers Association football players who died while playing 19th-century British businesspeople People from Brimington Cricketers from Derbyshire