Robert Crompton (26 September 1879 – 16 March 1941) was an English 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, rugb ...

. He spent the entirety of his career with his

hometown Hometown, HomeTown, or Home Town may refer to: *A hometown, the town where someone lives or the town that they come from, typically their place of birth. *In developing nations particularly: native place, village of origin in newly urbanized soc ...

club,

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He also represented

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 ...

on 41 occasions, captaining them 22 times.

Playing career

Born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, Crompton spent his entire career at full-back for

, playing 528 games between 1896 and 1920. He won the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

twice as captain of the team in 1912 and 1914. In the 1915–16 season he played for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

in the regional leagues set up by the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

where he was made club captain. His 41 England caps were a record until surpassed by Billy Wright in 1952. He began his career as a centre-half, but it was at full-back that he excelled, Charlie Buchan describing him as "...the outstanding full-back of his time. A commanding personality, he was the best kicker of a ball I ever ran across."

Managerial career

Crompton later went on to manage Blackburn between 1926 and 1930, leading them to 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 compet ...

victory over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

in 1928. After a spell managing

Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ...

, Crompton returned to Rovers as manager in the late 1930s to guide them to the Second Division championship. Crompton had a heart attack in 1941 while watching Blackburn play

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

, while he was still in charge of Blackburn. His team had just won the match 3–2. He died that evening.

After retirement and legacy

Crompton was in partnership with his Blackburn Rovers teammate, the Welsh international centre-forward William Davies, as motor engineers. It was announced on 25 February 2015 via Twitter that Bob Crompton would be inducted to the Hall of Fame by the National Football Museum as a 'Historic Player'. Bob Crompton became the first player (and manager) to be entered into the Blackburn Rovers Football Club Hall of Fame on 8 February 2019

Honours

As a player

Blackburn Rovers * First Division: 1911–12, 1913–14

As a manager

Blackburn Rovers *

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

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 ...

: 1938–39 *

Football League War Cup The Football League War Cup was an association football tournament held between 1939 and 1945. It aimed to fill the gap left in English football by the suspension of the FA Cup during the Second World War. Though it was often referred to in conte ...

runner-up: 1939-1940

References

External links

* *
England Player Profile: Robert Crompton
at englandfc.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crompton, Bob 1879 births 1941 deaths Footballers from Blackburn English footballers Association football defenders England international footballers Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Blackpool F.C. wartime guest players English football managers Blackburn Rovers F.C. managers AFC Bournemouth managers English Football League players English Football League representative players English Football Hall of Fame inductees