Herbert Roberts (19 February 1905 – 19 June 1944) was an English footballer.

Playing career

Born in Oswestry,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, Roberts first played as an amateur for his local club Oswestry Town, whilst working as a

policeman A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

. A tall, but quiet and unassuming right half, he was signed by

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful managers in the early 20th ...

's Arsenal in December 1926 for £200 and turned professional. He made his debut against Aston Villa on 18 April 1927, although he was not a regular in his first two seasons at the club, playing just five games. Roberts' time came when Chapman converted him to 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 ...

, and he replaced Jack Butler in that position. In the new "WM" formation that Chapman and Arsenal captain Charlie Buchan pioneered, Roberts served as the tall "stopper" centre half in the middle of defence; at the time this was a new tactic, created in response to the 1925 relaxation of the offside law, but soon became a ubiquitous position in English football. Nevertheless, at the time Roberts was often abused and pilloried by opposition fans for what they saw as overly negative play. By 1928–29, Roberts was featuring more regularly for Arsenal; however, he missed the 1929–30

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 ...

final with an injury. He played in Arsenal's 2–1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the Charity Shield at Stamford Bridge in October 1930. However, from the

1930–31 Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condit ...

season Roberts was the undisputed first-choice centre-half at the club, making over 30 appearances for each season up until 1936–37. During this time, he won four First Division titles, and finally picked up an FA Cup medal in 1935–36 (having also played in the side that lost the 1931–32 final). He also won a second FA Charity Shield in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

. During this period he won a single cap for

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 ...

, against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

on 28 March 1931. Roberts' long and successful career with Arsenal came to a sudden end early on in the 1937–38 season, when he broke his leg in a match against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and was subsequently forced to retire. Arsenal won the First Division title for a fifth time that season, but Roberts had only played 13 matches that season, one short of the minimum required for a medal at the time. In all he played 335 matches for Arsenal, scoring 5 goals. Upon retiring he worked as a trainer to Arsenal's reserve side. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

broke out, Roberts joined the Royal Fusiliers, serving as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

. He died whilst on duty at the age of 39 from

erysipelas Erysipelas () is a relatively common bacterial infection of the superficial layer of the skin ( upper dermis), extending to the superficial lymphatic vessels within the skin, characterized by a raised, well-defined, tender, bright red rash, t ...

, and was buried at Southgate Cemetery, north London;CWGC entry
/ref> he was one of the 9 Arsenal players to perish in the war.

References

External sources

Arsenal.com, historic players, Herbie Roberts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Herbie 1905 births 1944 deaths Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Arsenal F.C. players Officers in English police forces England men's international footballers English men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Footballers from Oswestry Royal Fusiliers officers Deaths from streptococcus infection Oswestry Town F.C. players Infectious disease deaths in England Military personnel from Shropshire British Army personnel killed in World War II Burials in England

Playing career

See also

References

External sources