James Richardson Spensley (17 May 1867 – 10 November 1915) was an English doctor, footballer, manager,

Scout leader A Scout leader or Scouter generally refers to the trained adult leader of a Scout unit. The terms used vary from country to country, over time, and with the type of unit. Roles There are many different roles a leader can fulfill depending on t ...

and medic from

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...

, London. He is considered to be one of the "Fathers of

Italian football Football ( it, calcio ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team is considered to be one of the best national teams in the world. They have won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing only Bra ...

", due to his association with

Genoa CFC Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to as Genoa (), is a professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, that competes in , the second division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

and his contribution to the modern day variation of the game in Italy.

Biography

He was born in 1867 in the

district of London to William Spensley and Elizabeth Alice Richardson. Although he was born and grew up in London, the Spensley family were originally from the Swaledale area in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. Richardson Spensley had the opportunity to travel far and wide as an adult. Amongst the most keen interests which he had acquired whilst travelling were

eastern religions The Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia and thus have dissimilarities with Western, African and Iranian religions. This includes the East Asian religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese fol ...

, languages (he was versed in Greek and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

and

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 ...

. In addition to working as a doctor, he spent some time as a correspondent for the British newspaper the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

''.

Football in Genoa

Richardson Spensley arrived in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

in 1896, initially for the purpose of curing English sailors on the coal ships. He joined Genoa Cricket & Athletics Club, a

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 ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

club formed by British expatriates. He opened the footballing section for the club on 10 April 1897 and was put in place as its first ever manager. This was innovative as the modern day footballing scene in Italy was in its embryonic stages: if not for

Edoardo Bosio Edoardo Bosio (; 9 November 1864 – 31 July 1927) was an Italians, Italian footballing innovator from Turin who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He is a prime figure in the history of Italian football as evidence exists to show ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

founding clubs, there would have been no football at all in Italy at Richardson Spensley's time of arrival. Richardson Spensley participated as a player-manager for Genoa in the first ever

Italian Football Championship Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

(which he initiated) during

1898 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, B ...

which his club won. The following season, he switched position from defender to goalkeeper, playing on until 1906. Including the first title, Genoa won the Italian league six times while Richardson Spensley was at the helm. After retiring from playing when he was almost 40 years old, he stayed on in the management role for one more year, before leaving entirely.

Scouting and death

While living in England he had known Robert Baden-Powell who founded the

Scout Movement Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

, from whom he had received an autographed copy of ''

Scouting for Boys ''Scouting for Boys: A handbook for instruction in good citizenship'' is a book on Boy Scout training, published in various editions since 1908. Early editions were written and illustrated by Robert Baden-Powell with later editions being extensi ...

''. Along with a Genovese man named

Mario Mazza Mario Mazza (7 June 1882 - 22 November 1959) was an Italian educator. In 1916 he was one of the founding members of ASCI (Italian: l'Associazione Scautistica Cattolica Italiana) which became The Scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movem ...

, they founded the first Italian scouting movement called ''

Federazione Italiana dello Scautismo The Italian Scout Federation (FIS, ''Federazione Italiana dello Scautismo'') is the national Scouting and Guiding federation of Italy. Scouting and Guiding in Italy started in 1910, the Boy Scouts were among the charter members of the World O ...

'' in 1910. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he worked in the medical field putting his scouting abilities to use as a lieutenant in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

. He was injured on the battle field while tending to the wounds of an enemy out of

compassion Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as being sensitive to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based on n ...

. He died at

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, Germany in hospital not long after. His body was one of many moved in 1922 from smaller graveyards to larger cemeteries in Germany (no British bodies were returned to Britain). Spensley was reburied at

Niederzwehren Niederzwehren is a small town in Germany, part of the city of Kassel, Hesse. It is notable for its First World War prisoner-of-war camp and a consequent sizable war cemetery for the British prisoners who died in captivity. Town The town lies be ...

War Cemetery'' south of

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

Honours

(Genoa) *

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

(Genoa) *

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

(Genoa) *

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's f ...

(Genoa) *

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been ...

(Genoa) *

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...

(Genoa)

References

External links

A.G.E.S.C.I. Liguria – Founded by J.R. Spensley
re
James Richardson Spensley – Father Of Italian Football
/ref> {{DEFAULTSORT:Spensley, James Richardson 1867 births 1915 deaths Footballers from Stoke Newington Scouting pioneers Founders of association football institutions English footballers Genoa C.F.C. managers Genoa C.F.C. players Association football goalkeepers Association football defenders English football managers British Army personnel of World War I Royal Army Medical Corps officers British military personnel killed in World War I Burials at Niederzwehren War Cemetery English expatriate sportspeople in Italy Daily Mail journalists