John H. Murphy (1872−1924) was an English

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 ...

who played as an

inside 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 ...

and

right half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

and

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

in the Football League at the turn of the 20th century. In the 1896–97 season, he was joint top scorer in the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

with 22 goals.

Playing career

Murphy was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

in the third quarter of 1872. After playing his youth football with Hucknall St John's, he joined

for whom he made 37 appearances in the Football League between 1896 and 1898, scoring 24 goals, including 22 in 1896–97, thus making him joint top-scorer in the

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 ...

with teammate

Tom Boucher Thomas Charles Boucher (born 1873, date of death unknown) was an English professional association football player at the turn of the twentieth century. He made over 130 appearances in the Football League and over 60 appearances in the Southern ...

, helping Notts County claim the Second Division title and gain promotion to the First Division, after a series of play-off matches. He then dropped into the Southern League with

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

for a season, followed by a year at South Shields Adelaide before signing for

in November 1900 when they were in the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

. During his first season he went on to score 14 league goals including a hattrick against Coalville, and 1 goal in a friendly. That season Doncaster were runners up in the Midland League and were elected for the first time to Division 2 for the 1901−02 season in which he played in all 36 League and 2

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 ...

games, scoring five goals including a hat-trick in a win against

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial R ...

. In his third season, he moved to play mainly at

, scoring three times in his 29 games. In 1903−04 he managed eight league goals and one in a friendly, before leaving the club as they were again elected to Division 2.

Honours

champions: 1896–97

runners up: 1900−01

Notes

* Football League appearances only

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, John 1872 births Footballers from Nottingham 1924 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Men's association football wing halves English Football League players Southern Football League players Notts County F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Gateshead A.F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Hucknall St John's F.C. players