Alfred Thomas Lyons (5 July 1885 – October 1938) 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 ...

and

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 str ...

er. He played as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

for Staffordshire in the 1913

Minor Counties Cricket Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

. He played for Aston Villa from 1907 to 1915, and then joined Port Vale in January 1917. Five years later he moved on to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

as a player-coach. He helped Villa to win the First Division in 1909–10 and 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 competi ...

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the ...

. They also finished second in the league in 1907–08, 1910–11, 1912–13, and 1913–14, and was also on the losing side in the

1910 FA Charity Shield The 1910 FA Charity Shield was the third Charity Shield, a football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Football League and Southern League competitions. The match was played on 5 September 1910 between 1909–10 Football Le ...

Career

Lyons played for Hednesford Town and Bridgtown Amateurs, before joining Aston Villa as a professional in April 1907 after a trial three months earlier. The "Villans" ended the 1907–08 campaign in second place in the First Division, nine points behind champions Manchester United. They dropped to seventh spot in 1908–09, before being crowned champions of

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 ...

in 1909–10. He played at Stamford Bridge in the

, which ended in a 1–0 defeat to

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

. Villa went on to finish the 1910–11 season in second place, just one point behind Manchester United. They then dropped to sixth in 1911–12, before finishing second in 1912–13 just four points behind champions Sunderland. He played against Sunderland in the

1913 FA Cup Final The 1913 FA Cup Final was contested by Aston Villa and Sunderland on 19 April 1913 at London's Crystal Palace. Playing as the home side, Aston Villa won 1–0 on a goal by Tommy Barber on a crossed ball from Charlie Wallace. Wallace had ear ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, which ended in a 1–0 victory for Villa. They then finished second in the league once again in 1913–14, finishing seven points behind champions

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 ...

. Villa dropped to 14th place in 1914–15, and league football was suspended due to

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 ...

. In his eight years at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...

, Lyons played 238 competitive games. Lyons joined Port Vale, initially on guest terms, in January 1917. He was a member of the side that lifted the

Staffordshire Senior Cup The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup is a football cup tournament based in the county of Staffordshire in England first competed for in 1877–78. Organised by the Staffordshire Football Association, it is competed for by a mix of clubs from St ...

and shared the North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup in 1920. He played 32

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 ...

games in the 1919–20 season, and played 32 league and

games in the 1920–21 campaign. He was released from

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad condit ...

in the summer. He had played a total of 146 first team games and scored three goals for the club. Lyons later played for

in a player-coach capacity.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Aston Villa * Football League First Division: 1909–10 * FA Charity Shield runner-up:

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

Port Vale *

: 1920 *North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup: 1920

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Tom 1885 births 1938 deaths People from Hednesford English footballers Men's association football fullbacks Hednesford Town F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Walsall F.C. players English Football League players FA Cup final players Association football coaches English cricketers Staffordshire cricketers Wicket-keepers Footballers from Staffordshire