Thomas Walter Green (August 1863 – 2 October 1923) 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 lea ...

, known for scoring

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

's first goal in 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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

Playing career

He played for Dreadnought F.C., Mitchell St George's, Aston Unity F.C.,

Great Lever Great Lever is a suburb of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is south of Bolton town centre and the same distance north of Farnworth. The district is served by frequent buses runnin ...

, Small Heath Alliance, Church Villa F.C.,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

and Worcester Rovers as well as guesting for several teams, including

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, the club he had scored Villa's first league goal against. He played in Albion's

1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...

and

1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

finals, losing both (the latter against Villa).

Season 1888-89

Tommy Green played one season in the Football League (1888-1889), the inaugural season. His League Debut was in the first Aston Villa League match, he played as a forward, at

Dudley Road Dudley Road was a football ground in Wolverhampton in England. It was the home ground of Wolverhampton Wanderers between 1881 and 1889, and was used during the first season of the Football League. History The ground began to be used in 1881 b ...

, Wolverhampton on 8 September 1888 and Green scored Aston Villa' 1st ever League goal in a 1–1 draw with

. On 15 September 1888 Tommy Green became the first Aston Villa player to score two League goals. Tommy scored his only League hat-trick on 29 September 1888 as Villa routed Notts County 9–1. Green scored 2 in a match twice. In season 1888-89 he played all 22 of Aston Villa' League games scoring 14 goals. As a forward he played in a forward-line that scored three-League-goals-or-more-in-a-match on no less than ten occasions. He scored 19 goals in 29 Villa starts and was the 2nd top scorer for Villa in a team that finished 2nd. Green was described as an enthusiastic forward. In an era in which centre-forwards were expected to be able to charge goalkeepers into the goals, Green was known as the most brutal in the game. His son,

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tommy (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army * Tommy Giacomelli (born 1974), Brazilian fo ...

, played for Albion,

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

References

1863 births 1923 deaths Footballers from Worcester, England Men's association football forwards Birmingham St George's F.C. players Aston Unity F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Great Lever F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players English Football League players Date of birth missing English men's footballers {{England-footy-forward-1860s-stub