Walter Gwynne Evans (1867 – 10 May 1897) was a Welsh

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 ...

who played as a full-back for English clubs,

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

and

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 ...

in the 1890s. With Villa, he was on the losing side in the 1892 FA Cup Final. He made three appearances for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, each of which was a defeat.

Football career

Evans was born in

Builth Builth Wells (; ) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of the Wye Valley. In 20 ...

Brecknockshire Brecknockshire ( or ), also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon, was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was created in 1 ...

, the son of the local butcher. As a youth, he excelled at many sports including

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

and soccer. Having started his career with his local club, he moved to England in 1889 when he joined

; Evans made four appearances for Bootle in the 1889–90 Football Alliance season at the end of which Bootle finished as runners-up. Evans made his international debut while still a Bootle player when he was called up for the

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

match against

played at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground (), is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C., Wrexham AFC. It is the largest stadium in North Wales and the List of football stadiums in Wales, fifth-largest in Wales. It is the world's o ...

on 15 March 1890. England were scheduled to play two international matches on the same day and fielded their strongest side against Wales with a slightly weaker team going to Belfast to play

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

; England won both matches, with

Edmund Currey Edmund Samuel Currey (born 28 June 1868) was an English footballer who earned two caps for the national team in 1890, scoring two goals. Currey played club football for Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate resear ...

scoring twice on his debut and

Tinsley Lindley His Honour Tinsley Lindley, OBE (27 October 1865 – 31 March 1940) was an English footballer. He was described as "an ideal centre forward". He scored three goals in his debut aged 16 for Nottingham Forest. He was an amateur who did not wear fo ...

continuing his run of goals in a 3–0 victory over Wales. In July 1890, Evans joined

where he became a regular member of the team. He made a total of 23 appearances in 1891–92 and 28 in the following year helping Villa to reach the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

against local rivals,

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 ...

. Despite being favourites going into the game, Villa lost 3–0 with Albion's goals coming from Geddes, Nicholls and Reynolds. Evans made two further international appearances, both against England, with a 4–1 defeat in March 1891 and a 2–0 defeat a year later. In his 1891 assessment by the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; ) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, its Wales women's national football team, correspo ...

, Evans was described as "a very good back, tackles unflinchingly and a safe kick; (has) done himself credit". Evans remained with Villa for a further season before returning to Builth in August 1893. He continued to turn out for

until his death in 1897.

International appearances

Evans made three appearances for Wales as follows:

Non-football career

On returning to Builth, Evans became landlord of the Lamb Inn. This public house became the headquarters and changing rooms of the Builth Football Club. In May 1897, Evans caught a chill while attending a funeral and died within a few days. His death was described as "a calamity for the Builth club".

Honours

;

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 ...

finalists:

1892 In Samoa, this was the only leap year spanned to 367 days as July 4 repeated. This means that the International Date Line was drawn from the east of the country to go west. Events January * January 1 – Ellis Island begins processing imm ...

References

External links

*
Lamb Inn website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Walter 1867 births 1897 deaths Sportspeople from Builth Wells Footballers from Powys Welsh men's footballers Men's association football defenders Bootle F.C. (1879) players Aston Villa F.C. players Wales men's international footballers