Horace Fairhurst
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 2 June 1893 | ||
| Place of birth | Bolton, England | ||
| Date of death | 7 January 1921 (aged 27) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 19??-1919 | Darwen | ? | (?) |
| 1919-1921 | Blackpool | 47 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Horace Fairhurst (2 June 1893 – 7 January 1921) was an English professional football player. He played as a defender.
After playing for Darwen for a number of years, Fairhurst joined fellow Lancashire club Blackpool in May 1919 after previously playing for them during the 1916-17 and 1917-18 World War I wartime seasons.[1]
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[edit] Career
Fairhurst first played for Blackpool in the 1917–18 wartime season, on 1 September 1917 against Oldham Athletic, while he was serving at the Royal Army Medical Corps Depot in the town. He made a total of 27 appearances for the club that season. He returned to the club on 8 February 1919, in a 1–1 draw at Burnley and made a total of ten appearances for the Seasiders that season. The club then signed him in May 1919.
He made his official league debut at left-back on 8 September 1919, in a 6-0 home win over Lincoln City in the 1919–20 season. He made 27 league appearances as Blackpool finished fourth in Division Two. His nine appearances for the reserve team won him a Central League championship medal.[1]
In his twentieth league appearance of the 1920–21 season, on 27 December 1920, Fairhurst suffered a head injury during Blackpool's single-goal win over Barnsley at Oakwell.[2] At one point it looked as though he would recover, and he reported for training at the Balmoral Hotel for the FA Cup tie at Darlington on 8 January; however, he was deemed "not recovered sufficiently to run the risk of playing him".[3] He was initially named in the Blackpool team to face Notts County on New Year's Day, but he had "a touch of gastritis"[3] and did not travel. He died at home on 7 January 1921 as a result of the injury, with the club stating, "We have lost one of the best backs in England".[3] He was buried at Tonge Cemetery on 13 January. He had made just short of 50 league appearances for the Seasiders. On 4 May, Blackpool played a benefit match against Preston North End with the proceeds to go to his widow and to the children of his partner at full-back, Bert Tulloch, whose wife had died the same weekend as Fairhurst.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Wolstenholme, Gerry (May, 2008). The Khaki Years, Blackpool Football Club The World War I Seasons 1915/16 - 1918/19. Blackpool: Blackpool Programme and Memorabilia Collectors Club. pp. 13–19. http://www.blackpool-mad.co.uk/news/loadfeat.asp?cid=EDX1&id=386516.
- ^ "English Division Two (old) Barnsley 0 Blackpool 1". Soccerbase. 1920-12-27. http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=61734. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
- ^ a b c Gillatt, Peter (30 November 2009). Blackpool FC on This Day: History, Facts and Figures from Every Day of the Year. Pitch Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-905411-50-2.
[edit] References
- Calley, Roy (1992). Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992. Breedon Books Sport. ISBN 1-873626-07-X.
- A mention and a picture of Fairhurst on Darwen F.C.'s official site
- Famous Boltonians
