Allen Foster
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Allen Foster[1] | ||
Date of birth | 1887 | ||
Place of birth | Rawmarsh, England | ||
Date of death | 8 August 1916 (aged 28–29)[2] | ||
Place of death | Corbie, France [3] | ||
Position(s) | Inside left | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
Parkgate Athletic | |||
–1909 | Rotherham Town | ||
1909–1911 | Bristol City | 13 | (1) |
1911–1916 | Reading | 146 | (67) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Allen Foster (c. 1887 – 8 August 1916) was an English professional football inside left, who made over 140 appearances in the Southern League for Reading.[3] He also played in the Football League for Bristol City.[1]
Career
Foster was born in Rawmarsh, Yorkshire and began his career in non-league football with Parkgate Athletic and Rotherham Town.[1] He moved to First Division club Bristol City in 1909, but made just 13 appearances, scoring one goal.[1] Foster's prolific scoring for the Bristol City reserve team in the Great Western Suburban League prompted newly promoted Southern League First Division club Reading to sign him for a £75 fee in August 1911.[4] A successful player with Reading, he was remembered for his hat-trick scored against Italian giants AC Milan in the Biscuitmen's 5–0 victory on 13 May 1914.[5] The result prompted the leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera to report that "without doubt, Reading FC are the finest foreign team seen in Italy".[6] Foster finished his professional career with Reading with 73 goals.[7]
Personal life
Foster was married and while a footballer with Parkgate Athletic,[8] he worked in the fitter's room at a colliery.[4] In 1914, during the early months of the First World War, Foster enlisted as a private in the Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment.[9] On 8 August 1916, he went over the top with the battalion at Guillemont, during the Battle of Delville Wood and was shot in the thigh, abdomen and arm.[3] Foster was recovered by four stretcher-bearers from no man's land and was transported to a hospital in Corbie, where he died of his wounds.[3] He was buried in Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension.[2]
Honours
References
- ^ a b c d Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 102. ISBN 190589161X.
- ^ a b "Casualty Details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Reading FC Remembering Allen Foster, 100 years on". Retrieved 28 November 2017.
- ^ a b Riddoch, Kemp & Holmes 2008, p. 139-140.
- ^ "Allen Foster". www.readingfc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
- ^ "One Day In History". www.readingfc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
- ^ "Top Scorers". www.royalsrecord.co.uk. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
- ^ "Private Allen Foster – 17th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment – Royals Remembered | Reading FC". www.readingfc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ Riddoch, Andrew; Kemp, John; Holmes, Richard (20 November 2008). When the Whistle Blows: The Story of the Footballers' Battalion in the Great War (1st ed.). Sparkford: Haynes Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 9781844256563.
- ^ Low, Jonathan (8 April 2017). "STAR induct 13 new names into Reading FC's Hall of Fame". getreading. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
- 1887 births
- 1916 deaths
- People from Rawmarsh
- English footballers
- Association football inside forwards
- Rotherham Town F.C. (1899) players
- Bristol City F.C. players
- Reading F.C. players
- English Football League players
- Southern Football League players
- British military personnel killed at the Battle of the Somme
- Middlesex Regiment soldiers
- Sportspeople from Yorkshire
- British Army personnel of World War I
- Midland Football League players
- English football forward, 1880s birth stubs