Arnold Birch
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 1891 | ||
Place of birth | Grenoside, England | ||
Date of death | 1964 (aged 72–73) | ||
Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
Youth career | |||
–1914 | Tankersley Colliery | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1918 | Be Quick | ? | (?) |
1919–1923 | Sheffield Wednesday | 27 | (0) |
1923–1927 | Chesterfield | 141 | (5) |
1927–1929 | Denaby United | ? | (?) |
Total | 168 | (5) | |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Arnold Birch (1891 – 1964) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
World War I
Birch worked at Newton, Chambers & Company's Tankersley mine until it closed in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I. He voluntarily joined the 1st Royal Naval Brigade. After a flee from Antwerpen, Belgium with his division in October 1914, he spent World War I in a prisoner-of-war camp in Groningen, Netherlands playing football in the highly rated internal competition alongside Harry Waites.
He joined local side Be Quick in 1916 as a masseur and later as coach and was allowed to play for the team in 1918. Be Quick won the Eerste Klasse North and qualified for the Championship play-off finishing fifth.[1][2]
Football career
Upon returning to England, Birch made 27 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday in the Football League between August 1919 and January 1923.[3] He later played for Chesterfield, scoring 5 goals in 141 League appearances.[4] He later played non-League football with Denaby United.
References
- ^ (in Dutch) Engelse geïnterneerden en het voetbal in Groningen tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog
- ^ (in Dutch) Arnold Birch: de eerste profvoetballer van Groningen Archived 24 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Sheffield Wednesday Archive
- ^ Chesterfield F.C. official website Archived 2 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine