Bob Evans (footballer)

Bob Evans
Personal information
Full name Robert Owen Evans
Date of birth August 1881
Place of birth Wrexham, Wales
Date of death 8 March 1962(1962-03-08) (aged 80)
Place of death Coventry, England
Height 5 ft 10 1⁄2 in (1.79 m)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Youth career
1895–189? Olympic Juniors
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
– Stansty Villa
1898–1903 Wrexham
1903–1908 Blackburn Rovers 104 (0)
1908–1909 Croydon Common 57 (0)
1909–1913 Coventry City 127 (0)
1913–1914 Birmingham 3 (0)
1914–19?? Nuneaton Town
National team
1902–1914 Wales 10 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Robert Owen Evans (August 1881 – 8 March 1962) was a Welsh international professional footballer who won ten caps for his country and made 107 appearances in the Football League playing for Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham.[1] He played as a goalkeeper.

Career

Evans was born in Wrexham. He played local football before joining Wrexham A.F.C. in 1898.[2] Wrexham were champions of The Combination for three successive seasons, from 1900–01 to 1902–03,[3] and Evans played in two Welsh Cup finals for the club, on the losing side in 1902 but victorious in 1903.[4][5]

His performances for Wrexham and for his country earned him a move to the Football League when First Division club Blackburn Rovers paid a fee of £150 for his services in April 1903.[2] He spent five seasons at Blackburn, playing 104 league games.[1] He then moved into the Southern League, spending the 1908–09 season with Croydon Common, for whom he played 8 games in the Western League, 12 in the United League and 31 in the South-Eastern League as well as 12 in the Southern League,[6] and then four years with Coventry City. He returned to the Football League with Birmingham,[2] played the first three games of the 1913–14 season, conceded nine goals, and relinquished the starting place to Bert Crossthwaite.[7] Evans finished off his playing career at non-league club Nuneaton Town.[2]

Evans made his debut for the Wales national football team while a Wrexham player, on 22 February 1902 in a 3–0 defeat against Ireland at Cardiff Arms Park.[8] He won ten caps in total,[1] of which the last five came in 1911 and 1912 while a Coventry City player.[9][10] Evans' international appearances were restricted by having to compete with Leigh Richmond Roose, who was an automatic first choice for his country for many years.[11][12]

Evans died in Coventry in 1962 at the age of 80.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData (Tony Brown). p. 85. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  3. ↑ Abbink, Dinant (23 July 2006). "England – The Combination". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  4. ↑ "Welsh Cup Final 1901/02". Welsh Football Data Archive. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  5. ↑ "Welsh Cup Final 1902/03". Welsh Football Data Archive. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  6. ↑ "Robert Owen Evans" (PDF). Croydon Common FC. Alan Futter. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  7. ↑ Matthews, p. 160.
  8. ↑ "Welsh International Matches 22 February 1902". Welsh Football Data Archive. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  9. ↑ "Welsh International Matches 28 January 1911". Welsh Football Data Archive. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  10. ↑ "Welsh International Matches 13 April 1912". Welsh Football Data Archive. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  11. ↑ "Leigh Roose". BBC Wales. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  12. ↑ Richards, Thomas. "Roose, Leigh Richmond". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. The National Library of Wales. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
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