Joseph Morris Lofthouse (14 April 1865 – 10 June 1919) was an English

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 ...

Playing career

Joseph Lofthouse was born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

on 14 April 1865. A talented footballer he joined

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, in 1882, from King's Own Lancaster Regiment who he signed for as a Youth player in 1881. Although only 18 years old he was a member of the team in the 1883–84 season. After Blackburn Rovers beat

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

in the semi-final of the FA Cup, the club made an official complaint to

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

(FA) that John Inglis was a professional player. The FA carried out an investigation into the case discovered that Inglis was working as a mechanic in Glasgow and was not earning a living playing football for Blackburn. Blackburn faced Queens Park in the final at

the Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

. Lofthouse played at left-half. The Scottish club scored the first goal but Blackburn Rovers won the game with goals from Blackburn lads, James Forrest and Joe Sowerbutts. That year Blackburn Rovers also won the Lancashire Cup and the Lancashire Charity Cup. Blackburn Rovers beat Old Carthusians 5–0 in the semi-final of the 1885 FA Cup. Once again they had to play Queens Park in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Blackburn Rovers was now a team full of internationals, including Jimmy Douglas, Hugh McIntyre, James Forrest, Herbie Arthur, Lofthouse and Jimmy Brown. A crowd in excess of 12,000 arrived at the Oval to see what most people believed were the best two clubs in England and Scotland. Lofthouse played at inside right and with goals from Brown and Forrest, Blackburn Rovers won 2–0. Joe Lofthouse won his first international cap for England against Ireland on 28 February 1885. England won 4–0 with Lofthouse scoring one of the goals. Over the next five years Lofthouse played scored three goals in seven internationals. He played against Ireland (3), Wales (2) and Scotland (2). The first season of the Football League began on 8 September 1888 and Joe was now playing for

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

. Joe played on the right-wing in his debut match at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

, then home of Everton. Accrington lost 2–1. Joe Lofthouse scored his debut League goal at

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...

, then home of

, on 3 November 1888. He scored one of Accrington' three goals in a match that ended as a 3–3 draw. Joe Lofthouse only missed one League match of the 22 played by Accrington in season 1888–89 and scored two League goals. Lofthouse played as a winger in a midfield that achieved a big (three-League-goals-or-more) win once. It was his only season with Accrington. Preston North End won the first championship that year without losing a single match and acquired the name the "Invincibles". Blackburn Rovers, who had lost most of their best players to retirement, finished in 4th place, 14 points behind Preston. At the beginning of the 1889–90 season Tom Mitchell, the club secretary, recruited four top players from Scotland: Tom Brandon, Johnny Forbes, George Dewar and Harry Campbell. A local lad, Nat Walton was also drafted into the side. Other key players that season included Lofthouse and Jack Southworth. Blackburn did slightly better in the league, finishing in 3rd place, six points behind Preston. However, they won the

1890 FA Cup Final The 1890 FA Cup final was contested by Blackburn Rovers and The Wednesday at the Kennington Oval. Report Blackburn won 6–1 with goals scored by William Townley (3), Nat Walton, Jack Southworth and Joe Lofthouse. The Wednesday's goal wa ...

, beating The Wednesday 6–1 with Billy Townley scoring a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...

. Other goals came from Lofthouse, Nat Walton and Jack Southworth. Joe Lofthouse scored 18 goals in 51 games for Blackburn Rovers in the Football League. He left in 1891 to join

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road, A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to ...

. He also played for Walsall Town before retiring from playing in 1894. He also worked as coach of Magyar Athletic Club in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

and a trainer at Everton. Joe Lofthouse died in 1919.

Honours

Blackburn Rovers *

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 ...

winner:

1884 Events January * January 4 – The Fabian Society is founded in London to promote gradualist social progress. * January 5 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera '' Princess Ida'', a satire on feminism, premières at the Savoy The ...

1885 Events January * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 17 – Mahdist ...

1890 Events January * January 1 – The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony in the Horn of Africa. * January 2 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House. * January 11 – 1890 British Ultimatum: The Uni ...

1891 Events January * January 1 ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new African territories. * January 4 – The Earl of Zetland issues a ...

Statistics

Source:

References

External links

Profile on englandfootballonline
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lofthouse, Joe 1865 births 1919 deaths English men's footballers England men's international footballers Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Accrington F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Darwen F.C. (1870) players English Football League players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Blackburn