Vivian John Woodward (3 June 1879 – 31 January 1954) 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, rugb ...

who enjoyed the peak of his career from the turn of the 20th century to the outbreak of the First World War. He played for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and Chelsea. He captained

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

to gold medals at the 1908 Olympics in London and in Stockholm in 1912. Woodward's tally of 29 goals in 23 matches for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

remained a record from 1911 to 1958; his strike rate of 1.26 goals per game is the second highest for an England player. He served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and as a result missed out on Chelsea's run to their first-ever FA Cup final in 1915. Woodward's injuries during the war caused his retirement from football.

Club career

An architect by profession, Woodward began his career at Clacton Town. Following spells at

Harwich & Parkeston Harwich & Parkeston Football Club is an English football club based in Harwich, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at the Royal Oak ground. History The club was established in 1877, and reached their first cup final in 1891, ...

and

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Londo ...

, he joined

in 1901, who that year would win the FA Cup. Due to work and cricket commitments, he wouldn't begin to appear regularly for the team until the

1902–03 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

season. In nine seasons at White Hart Lane, he made 169 appearances and scored 73 goals. Tottenham was elected to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

of the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for the 1908–09 season, and Woodward scored Spurs' first ever goal in the Football League in September 1908 against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

that finished 3–0. He helped the team win promotion to the First Division that season. Before the start of the 1909 season, Woodward decided to retire to concentrate on his architectural practice and cricket. He had a short spell back with Chelmsford, but was persuaded to join

David Calderhead David Calderhead (19 June 1864 – 9 January 1938) was a Scottish football player and manager. Calderhead played for Queen of the South Wanderers, Notts County and Lincoln City. He won the FA Cup with Notts County in 1894 and was capped once f ...

's Chelsea on 20 November 1909. He went on to play in a total of 116 games for them, scoring 34 goals. He was their leading scorer in the 1912–13 season with ten goals. At the start of the

he enlisted in the

and as a result did not play many matches during the 1914–15 season, but he was given special leave to join Chelsea at Old Trafford for the Cup Final when Bob Thomson was injured. However Thomson recovered and Woodward refused to play and deny Thomson his chance to play in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

final as Woodward had not played in any of Chelsea's matches in their run to the final. Woodward was injured in the right thigh during the war and did not return to top class football.

International career

He made his

debut in 1903, scoring twice in a 4–0 win against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. Between 1903 and 1911, he won 23 full caps and scored 29 goals, setting an English record that would last until the 1950s. He also played in three unofficial international matches against South Africa in 1910, scoring a further four goals. At the time, England only usually played three matches a season, for the

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

, but two tours to

central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

in 1908 and 1909 netted Woodward 15 goals (over half his total). He held the overall England goalscoring record, either jointly or alone, for 47 years – longer than any other player until surpassed by Tom Finney in 1958. With his 28th and 29th goals, the last of his career, he overhauled Steve Bloomer against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

in March 1911, and was not himself overtaken until Tom Finney scored his 30th (and last) goal in October 1958. He also turned out 44 times for England Amateurs and scored 57 goals, most of them against inferior European teams. In one match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1906, the Times and Sporting Life credit Woodward with eight goals in a 15–0 win, although FIFA's official record of the match credits him with only four goals. However he did score six against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1909. 30 of his amateur appearances and 44 goals were in matches recognized as full internationals by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and the opposition's Football Associations, though not by the FA. Woodward represented the

Football League XI The English Football League XI was a representative side of the Football League. The team regularly played against the Scottish Football League XI and other national league select teams between 1891 and 1976. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

and the Southern League XI. He also toured the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

with The Pilgrims in 1905.

Olympic career

Woodward was Great Britain captain at the 1908 and

1912 Olympic Games Year 191 ( CXCI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Apronianus and Bradua (or, less frequently, year 944 ''Ab urbe condit ...

, both of which Great Britain won.

Military career

He joined the 17th

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions ...

of the Middlesex Regiment. This was one of the Pals battalion formed during the early stages of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. It was known as a " Footballers Battalion" and it included many members of Woodward's former team Tottenham Hotspur. He served on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...

and was wounded in 1916. He attained the rank of Captain.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Sources: :''Scores and results of England is listed first and score column indicates the score after each Woodward goal.''

References

External links

Vivian Woodward's appearances and goals for England and England Amateurs
��from

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Vivian 1879 births Footballers from Lambeth 1954 deaths English footballers England international footballers England amateur international footballers Association football forwards English Football League players Chelsea F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Footballers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1912 Summer Olympics English Olympic medallists Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic footballers of Great Britain Middlesex Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I Olympic medalists in football English Football League representative players F.C. Clacton players Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Southern Football League representative players Harwich & Parkeston F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Pilgrims F.C. players Military personnel from Surrey