Albert Allen (1April 186713October 1899) was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player in the early years of professional football in England, who played as an inside-forward with

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He made one appearance for

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on 7 April 1888 when he scored three goals in a 5–1 victory over

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, thus making him one of the five England players who scored 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 ...

on his only international appearance.

Season 1888-89

He first joined Villa in August 1884 (before the foundation of the Football League), played in the first Villa League team to debut at Dudley Road, Wolverhampton, then home of Wolverhampton Wanderer's. The match ended 1-1. He scored Villa's first

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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

hat-trick in a 9–1 home win over

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 ...

on 29 September 1888, his debut League goal was on 15 September 1888 at Wellington Road, in a 5–1 win over

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. When he made his League debut he was 21 years 146 days old; that made him, on that first day of League football, Aston Villa's youngest league player. Allen only missed one League match, out of 22, and top-scored in 1888–1889 with 18 League goals and 1 in the FA Cup. Played as a forward in a forward line that scored three-League-goals-or-more-in-a-match on six separate occasions. Developed an understanding with

Dennis Hodgetts Dennis Hodgetts (28 November 1863 – 25 March 1945), commonly known as Denny Hodgetts, was a footballer in the early years of professional football in England. Signed as a Youth player for Mitchell St George's in 1878 and played for three yea ...

. In the second League season (1889–90) Allen scored eight League goals from 19 League Appearances. Allen scored a second League hat-trick in a 6–2 win at

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C., Burnley Football Club since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in Footbal ...

, the home of

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, on 5 October 1889. Allen was joint club top-scorer with

Billy Dickson Billy Dickson is an American cinematographer and television director. As a cinematographer he is best known for his work on the television series ''Ally McBeal'', for which he was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Cinemat ...

and Dennis (Denny) Hodgetts. Aston Villa had a poor season and finished 8th (out of 12). In 1890-91, another poor season for Aston Villa, finishing 9th in the League, Allen only played four matches scoring once. He made 44 league appearances for Aston Villa, scoring 27 goals. He died of tuberculosis, which had ended his career prematurely, aged 32.

Statistics

Source:

References

External links

Aston Villa Player Database
Albert Allen's AVFC Bio * English men's footballers England men's international footballers Aston Villa F.C. players Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands 1867 births 1899 deaths English Football League players Men's association football inside forwards People from Aston 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in England {{England-footy-forward-1860s-stub