George Arthur Nineham (23 July 1873 – 8 May 1950) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Southampton St. Mary's in the 1890s. He was one of the few locally born players to make the transition from mainly friendly matches to Southern League football.

Football career

Nineham was born in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and joined the recently created Southampton St. Mary's club in late 1892. His first recorded appearance was at

inside-right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

in a

Hampshire Senior Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, except 1914 to 1919 when it was postponed due t ...

semi-final match against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

on 4 February 1893. This match ended 2–0 to "the Saints" who met then arch local rivals,

Freemantle Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England. There are similarly named places in Hampshire: notably Henry II's hunting lodge in Kingsclere; an area near Hannington; and Freemantle Common in Bitterne. These were former ...

in the final. The Saints had won the trophy in each of the previous two years and were favourites to make it a hat-trick, but Freemantle won the match with a hotly disputed penalty late in the match. In 1893–94, Nineham played in the first qualifying round of the

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 ...

, a 3–1 victory against

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

but lost his place to Bob Kiddle for the next match at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. Nineham did, however, appear regularly in various local cup competitions, helping the Saints reach three finals, winning the

Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Hamp ...

Charity Cup, defeating the

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5–0 in the final. In

1894 Events January * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United States. * Ja ...

, Southampton were one of the nine founder members of the Southern League, which had been created to enable clubs in southern England, who were not admitted to

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

to play competitive football on a regular basis. Nineham, who enjoyed taking on and beating defenders, made his league debut in the opening match, playing at

outside-right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

in a 3–1 victory over Chatham on 6 October 1894. In the next match, Southampton met Newbury on 13 October 1894 in the first qualifying round of the

at the

Antelope Ground The Antelope Ground, Southampton was a sports ground that was the first home of both Hampshire County Cricket Club, who played there prior to 1884, and of Southampton Football Club, who played there from 1887 to 1896 as "Southampton St. Mary's ...

. Saints were "''in particularly rampant mood''" and won 14–0, with Nineham and

Herbert Ward Herbert may refer to: People * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, Northern Territory ...

scoring hat-tricks; this is still Southampton's biggest victory in a competitive match. He made one further FA Cup appearance, scoring twice against

Warmley Warmley is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. Warmley is situated in between Bristol and Bath. It is a parish, with its own church, and has some minor landmarks, such as a World War One memorial the focus of Remembrance Services, and ...

in the fourth qualifying round. His league appearances during the 1894–95 season were fairly infrequent, making seven in total, scoring four goals as the Saints ended their inaugural league season in third place.

Later career

Nineham left St. Mary's in the summer of 1895, to join

. He was employed at

Southampton Docks The Port of Southampton is a passenger and cargo port in the central part of the south coast of England. The modern era in the history of the Port of Southampton began when the first dock was inaugurated in 1843. After the Port of Felixstowe, ...

throughout his working life and committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

in May 1950, aged 77.

References

External links

Descendants of James Nineham
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nineham, Arthur 1873 births Footballers from Southampton 1950 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Southampton F.C. players Freemantle F.C. players Southern Football League players Suicides in England 1950 suicides