Bob Howarth (20 June 1865 – 20 August 1938) 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 ...

. An England international, he was a member of the Preston North End side which became known as " The Invincibles".

Career

Bob Howarth was born in Preston. He joined

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

in 1883, and for eight years was a member of the North End side that earned the title of "The Invincibles". He was in the Preston side that were 1887–88 FA Cup Finalists. The following season, he was in the Preston side that did the double, being

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 ...

champions and 1888–89 FA Cup winners. Howarth made his League debut on 8 September 1888 at full-back for Preston North End against

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 ...

at Preston North End'

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

ground in Preston. Preston won 5–2. Howarth played 18 of Preston' 22 League Championship matches and played in a defence-line that achieved nine clean-sheets. In one source Howarth was described as 'a powerful and formidable full-back". In 1891 he joined Everton, before returning to finish his career back at Preston North End. He gained several representative honours, making four appearances for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Outside of football he worked in Preston as a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

Professional baseball

Howarth played baseball professionally as an outfielder for

Preston North End Baseball Club Preston North End Baseball Club were a short lived English professional baseball club, who played their home games at Deepdale, competing for the 1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain. Preston North End Baseball Club Limited were for ...

in the

1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain Year 189 ( CLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 942 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 189 for t ...

, but spent much of the season with the amateur team.

References

External links

* 1865 births 1938 deaths English men's footballers Footballers from Preston, Lancashire Men's association football defenders English Football League players English Football League representative players Everton F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players England men's international footballers English baseball players {{england-footy-defender-1860s-stub