Robert William Jefferson (June 1882 – July 1966) was an English professional

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 and manager.

Early life

Robert William Jefferson was born in

Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, Tyne and Wear in 1882. He left school to join the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, before deserting after a few weeks to become an apprentice moulder at a foundry back in Sunderland. At this time, he began playing junior football with local team Sunderland Royal Rovers, before becoming a professional footballer. Jefferson served as a

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Career

Jefferson played primarily as an

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 bei ...

, but could play at any

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 ...

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

position. He began his professional career at

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

in November 1904, scoring six goals in 30 appearances in

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 ...

over the next two seasons. Jefferson joined local rivals

Leeds City Leeds City Football Club was the leading professional club in Leeds, England, before the First World War. The club was highly successful in the wartime football league; however, it faced sanction for paying its players during wartime which had b ...

in May 1906, scoring on his debut against

Leicester Fosse Leicester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the city of Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English f ...

. By May 1908, Jefferson had moved to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

along with former-Leeds players Harry Kay and Jack Lavery. Jefferson was to remain with the Wiltshire club for the next 14 years, despite his career being disrupted by the First World War. At Swindon, Jefferson made 356 appearances in all competitions, scoring 82 goals. His spell at Swindon included an appearance in the

1911 FA Charity Shield The 1911 FA Charity Shield was the fourth Charity Shield, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Football League and Southern League competitions. The match was played on 25 September 1911 between Manchester U ...

, and eleven appearances for the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

representative team. Jefferson also scored in Swindon's first ever game in

, in a 9–1 victory against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

. In total, Jefferson made 321 appearances in

and the

between 1904 and 1922, scoring 78 goals. In May 1922 Jefferson joined non-League team

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. Nicknamed the "R ...

, where he ended his playing career one year later.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Jefferson went to the Netherlands to work as a coach. He started in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

with HFC. After his one-year spell at the oldest footballclub of the Netherlands he left for

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

to coach local team

Vitesse Arnhem SBV Vitesse Arnhem (''Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem, Eng: Professional Football Foundation Vitesse Arnhem''), widely known as Vitesse () or internationally known as Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch professional association football, footba ...

from 1924 to 1927. During this time he also coached Tubantia from

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants dialect, Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the Twente region, in the province of Overijssel. It is part of a larger urban area that also includes Enschede, Borne, Overijssel, Borne, Almelo and Ol ...

from mid February until the first of June 1926 in order to prepare them for the promotion competition after which he returned to Vitesse. Though, as expected, he became champions with Tubantia, they eventually did not win the promotion competition. He then went to

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

to coach 't Gooi for two years. In the last of his two years in Hilversum he also coached

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

. In 1929 he went to

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

to coach Velocitas. During his time here he also coached HSC from nearby

Hoogezand Hoogezand () is a town in the municipality of Midden-Groningen, in the province of Groningen in northeast Netherlands. History The name refers to a higher sanded ''(Hooge Sandt)'' place in the peatlands cut through when the Winschoterdiep Cha ...

and FVC from faraway

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

. With Velocitas he won the Dutch

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 ...

in 1934. After this success he left Velocitas to coach what was to be his last club in the Netherlands:

Velox Velox, is a Latin word meaning "swift" or "rapid". Velox may also refer to: Vehicles *Velox (execution engine), a C++ open source composable execution engine for data management systems *Heine-Velox, a luxury car made by Gustav Heine *HMS Velox (D ...

where he was let go in 1938.Jefferson verlaat Velox
Utrechts volksblad, 1 April 1938, page 6

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Bob 1882 births 1966 deaths Footballers from Sunderland English men's footballers English football managers Bradford City A.F.C. players Leeds City F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Bath City F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands English expatriate football managers SBV Vitesse managers FC Eindhoven managers Men's association football outside forwards Men's association football inside forwards Royal Air Force personnel of World War I SC 't Gooi managers