Brian Arrowsmith (2 July 1940 – 12 April 2020) 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. Born in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 202 ...

, he spent his entire professional career at his hometown club Barrow. He made 512 appearances for Barrow, including 378 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, the most at that level for the club. Arrowsmith started his career as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, but played across the defence when required. He captained Barrow during the 1966–67 season in which they won promotion from the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

, and stayed with the club for a total of eleven seasons. After leaving Barrow in 1971 Arrowsmith joined

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division ...

club Netherfield, but returned to Barrow – who by then had been voted out of the Football League and placed in the Northern Premier League themselves – in 1974 as player-manager. He resigned as manager in November 1975, but continued playing for the club until 1978. After retiring from football, Arrowsmith ran a

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

shop in Barrow, regularly attending Barrow matches as a fan. His son, Mark, made six appearances for Barrow in the 1980s. In January 2017, the main stand at Barrow's

Holker Street Holker Street ( known as the SO Legal Stadium for sponsorship purposes), is a sports stadium in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. As well as being a football ground, it has also been used for motorcycle speedway.COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrowsmith, Brian 1940 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Barrow-in-Furness English footballers Kendal Town F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players English football managers Barrow A.F.C. managers English Football League players Association football defenders Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England Northern Premier League managers Northern Premier League players