Charles William Wallace Midgley (20 January 1885 – 13 December 1942) 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 ...

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 Spanish club

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. Along with his younger brother,

Percival Perceval (, also written Percival, Parzival, Parsifal), alternatively called Peredur (), is a figure in the legend of King Arthur, often appearing as one of the Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Tr ...

, he was part of the first great team of

, with whom he scored 105 goals in just 102 matches, although this tally includes goals scored in friendlies and unofficial games.

Club career

Born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, his family moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

when he was still a child. He began his career in 1905 at FC Internacional, featuring alongside the likes of

Enrique Peris Enrique Peris de Vargas (27 February 1887 - 17 February 1953) was a Spanish footballer who played as a left winger. He spent most of his career at Barcelona, with whom he played over 300 matches, and won three Copa del Reys and five Catalan Champ ...

and Paco Bru. He helped the club achieve a runner-up finish in the 1905–06 Catalan championship, losing the title to X Sporting Club. In 1906, the club had to suspend its activities due to a lack of players, and while most of the remaining players joined

, Wallace instead went to FC Català, but eventually also joined Barça in 1907. In 1908, he played one game for

Madrid CF Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Found ...

on loan from Barcelona, a common practice at the time, when it was allowed to call up players from other teams. After that match, he continued to play for Barcelona. Wallace was an integral piece of Barcelona's first great team in the early 1910s, which had the likes of

Carles Comamala Carles Comamala López-Del Pan (17 April 1889 – 4 August 1983) was an orthopedic surgeon by profession and a football player for Barcelona between 1903 and 1911. He was a director of Barcelona in 1909–1911. Early life and career Born in M ...

, Alfredo Massana, Manuel Amechazurra and Pepe Rodríguez, as well as former FC Internacional teammates Bru and Peris. Together with them, he helped the club win the Catalan championships three times in a row between 1909 and 1911, along with two

Pyrenees Cup The Pyrenees Cup (), officially Challenge International du Sud de la France, was an international football competition contested by Spanish and French clubs based in the territories of Pyrénées (Catalonia, the Basque Country, Languedoc, Midi-Py ...

s (1910 and 1911), and one

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

, in which he proved to be vital since in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

he netted Barça's first goal in an eventual 3–2 comeback win over Español de Madrid. In October 1911, President of Barcelona

Joan Gamper Hans Max Gamper-Haessig (; 22 November 1877 – 30 July 1930), commonly known as Joan Gamper (), was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably Barcelona and Zürich. ...

expelled several players from the club including Wallace Midgley, following a friendly match against

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, who were accused of keeping the

proceeds In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive revenue ...

, causing a schism in the club with the advocates of amateurism. Afterwards, Charles signed for

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

together with his brother, and shortly before the end of the year, both joined Casual SC, together with other Barcelona dissidents such as José Quirante and the Comamala brothers ( Carles and Arsenio). In 1913, Casual folded due to financial reasons and the Wallace brothers returned to FC Barcelona, for whom Charles played until his retirement in 1915.

Honours

Club

;

* Catalan championship: **Champions (3): 1908–09, 1909–10 and 1910–11 *

: **Champions (2): 1910 and 1911 *

: **Champions (1):

;

* Catalan championship: **Champions (1): 1911–12

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace Midgley, Charles 1885 births 1942 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Lewisham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards FC Barcelona players Real Madrid CF players RCD Espanyol footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain English expatriate men's footballers