David "Di" Jones (1867 – 27 August 1902) was a Welsh

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 full-back for

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...

Chirk Chirk () is a town and Community (Wales), community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the historic counties of Wales, traditional coun ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

and

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in the late 19th century. He also won 14 caps for the Welsh national team.

Career

Club career

Jones was born in Trefonen,

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

to Lot Jones, a coal miner and labourer. His nephew was the footballer, Lot Jones. He began his career with Oswestry in 1882 and helped them win the Shropshire Cup. (registration & fee required) Jones moved to Chirk, with whom he won the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

in 1887 and 1888, the latter as captain. He was then persuaded to join

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial ...

. However, he soon moved on to Bolton Wanderers in March 1888 after just two friendly appearances for the Heathens. Jones was noted for his strong tackling and ability to kick with either foot, and he was capable of plying in either full–back position, though he normally appeared at left–back. Di Jones, playing as a full–back, made his League and Bolton Wanderers debut on 22 September 1888 at

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 ...

, the home of Preston North End. Bolton Wanderers were defeated by the home team 3–1. Di Jones appeared in 12 of the 22 League matches played by Bolton Wanderers in season 1888–89. With Jones in the team, Bolton kept one clean sheet and conceded a single goal on 11 occasions. At Bolton, he captained the side in the 1894 FA Cup Final, but finished on the losing side as

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

defeated Wanderers 4–1. In ten years at Bolton, Jones made a total of 228 appearances and scored four goals, before moving to Manchester City, where his former Chirk teammate Billy Meredith was a player. He made his Manchester City debut 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 ...

on 8 October 1898. In his first season at City the club won

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to the First Division, the highest level of English football. He scored one goal in 114 appearances for City.

International career

Jones made his debut for the Wales national team on 3 March 1888, playing at right-half in an 11–0 victory over

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Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

. In a 12-year international career, Jones made a total of 16 appearances, but two, against

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in 1891, were uncapped. His final Wales appearance came on 26 March 1900, a 1–1 draw with

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in which he played at right-back.

Personal life and death

On 17 August 1902, Jones was playing in a pre-season practice match when he suffered a cut to his knee after falling on a piece of glass. The wound became infected, and Jones died of blood poisoning and lockjaw on 27 August.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Di 1867 births 1902 deaths Welsh men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Manchester United F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Chirk AAA F.C. players Wales men's international footballers Footballers from Oswestry Sportspeople from Chirk Footballers from Wrexham County Borough Deaths from tetanus Deaths from sepsis in the United Kingdom Association football players who died while playing Sport deaths in England