Fred Poland was a Scottish professional

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 centre forward. He was signed by

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 ...

in April 1888. He had played football in Scotland for Dundee Our Boys.

Career

Poland moved to

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

from Scotland in search of work. He let it be known around Burnley that he was a footballer, having played at senior level in Scotland, and also that he was both a goalscorer and a goalkeeper. The

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

heard about him and invited him to play in a friendly match against

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 ...

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C., Burnley Football Club since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in Footbal ...

. He played at centre-forward, exceeding expectations by scoring two goals in a 7-1 victory. He continued to play well and score goals as the 1887–1888 season drew to a close, and was retained by Burnley for the forthcoming inaugural

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 ...

season. Poland made his league début on 8 September 1888, as a forward, against

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 ...

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 team defeated Burnley 5–2, Poland scoring his team's second. He made nine appearances, from a possible 22 league games played by Burnley in season 1888–89, and scored five league goals. (registration & fee required)

References

Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Dundee Our Boys F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players English Football League players Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{Scotland-footy-forward-stub