Herbert Alfred Potts (30 January 1878 – before 1939) 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 for Belgian clubs

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and

Beerschot AC Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were ...

between 1898 and 1905.

Club career

Herbert Potts and his older brother

Walter Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...

were strikers for Antwerp FC at the end of the 19th century, making his debut against FC Liégeois on 30 October 1898, which ended in a 2–4 loss. In the

1899–1900 Belgian First Division Statistics of Belgian First Division in the 1899–1900 season. Overview It was contested by 10 teams, and Racing Club de Bruxelles won the championship. League standings Championship Group A Play-off Racing Club de Bruxelles Qualified fo ...

, they narrowly missed out on reaching the national final after losing a tie-breaker playoff to

Racing de Bruxelles Koninklijke Football Club Rhodienne-De Hoek is a Belgian association football club based in Sint-Genesius-Rode, Flemish Brabant. The club was created in 1894 as Racing Football Club. It became a member of the Royal Belgian Football Association ...

0–1. Following this, the majority of the players and the Potts brothers left the club to join the newly founded Beerschot AC under the chairmanship of

Max Elsen Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

and later in the season Paul Havenith. He was named the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the football team, and started in the club's first official match on 21 October 1900, which ended in a 10–2 victory over FC Brugeois. In his first season the club, Beerschot became vice-champions of Belgium, falling just one point short of the winners Racing. Their runner-up finish allowed them to compete in the 1901 edition of the

Challenge International du Nord The Challenge international du Nord (Northern International Challenge) was an annual football tournament featuring clubs from Northern France and Belgium as they could not play in the French Championship. Later teams from Switzerland, Netherlan ...

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; ; ; ) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a commune within the department of Nord. Located to the north-northeast of Lille, adjacent to Roubaix, Tourcoing is the chef-lieu of two ca ...

, where Potts helped his club win its first-ever piece of silverware after beating

Léopold Club de Bruxelles Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name), including a list of people named Leopold or Léopold * Leopold (surname) Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold B ...

2–0 in the final on 12 May. Potts was the topscorer in the Belgian First Division in the 1900–01 and 1901–02 seasons, with 26 and 16 goals respectively, with the former tally possible being a record at the time until Gustave Vanderstappen broke it with 30 goals in the 1903–04 season. He stayed loyal to Beerschot until 1905, when he retired at the age of 27.

International career

Potts featured in four unofficial matches with the Belgium national team between 1901 and 1904, in which he represented

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in friendly cup duels against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In his debut at the

1901 Coupe Vanden Abeele The 1901 Coupe Vanden Abeele (English: Vanden Abeele Cup) was a friendly football match held at the ground of Beerschot A.C. in Antwerp, on 28 April 1901. That match was contested by representative teams of Belgium and the Netherlands, and ended i ...

on 28 April 1901, he scored 7 of his side's 8 goals, the eight coming from his brother Walter. In total, he scored 12 goals in those 4 caps, resulting in a strike rate of 3 goals per game.

Retirement

After retiring, he returned to England and worked in the import business. BelgiumNFT1901

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Potts goal.''

Honours

Club

; Beerschot *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

vice-champions: 1900–01 *

champions: 1901

Individual

* Belgian First Division top scorer: 1900–01 (26 goals), 1901-02 (16 goals)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potts, Herbert 1878 births Date of birth missing Date of death missing English men's footballers Royal Antwerp F.C. players Beerschot A.C. players Belgian Pro League players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Men's association football forwards People from Sheerness Footballers from Kent