Horace Burrows (11 March 1910 – 22 March 1969) was a 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 for

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. Burrows was a

left half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

whose league career lasted from 1932 to 1939, his career was curtailed by the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Burrows also played for the

England national football team The England national football team have represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Eng ...

on three occasions.

Playing career

Non-league football

Burrows was born in

Sutton-in-Ashfield Sutton-in-Ashfield is a market town in Nottinghamshire, England, with a population of 36,404 in 2021. It is the largest town in the district of Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, Ashfield, four miles west of Mansfield, from the Derbyshire border and ...

on 11 March 1910, as a youth he won honours with

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

Schools and played for local club Sutton Junction F.C. In February 1929 he was offered a trial by Division Three South side

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

and was signed on after a successful tryout. Burrows never managed to break into the Coventry first team and after a year was forced to drop back to playing

Non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with Mansfield Town who at that time were in the

Midland Football League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an England, English association football, football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the form ...

. He had a successful year at Mansfield playing 44 games and helping them get elected to

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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

. His good form was noticed by Sheffield Wednesday manager

Bob Brown Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is an Australian former politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a Australian Senate, senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian ...

and he signed for Wednesday on 1 May 1931 for a fee of £200.Since 1888.
Gives career statistics.

Sheffield Wednesday

Burrows found it impossible to force his way into the Wednesday side at left half, initially being kept out by

Gavin Malloch Gavin Malloch (18 July 1905 – 10 December 1974) was a Scottish footballer who played as a left half for Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday, Millwall, Barrow and Morton.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 ...

and became Wednesday's regular left half for the next six seasons up to the outbreak of World War II. He played in 136 consecutive games for Wednesday from April 1933 till March 1936. This sequence of games included Wednesday's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

run in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

when they lifted the trophy. He subsequently played as Wednesday won the

1935 FA Charity Shield The 1935 FA Charity Shield was the 22nd FA Charity Shield, a football match between the winners of the previous season's First Division and FA Cup competitions. The match was contested by league champions Arsenal and FA Cup winners Sheffield Wedne ...

. He was also capped three times by England in this period, being first called up in May 1934 against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. Subsequent internationals followed against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

before he lost out to

Wilf Copping Wilfred Copping (17 August 1909 – June 1980) was an English football player who played for Leeds United, Arsenal and the England national team. Career Leeds United Copping was born in Middlecliffe, Barnsley, Yorkshire, but was rejected by hi ...

in the national side.''"The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club"'', Tony Matthews, Gives details of Sheffield Wednesday career.www.thefa.com.
Gives details of England career.

War and retirement

At the outbreak of war, Burrows continued to play for Wednesday in the wartime leagues and work in a sports shop that he had opened in his home town of Sutton-in-Ashfield. He played 49 wartime games for Wednesday and several as a guest for

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

before being called up in January 1942 and joining the

Sherwood Foresters The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to ...

. He fought and was injured in the

First Battle of El Alamein The First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942) was a battle of the Western Desert campaign of World War II, fought in Egypt between Axis (German and Italian) forces of the Panzer Army Africa—which included the under Field Marshal Erwin ...

. After leaving the army in 1945 he re-opened his sports shop in Sutton-in-Ashfield, he also became player-manager of Ollerton Colliery for a time. Horace Burrows continued to run his shop until his death on 22 March 1969. The shop is no longer trading, but was run by his son Adrian who also played professional football between 1979 and 1993 making over 200 appearances for

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

.''"The Wednesday Boys"'', Jason Dickinson & John Brodie, Page 52 Gives biographical information.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrows, Horace Mansfield Town F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players England men's international footballers English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders 1910 births 1969 deaths Sutton Junction F.C. players British Army personnel of World War II Sherwood Foresters soldiers Military personnel from Nottinghamshire Footballers from Sutton-in-Ashfield 20th-century English sportsmen