John Reynolds (21 February 1869 – 12 March 1917) was a footballer who played for, among others,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

and

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

. He was the first player to represent both

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

internationally. Reynolds won the

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 ...

with West Bromwich Albion in 1892 and was a prominent member of the successful Aston Villa team of the 1890s, winning three English League titles and two

s, including a double in 1897. As an international he played five times for Ireland before it emerged that he was actually English and he subsequently played eight times for England. He is the only player to score for and against England (barring own goals) and was the only player to play for both Ireland and England until Declan Rice did so 120 years later.

Club career

Early years

Although born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

, Lancashire, Reynolds grew up in

Ahoghill Ahoghill ( or ; ) is a large village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, four miles from Ballymena. It is located in the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area. It had a population of 3,417 people at the 2011 census. In ear ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

, Ireland and attended schools in Portglenone and

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

. By the age of 15 he was back in Blackburn playing with, among others

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

reserves. In December 1886 he joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and was posted back to Ireland with the

East Lancashire Regiment The East Lancashire Regiment was, from 1881 to 1958, a Line infantry, line infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot and 59t ...

. While in Ireland he also played for the regimental team. In 1888 he also began playing for

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

where his teammates included Olphert Stanfield and Billy Crone. He also played for Distillery in an

tie against one of his former clubs Blackburn Park Road F.C. He missed the 1888–89 season due to suspension but despite this Distillery bought him out of the army in time for the 1889–90 season and Reynolds helped the club reach the final of the

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

. In June 1890 he joined Ulster F.C., a now defunct

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

team. In 1891 Reynolds helped this team finish runners-up to Linfield in both the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

and the very first

Irish Football League Irish commonly refers to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state *** Erse (disambiguati ...

West Bromwich Albion

In March 1891, Reynolds joined

(WBA) and it was subsequently discovered that he was actually English. During his debut 1891–92 season with WBA he played 17 games and scored 2 goals. He also won the first of his three

winners medals, scoring for WBA in the 1892 FA Cup final as they beat

3–0. During the 1892–93 season he played a further 20 games and scored one more goal for WBA. This was WBA's first ever penalty in a First Division game and it came against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

on 3 April 1893. During his time with WBA he also briefly played for Droitwich Town either as a guest or on loan. After falling out with the WBA management committee, Reynolds was sold to

for a fee of £50.

Aston Villa

Between 1892 and 1897, Reynolds made 96 league appearances and scored 17 goals for

. His time at Villa was the most successful period of his career and he was a prominent member of a very successful team, helping them win the English League in 1894, 1896 and 1897. Reynolds also played a further 14 times for Villa in the

and helped them win the competition in 1895 and 1897. The 1895 final saw him face his former club WBA.

Later career

After leaving

, Reynolds turned out for

, and then

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, during the 1897–98 season. Although both teams won their respective league titles Reynolds made little or no contribution and his career was in decline, albeit he did score once for Celtic in a 2–1 win over Hibernian. He subsequently played for a further five clubs on a semi-professional basis, including a spell as a player/coach in New Zealand. He eventually retired as a player in April 1905 and worked as a coach at

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

during the 1907–08 season. After retiring from football he settled in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

where he worked as a collier until his death in 1917.

International career

Ireland

Between 1890 and 1891, while playing for

and Ulster F.C., Reynolds made five appearances for

, four as a half-back and one as winger. He made his debut for Ireland on 8 February 1890 in a 5–2 defeat to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Then on 15 March he played against

and scored Ireland's only goal in the 9–1 defeat. This was the only international in which he played as a winger. During the 1891

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

he played in all three of Ireland's games.

England

While playing for WBA and

, Reynolds made eight appearances as a half-back for England. He made his England debut at the age of 23 in 1892 against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He scored for England in the 6–0 win over

in 1893 and the 2–2 draw with Scotland in 1894, but not in his only match against Ireland. He helped England win three

titles. Reynolds made his last appearance for England against Scotland in 1897 at the age of 28. He also played for the

Football League XI The English Football League XI was a representative side of the Football League. The team regularly played against the Scottish Football League XI and other national league select teams between 1891 and 1976. For a long period the annual fixture b ...

on four occasions. Some sources credit him with a goal in a 5–2 victory against Scotland on 1 April 1893, but it is now accepted that this goal completed a hat-trick by Fred Spiksley.

Style of play

Reynolds was noted as a highly competitive player with some remarkable ball skills and exceptionally brilliant footwork. He was regarded as one of the great footballers of the 1890s and was one of the highest paid players of his generation.

Personal life

Reynolds gained a reputation for drinking and womanising and as a result much of the money he earned disappeared. He fathered at least one illegitimate child and in 1899 he appeared in court for non-payment of child maintenance. His heavy drinking blighted his latter career and after brief spells at

and then

, he became a semi-professional journeyman. Towards the end of his life he worked as a miner in

and he died alone in a boarding house at the age of 48. Reynolds and his career have been the subject of several lectures, including one entitled ''How to play football, win friends and die young: The life of John Reynolds'', given by Dr. Neal Garnham at the

University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

Honours

Distillery *

runners-up: 1889–90 Ulster *

runners-up: 1890–91 *

runners-up: 1890–91 West Bromwich Albion *

winners:

1892 In Samoa, this was the only leap year spanned to 367 days as July 4 repeated. This means that the International Date Line was drawn from the east of the country to go west. Events January * January 1 – Ellis Island begins processing imm ...

Aston Villa *