John Hardy Robson (15 April 1899 – 1995) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 ...

, who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. Born in

Innerleithen Innerleithen ( gd, Inbhir Leitheann) is a civil parish and a small town in the committee area of Tweeddale, in the Scottish Borders. It was formerly in the historic county of Peeblesshire or Tweeddale. Etymology The name "Innerleithen" comes ...

Tweeddale Tweeddale (Scottish Gaelic: ''Srath Thuaidh/Tuaidhdail'') is a committee area and lieutenancy area in the Scottish Borders council area in south-eastern Scotland. It had also been a province in the Middle Ages. From 1975 to 1996 it was a local gov ...

, Robson played as a goalkeeper despite only standing at 5'8". Robson had served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

with the

Seaforth Highlanders The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw serv ...

; after returning home he played for local side Vale of Leithen. In November 1921, Robson was signed by

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

for £5, and initially was the club's third-choice goalkeeper behind

Ernest Williamson Ernest Clarke Williamson (24 May 1890 – 30 April 1964) was an English football goalkeeper. Career Born in Murton, County Durham, Williamson began his career at local sides before moving to London in 1913 to join Croydon Common. During ...

and

Stephen Dunn Stephen Elliot Dunn (June 24, 1939June 24, 2021) was an American poet and educator who authored twenty-one collections of poetry. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 2001 collection, ''Different Hours,'' and received an Academy Award ...

. With little experience and his lack of height, he was never expected to be thrust into the first team, but after first Williamson and then Dunn suffered poor form, Robson made his debut for Arsenal against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

on 26 December 1922. Arsenal won 5-0 and Robson kept his place. Robson played for the rest of the 1922–23 season, keeping twelve clean sheets in twenty matches, and he became an ever-present in the Arsenal side for the next season and a half; Arsenal were by no means a top side at this time, flirting dangerously with relegation in 1924 and 1925, but Robson's athletic keeping helped keep them up. However, after

Welsh international The Welsh International is an international badminton championship held in Wales since 1928 and is thereby one of the oldest badminton tournaments in the world. The tournament was halted during World War II and until 1956, between 1960 and 1966 ...

Dan Lewis joined Arsenal in late 1924, Robson had to share goalkeeping duties with him. Robson started the 1925–26 season as first-choice but after new Arsenal manager

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English association football, football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful manag ...

signed Bill Harper in November 1925, Robson's days at Arsenal were numbered. He made his last first-team appearance in a 5–2 win against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

on 7 November 1925. After spending the rest of the season in the reserves, Robson left Arsenal in August 1926 for

Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as Bo ...

. In all, he played 101 matches for Arsenal.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robson, Jock 1899 births 1995 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Arsenal F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Vale of Leithen F.C. players Montrose F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from the Scottish Borders Date of death missing Place of death missing