Joseph Gardiner Absolom Bambrick (3 November 1905 – 13 October 1983) was a Northern Irish footballer who played as a forward for Chelsea,

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

, and Linfield. A former gas worker of medium build, he was a prolific goalscorer in the Irish League and the

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 ...

, adept at getting into good scoring positions and athletic enough to make the final touch count. "Head, heel, or toe, slip it to Joe" became a famous catch-phrase when referring to him. His scoring of six goals for

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 ...

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 ...

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

on 1 February 1930 in a 7–0 win, still remains the record score for a British Isles player in an international fixture.

Club career

Irish League

Bambrick began his professional career with

, spending a season there before moving to Belfast rivals Linfield. His scoring record with Linfield was phenomenal: he scored a total of 286 league goals in just 183 games, 50 of these coming in the 1930–31 season, which was the highest in the world that year. In total that season he managed 96 goals in all competitions, and his overall goal tally for Linfield was 509 goals managed in just 8 years, finishing as Irish League top scorer on four occasions.

Chelsea

On 24 December 1935, Bambrick signed for English side Chelsea for a fee of £3,000, making his debut the following day (Christmas Day) against

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 ...

. He then scored his first goal the day after (Boxing Day) also against Aston Villa at

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

. Bambrick scored Chelsea's goal in their highest-attended competitive match at their ground Stamford Bridge. A crowd of 82,905 watched the 1–1 draw with local rivals Arsenal on 12 October 1935. In total, he scored 38 goals in 66 appearances for Chelsea, including four hat-tricks (on two of these occasions he managed four goals).

Walsall

Bambrick gradually fell out of favour, losing the number 9 shirt to George Mills, transferring to

in July 1938 where he spent a season before 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 ...

led to his retirement. He returned to Linfield as a coach, but Walsall retained his registration and refused to release him to play for Linfield in war-time competitions. He eventually played for Linfield in the 1943

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 ...

when he scored his final goal.

International career

Bambrick scored 12 goals in 11 games for

, including six in one game against

. His goal tally ensures that he still ranks as the joint-fourth highest goalscorer for the Northern Ireland national side.

International goals

''Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first. ''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bambrick, Joe 1905 births 1983 deaths Chelsea F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Glentoran F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Walsall F.C. players Men's association football forwards English Football League players Northern Ireland men's amateur international footballers Irish League representative players