John William Glover (28 October 1876 – 20 April 1955) was an English 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 as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. Born in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, Glover made 200 appearances in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

for

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 ...

(who signed him from the Rudge-Whitworth team in Coventry),

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Small Heath Small Heath is an inner-city area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre. History Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman t ...

(later Birmingham), and in the 1900–01 season won the league championship with Liverpool. He and two other Liverpool players were banned from football for six months in 1903 for "accepting illegal financial inducements" from Southern League club

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

to sign for them. When the ban ended, he signed for Small Heath, where he developed as a strong-tackling defender and formed an excellent full-back pairing with Frank Stokes. Glover played for the Football League representative team and played in

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 ...

trials, but was not selected for the national team. After retiring from football he kept a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, and also represented

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

. He died in Dudley at the age of 78.

Honours

Liverpool *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

champions 1900–01.

Notes

References

1876 births Footballers from West Bromwich 1955 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Brierley Hill Alliance F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players {{England-footy-defender-1870s-stub