Samuel Meston (16 January 1872 – 14 August 1948) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a half-back for

Stoke Stoke may refer to: Places Canada * Stoke, Quebec New Zealand * Stoke, New Zealand United Kingdom Berkshire * Stoke Row Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stoke Gifford * Bradley Stoke * Little Stoke * Harry Stoke * Stoke Lodge Bucking ...

and

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, ...

. Whilst with Southampton, he appeared in two

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and won six Southern League championship medals, being the only player ever to do so.

Playing career

Meston was born in

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

and started his career with his local team, Arbroath Victoria before signing as a professional with Stoke in January 1894. Meston spent two seasons at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

making thirteen appearances scoring four goals. At the end of the 1894–95 season, he joined Southampton, together with several other Stoke players and soon proved to be one of the most valuable players signed for the Saints in their Southern League days. His trademark hard shots were nicknamed '' Long Toms'' after a cannon used during the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

and elsewhere. He played in a variety of positions, although his favourite position was at right-half. Whilst at Southampton, he won a record six Southern League championship medals and appeared in 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 ...

finals in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

, defeating three First division clubs on the way, and

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's ...

. He made a total of 288 appearances for the Saints, including 42 in the FA Cup (a total only exceeded by

Terry Paine Terence Lionel Paine (born 23 March 1939) is an English former professional footballer. Originally from Winchester, Paine is best known for his career with Southampton, for whom he made a club-record 808 appearances across 18 seasons. He playe ...

and

Nick Holmes Nicholas John Arthur Holmes (born 7 January 1971) is an English singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the gothic metal/doom metal band Paradise Lost and Swedish death metal supergroup Bloodbath. Biography Holmes formed Paradise Lost in l ...

). After 11 seasons with the Saints, he left in May 1906 to join Salisbury City and also played for Croydon Common and Eastleigh Athletic. After leaving full-time football, he worked as a brake-fitter at the Eastleigh railway depot. Two decades later his son, Sammy Meston also played for Southampton, as well as for Everton and

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

Career statistics

Honours

Southampton * Southern League First Division: 1896–97, 1897–98, 1898–99, 1900–01, 1902–03, 1903–04 *

finalist:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meston, Samuel 1872 births 1948 deaths Footballers from Arbroath Scottish men's footballers Southern Football League players Stoke City F.C. players Croydon Common F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. (1905) players English Football League players Eastleigh Athletic F.C. players Arbroath Victoria F.C. players Men's association football midfielders