John Edward Leighton (26 March 1865 – 15 April 1944) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

for

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 ...

and the Corinthians in the 1880s and made one appearance for

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 ...

in 1886.

Football career

Leighton was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

and after playing schoolboy and junior football in the town, he joined

in 1884. He joined Forest prior to the advent of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

and was thus restricted to friendly and cup matches. Leighton scored a goal in the 4–1 victory over local rivals, Notts Olympic in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of 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 ...

in November 1885; the following year he scored twice against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

in the

, repeating this in November 1887 against Mellors Ltd. His England call-up came on 13 March 1886 when, along with his Nottingham Forest teammate

Tinsley Lindley His Honour Tinsley Lindley, OBE (27 October 1865 – 31 March 1940) was an English footballer. He was described as "an ideal centre forward". He scored three goals in his debut aged 16 for Nottingham Forest. He was an amateur who did not wear fo ...

, he was one of eight new caps selected to play against

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 ...

Ballynafeigh Park The Ulster Cricket Ground in Ballynafeigh Park was a sports venue in Ballynafeigh, Belfast. Opened in 1879, it was the home ground of both Ulster Cricket Club and Ulster F.C. During the 1880s, it also hosted several Irish Cup finals and Irelan ...

, Belfast. England "totally dominated" the match as

Benjamin Spilsbury Benjamin Ward Spilsbury (1 August 1864 – 15 August 1938) was an English international footballer. Early life Spilsbury was born at Findern, Derbyshire, son of the Reverend Benjamin Ward. Spilsbury was an all-round athlete at Rossall Schoo ...

scored four goals in a 6–1 victory. Leighton also played for the Corinthians between 1885 and 1889, during which time he made seven appearances.

Life outside football

By profession, Leighton was a wholesale

stationer Stationery refers to writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery usually specifies materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer pr ...

and paper merchant in Nottingham. He was a supporter of Nottingham Forest and watched most of their matches at the

City Ground The City Ground is a association football, football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,455. ...

at all levels; he collapsed and died at the City Ground on 15 April 1944, aged 79.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leighton, John 1865 births Footballers from Nottingham 1944 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Nottingham Forest F.C. players Corinthian F.C. players England men's international footballers