Thomas Shanks (30 March 1880 – 1 March 1919) was an Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er.

Career

Shanks was born in

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

and started his playing career with local club Wexford before moving to

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 ...

to play for Derby West End and then

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

in 1898. He spent three seasons at the

Baseball Ground The Baseball Ground was a stadium in Derby, England, that was first used for baseball, as the home of Derby Baseball Club from 1890 until 1898, and then for football, as the home of Derby County from 1895 until 1997. The club's reserve and yo ...

, playing 28 times and scoring 9 goals, but could not hold down a regular place. In October 1901 he moved to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

of the Southern League, helping the Bees to promotion to Division One, before being signed by Second Division Woolwich Arsenal in January 1903. He made his Arsenal debut against Burslem Port Vale on 10 January 1903 and went on to be a regular that season as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

, scoring five times. His performances for his club earned him the first of three caps 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 ...

, against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 21 March 1903. Shanks' 1903–04 season was a record-breaking one; he scored 24 goals that season, including four

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

s, as Arsenal earned promotion to the First Division. He was the first Arsenal player ever to score more than 20 in a league season. However, a cash-strapped Arsenal sold him back to Brentford in the summer of 1904 and he never played for Arsenal in the top flight. In all he played 48 matches and scored 29 goals for the Woolwich Reds. He played for another two seasons in the Southern League for Brentford before returning to League football with

Leicester Fosse Leicester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the city of Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English f ...

in 1906. In three seasons with Leicester he scored 16 goals in 59 appearances, including the only goal in a 1–0 win over Stoke in April 1908, which earned them promotion to the First Division for the first time. In 1909 he moved back to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to play for

Leyton Leyton ( ) is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the Ri ...

and saw out his career at Clapton Orient and

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanks, Tommy 1880 births 1919 deaths Men's association football inside forwards Derby County F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players York City F.C. (1908) players Leyton F.C. players English Football League players Irish association footballers (before 1923) Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers People from New Ross Southern Football League players