Victor Martin Watson (10 November 1897 – 3 August 1988) 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 most of his club football for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

Playing career

Watson, a centre forward, played 505 times for West Ham between 1920 and 1936. The club paid just £50 for Vic from Wellingborough, bringing him in to provide cover for

Syd Puddefoot Sydney Charles Puddefoot (17 October 1894 – 2 October 1972) was an English footballer who played for West Ham United, Falkirk and Blackburn Rovers. He played mainly as a centre forward or inside right. He was also a cricketer for Essex. ...

. Watson is the club's record goalscorer with 326 goals: 298 in the League and 28 in the FA Cup. 203 of his league goals were from 295 top flight appearances. He once scored six, in an 8–2 home win against

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on 9 February 1929, scored four goals on three occasions, and managed 13

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 while at West Ham. Watson gained two international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with

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 1923 and a further three caps in 1930, scoring four goals in total, including two 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 ...

in the

1930 British Home Championship Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 193 for this ye ...

. He spent one season (1935–36) with

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, ...

before retiring and he was the club's top scorer with 14 goals in 36 league appearances. Upon retiring, he became a market gardener in

Girton, Cambridgeshire Girton is a village and civil parish of about 1,600 households, and 4,500 people, in Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about to the northwest of Cambridge, and is the home of Girton College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge ...

. He died in August 1988 at the age of 90. In June 2010 a plaque honouring Watson was unveiled in Girton.

Honours

West Ham United * Division Two Runners Up: 1922–23 *

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 ...

finalist:

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

England *

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

References

External links

*
Vic Watson photosProfile on Cambridge City website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Vic 1897 births 1988 deaths Military personnel from Cambridgeshire People from Girton, Cambridgeshire England men's international footballers English men's footballers Men's association football forwards English Football League players First Division/Premier League top scorers Wellingborough Town F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Southampton F.C. players British Army personnel of World War I British Army soldiers Footballers from Cambridgeshire 20th-century English sportsmen