Robert Stevenson (footballer)

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Robert "Bob" Stevenson (b: Barrhead, Scotland, 1869. d: ? ) was a Scottish footballer, a versatile full and half back who could also play at centre forward.

Stevenson first played for Third Lanark, before joining Woolwich Arsenal in May 1894. He spent a single season with the Reds, playing at half-back for the first seven Second Division matches of the season, before being dropped. He was released by Woolwich Arsenal in March 1895 and joined Old Castle Swifts F.C.. They soon folded and Stevenson returned to Scotland, before being called up to play for the newly established Thames Ironworks F.C. team, who later went on to become West Ham United.

He was instantly installed as their first ever club captain, and Stevenson went on to play for "The Irons" for a season and a half. On his influence as a player for both Woolwich Arsenal and Thames Ironworks, this is written:

"Robert Stevenson, a full back of merit, who captained ^[1] the Arsenal team in their early Second Division struggles, was among those who helped to build warships when the suggestion of a football club was made at the Thames Iron Works, and he was the first captain of the team. There was not much of him in the way of physique, but he was a wonderfully good player and invaluable as an advisor to the fathers of the club."

- Association Football And The Men Who Made It, by Dickford and Gibson (1905)

Halfway during The Irons' second campaign of 1896-97 Stevenson once again returned to Scotland, joining Arthurlie.

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^ This is contradicted by Arsenal Who's Who, by Jeff Harris and Tony Hogg (1995, ISBN 1-899429-03-4), which makes no mention of Stevenson's captaincy of Arsenal, which was unlikely given that he only played seven competitive matches for the club. They instead indicate that Joe Powell was Woolwich Arsenal's captain between 1893 and 1895, though it is possible that Stevenson deputised for Powell at some point during his brief stay at the club.