Arnold Birch
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1891 | ||
| Place of birth | Grenoside, England | ||
| Date of death | 1964 (aged 72–73) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1914 | Tankersley Colliery | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1918 | Be Quick | ? | (?) |
| 1919–1923 | Sheffield Wednesday | 27 | (0) |
| 1923–1927 | Chesterfield | 141 | (5) |
| 1927–1929 | Denaby United | ? | (?) |
| Total | 168 | (5) | |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Arnold Birch (1891 – 1964) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
World War I
Birch worked at Newton, Chambers & Company's Tankersley mine until it closed in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I. He voluntarily joined the 1st Royal Naval Brigade. After a flee from Antwerpen, Belgium with his division in October 1914, he spent World War I in a prisoner-of-war camp in Groningen, Netherlands playing football in the highly rated internal competition alongside Harry Waites.
He joined local side Be Quick in 1916 as a masseuge and later as coach and was allowed to play for the team in 1918. Be Quick won the Eerste Klasse North and qualified for the Championship play-off finishing fifth.[1][2]
Football career
Upon returning to England, Birch made 27 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday in the Football League between August 1919 and January 1923.[3] He later played for Chesterfield, scoring 5 goals in 141 League appearances.[4] He later played non-League football with Denaby United.
References
- ↑ (in Dutch) Engelse geïnterneerden en het voetbal in Groningen tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog
- ↑ (in Dutch) Arnold Birch: de eerste profvoetballer van Groningen Archived 24 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Sheffield Wednesday Archive
- ↑ Chesterfield F.C. official website Archived 2 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine.