Robert Redfern (3 March 1918 – 3 July 2002) was an English professional footballer who played as an outside right in the Football League for Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic and Brighton & Hove Albion.[1] He was on he books of Wolverhampton Wanderers without playing for their first team, and played non-league football for Tow Law Town, Cradley Heath, Weymouth and Bournemouth.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Robert Redfern[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 3 March 1918[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Crook, England | ||
| Date of death | 3 July 2002 (aged 84)[1] | ||
| Place of death | Bournemouth, England | ||
| Position(s) | Outside right | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 193?–1936 | Tow Law Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1936 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 0 | (0) |
| 1936–1937 | Cradley Heath | ||
| 1937–1947 | Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic | 89 | (4) |
| 1947–1948 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 5 | (1) |
| 1948–1949 | Weymouth | (3) | |
| Bournemouth | |||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Life and career
editRedfern was born in Crook, County Durham, in 1918.[1] He played football for Tow Law Town before joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1936 as an 18-year-old.[2] His stay was brief: he was farmed out to Cradley Heath of the Birmingham & District League before signing for Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic of the Third Division South in February 1937.
He, together with Cradley winger and future England international, Jack Rowley, went straight into the team for the visit to Walsall on 27 February.[3] Redfern made 89 league appearances for Bournemouth over ten years,[1] seven of which were lost to the Second World War, during which he played as a guest for clubs including Crystal Palace, Fulham, Luton Town and York City.[4] At the beginning of the 1939–40 Football League season, Redfern scored twice as Bournemouth beat Northampton Town 10–0, a club record victory which would, as of 2020,[update] still stand had the season not been abandoned because of the war and all results expunged.[5] He finished his Football League career with a season at Brighton & Hove Albion.[6]
He then returned to the south west, where he played non-league football for Weymouth[7] and Bournemouth F.C., and later acted as secretary of the latter club.[6] As a youngster, Redfern had received a scholarship which gave him free secondary education, a luxury for which his father, an unemployed coal miner, would not have been able to pay – he was still at school when he signed for Wolves – and he went on to work as a schoolteacher in Bournemouth.[2][6] Redfern was married to Betty; the couple had two children, Sylvia and Robert. He died at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital in 2002 at the age of 84.[1][8]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g "Bob Redfern". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
- ^ a b "New players for Wolves". Midland Daily Telegraph. Coventry. 2 May 1936. p. 5.
Robert Redfern, 18-year-old inside-right, who has scored 32 goals for Tow Law, a Durham junior club, this season, has signed professional forms for Wolverhampton. Redfern attracted the attention of Arsenal, and had arranged to play with Arsenal Reserves to-day. Wolverhampton, however, stepped in with a definite offer, which was accepted. He is the son of an unemployed Crook miner, and won a scholarship which entitled him to free Secondary School education. He will not leave school for another 12 weeks.
- ^ "Second half goal foils Walsall at home". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 27 February 1937. p. 4.
Bournemouth had a new outside right, Redfern, from Cradley Heath, in place of Jones. Rowley, also signed from Cradley Heath during the week, was on the left wing.
- ^ Rollin, Jack (2005). Soccer at War 1939–45. London: Headline. pp. 323, 335, 358, 445. ISBN 978-0-7553-1431-7.
- ^ "Record win expunged...what a load of Cobblers!". AFC Bournemouth. 2 September 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
- ^ a b c Carder, Tim; Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-9521337-1-1.
- ^ "Player archive" and "Previous seasons 1948/49". Weymouth F.C. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
- ^ "Redfern". Bournemouth Echo. 6 July 2002. Retrieved 6 October 2021.