Jack Firth (8 August 1907 – 8 December 1987) was an English professional footballer who made more than 200 appearances in the Football League playing as a wing half or inside forward for Birmingham, Swansea Town and Bury.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jack Firth[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 8 August 1907 | ||
| Place of birth | Brightside, Sheffield, England | ||
| Date of death | 8 December 1987 (aged 80) | ||
| Place of death | Doncaster, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Wing half, inside forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Woodlands Prims | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 19??–1926 | Brodsworth Main Colliery | ||
| Doncaster Rovers | 0 | (0) | |
| 1926–1933 | Birmingham | 93 | (7) |
| 1933–1936 | Swansea Town | 102 | (16) |
| 1936–1937 | Bury | 7 | (4) |
| 1937–19?? | Brodsworth Main Colliery | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Life and career
editJack Firth was born on 8 August 1907[1] in Brightside, Sheffield;[2] he was a son of Albert Firth, a coal miner, and his wife Harriet. The family spent time living in Barnsley[3] before settling in Woodlands, where Firth attended the village school and captained its football team.[2] He was a member of the Doncaster schools representative team that played in the English Schools Shield.[2] On leaving school, he worked at Brodsworth Main Colliery, first as a screener and then in the office.[2] He began his football career with Woodlands Prims, and then joined his works team, initially in the reserves.[2] A trial with Doncaster Rovers during the 1925–26 season came to nothing, and in March 1926, he joined Football League First Division club Birmingham on a similar basis. The trial went well, he signed professional forms, "and was glad to forget the colliery and the coal-getting."[4][2]
Firth made his first-team debut for Birmingham on 29 October 1927, replacing the indisposed Wally Harris as stand-in for Johnny Crosbie at inside right for the 3–1 defeat away to Sheffield United,[5] the team Firth supported as a boy. The Sunday Mercury reporter wrote that he "revealed a great deal of footcraft, but he was too slow in parting with the ball and should have fed his partner oftener."[6][2] Starting at inside left, he scored his first goal 12 minutes into the visit to Middlesbrough on 25 February 1928 following a corner, and finished the game at right half after Jimmy Cringan was injured; it was only after the reorganisation that Middlesbrough equalised.[7] He ended the season with six appearances, and made twice that number in 1928–29, six at inside forward and six at right half, in the last of which he broke a collarbone.[8][9]
He was a regular at right half the following season and for the first couple of months of the next, until dropped in favour of Cringan. [10][11] Brought into the forward line to face Grimsby Town with Joe Bradford away on international duty with England and George Briggs and George Hicks injured,[12] and despite carrying an injury for much of the second half, Firth scored a hat-trick in the last half-hour of the game to secure a 4–1 win.[13] He regained a regular place in the side from mid-February onwards, scored in the FA Cup sixth round replay and played in the semi-final win against Sunderland, but Bob Gregg was preferred for the 1931 FA Cup Final, which Birmingham lost 2–1 to West Bromwich Albion.[14][15] He remained at the club for another two years, during which he made just 14 appearances, and was not retained at the end of the 1932–33 season.[16][17]
Firth signed for Swansea Town of the Second Division in August 1933.[18] He was a regular in their team for three seasons, mainly as an inside forward, and in his first season scored ten goals from 34 league appearances, a return that made him Swansea's second top scorer with only one fewer than Syd Lowry's 11.[19] He was made available for transfer in 1936,[20] and signed for Bury, another Second Division club. His manager, Norman Bullock, thought he would "prove a very good utility player",[21] but, apart from a run of five games at inside right in February 1937 that produced four goals, he rarely played.[19]
He returned home at the end of that season, and rejoined Brodsworth Main, both colliery and football team.[19][22] In addition to football, Firth played league cricket in Yorkshire.[23]
Firth died in Doncaster on 8 December 1987 at the age of 80.[1]
Career statistics
edit| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Birmingham | 1927–28 | First Division | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 1928–29 | First Division | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | |
| 1929–30 | First Division | 36 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 0 | |
| 1930–31 | First Division | 25 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 5 | |
| 1931–32 | First Division | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| 1932–33 | First Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 93 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 98 | 8 | ||
| Swansea Town | 1933–34 | Second Division | 34 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 38 | 10 |
| 1934–35 | Second Division | 36 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 4 | |
| 1935–36 | Second Division | 32 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 2 | |
| Total | 102 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 109 | 16 | ||
| Bury | 1936–37 | Second Division | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4 |
| Career total | 202 | 27 | 12 | 1 | 214 | 28 | ||
References
edit- ^ a b c d Matthews (1995), p. 87.
- ^ a b c d e f g Firth, Jack (29 December 1929). "The 1930 perils of the "Blues"". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "1911 England Census for Jack Firth". RG14/25765 RD 507 ED 06 – via Ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ "Sporting news in brief". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 11 June 1926. p. 9.
- ^ "Harris indisposed. Firth in Birmingham team to play at Sheffield". Evening Despatch. Birmingham. 27 October 1927. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Superior Sheffielders. Birmingham beaten by better side". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. 30 October 1927. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Forward (27 February 1928). "'Blues' hold Camsell and company". Birmingham Gazette. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Matthews (1995), pp. 170–171.
- ^ The Saint (7 April 1929). "Burnley's "double". Birmingham concede full points to Turf Moor side". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Matthews (1995), pp. 172–173.
- ^ "Blackpool's visit to St. Andrew's". Birmingham Gazette. 10 October 1930. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Weakened "Blues" XI". Evening Despatch. Birmingham. 20 November 1930. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Firth's fine "hat" trick at St. Andrew's. A welcome surprise". Sports Argus. 22 November 1930. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Matthews (1995), p. 173.
- ^ "All players expected to be fit for fray. Gregg at inside-left for Birmingham". Birmingham Gazette. 24 April 1931. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Matthews (1995), pp. 174–175.
- ^ Argus Junior (6 May 1933). "Leaves of my notebook. Farewell to Liddell and Tremelling". Sports Argus. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Jack Firth signed on. Birmingham player for Swansea Town". Western Mail. Cardiff. 10 August 1933. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "Player search: Firth, J (Jack)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
- ^ "Swansea Town's retained list". Western Mail. Cardiff. 1 May 1936. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Bullock, Norman (29 August 1936). "They're telling you—and it's official! F.C. managers talk. Bury". Liverpool Echo. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "1939 England Census for Jack Firth". RG101/3595a RD 512A/2 ED KMAG – via Ancestry.co.uk.
- ^ "Jottings from the Division II camps". Leicester Evening Mail. 18 April 1936. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
Sources
edit- Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.