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Page Last Updated 5 August 2013
 
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Steve Bloomer

Derby County FC, Middlesbrough FC

 23 appearances, 28 goals

P 23 W 15 D 6 L 2 F 76: A 19
78% successful
1895-1907

disciplined: none
captaincies: one
minutes played: 2070

Profile
Full name Stephen Bloomer
Born 20 January 1874 in Bridge Street, Cradley, Worcestershire [registered in Stourbridge, March 1874]. The Bloomer family moved to Derby after 1879, but before the 1881 census.
Attended St. James' Church of England Boarding School, Derby.
Birth notes Born in Cradley, not Cradley Heath.
Baptised 5 October 1874 at St Peter's Parish Church, Cradley

Census Notes

According to the 1881 census, Stephen is the eldest of three children to Caleb and Mareb (née Dunn) living at 44 Yates Street in Litchurch. His father is a puddler.

According to the 1891 census, Stephen now has three more younger siblings. They live at 87 Yates Street with just their widowed father. Stephen is a striker in the blacksmith industry.

According to the 1901 census, a professional footballer and married to Sarah, with two daughters, Violet and Hetty, living at 81 Cummings Street in Derby.

According to the 1911 census, Stephen is still a professional footballer, still married and now a third daughter, Doris. They live at 35 Portland Street in Derby.
Passenger Lists in 1922 has Steve still living at 35 Portland Street. The 48 year-old is stated as a footballer. He was on the CPL Minnedosa travelling from Montréal to Southampton, on 11 August.
Married: to Sarah Walker, 18 August 1896 in Derby [registered in Derby, Derbyshire, September 1896].
Four children, Hetty Winifred, Violet Pretoria, Doris Alexandra and Patricia K. (died five weeks old).
Died: 16 April 1938 in Derby, aged 64 years 86 days [registered in Derby, June 1938].
Funeral service held at Derby Cathedral, Wednesday, 20 April. Buried in Nottingham Road Cemetery, Derby (left)
Height/Weight: 5' 7", 10st. 12lbs [1901], 5' 7½", 11st. 0lbs [1904].

Douglas Lammings' An English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & FindMyPast.com
Biographies Steve Bloomer: The Story of Football's First Superstar - Peter J.Seddon (Breedon, 1999)
Destroying Angel: Steve Bloomer ~ England's First Football Hero - Peter J. Seddon (JMD Media, November 2010 [update of his 1999 publication)
 

x. - A Football Compendium, Peter J. Seddon (1999).

Club Career
Started playing football with St. James' School FC in the Derbyshire Minor League, then in 1888 Bloomer joined Derby Swifts FC. He also briefly played for Tutbury Hawthorn FC, before being discovered by John Goodall. He scored 206 goals in 355 league appearances before he joined Middlesbrough FC in March 1906 for a £750 transfer fee. After he made 125 league appearances, with a return of 61 goals, he returned to County in 1911. His second stint saw him score 53 goals in 98 league outings, bringing his total upto 291 goals in 473 County league appearances. His English League goals records of 352 was finally beaten by Billy Dean in 1936. Bloomer reluctantly retired at the end of the 1913-14 season, at the age of 40, having accepted a coaching position in Germany. However, when he returned to the Baseball Ground after coaching in Netherlands, Bloomer did play a few games for the County reserves, the team he was coaching.
Club honours: Football League runners-up 1895-96; FA Cup runners-up 1897-98, 1898-99, 1902-03 (injured); Football League Division Two winners 1911-12;
Individual honours: Football League (fifteen appearances)
Distinctions: England's Alf Quantrill married Bloomer's eldest daughter, Hetty in 1921.
As well as playing for the football side, Bloomer also starred with the Baseball Club, Derby County Baseball Club won the Championship in 1895, 1897 and 1898.
His memorial (left) was erected in October 1996 in Cradley.

Source: Douglas Lammings' An English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990].

England Career
Player number One of four players who became 218th players (220) to appear for England.
Position(s) Centre-forward, Inside-right
First match No. 53, 9 March 1895, England 9 Ireland 0, a British Championship match at Derbyshire County Cricket Ground, Nottingham Road, Derby, aged 21 years 48 days.
Last match No. 91, 6 April 1907, England 1 Scotland 1, a British Championship match at St. James' Park, Gallowgate, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, aged 33 years 76 days.
Major tournaments British Championships 1894-95, 1895-96, 1896-97, 1897-98, 1898-99, 1899-1900, 1900-01, 1901-02, 1903-04, 1904-05, 1906-07;
Team honours British Championships winners 1894-95, 1897-98, 1898-99, 1900-01, 1903-04, 1904-05;
Individual honours None
Distinctions Scored in his first ten internationals, a record that still stands.
He was the first of only two players, the other being Bobby Charlton, to hold the England record for most goals and most appearances. His international career was the longest until Bob Crompton broke it. His goalscoring span was the longest until Stan Matthews broke it.

Beyond England
Bloomer accepted the job of coach with the Britannia Berlin 92 Sports Club, in Berlin, arriving in the German capital just three weeks before the First World War broke out and, as an alien, spent almost all of the next four war years as an internee at the Civilian Detention Camp, on the racecourse at Ruhleben, six miles from Berlin. Following peacetime, Bloomer coached FC Blauw-Wit Amsterdam, before he returned to Derby County FC as reserve team coach. He then coached Real Unión Club de Irún, S.A.D., based in Bilbao, Spain. Winning the 1924 Cope del Rey and the Campeonato de Guipuzcoa. He returned to Derby, becoming the club's groundsman until his death. A bust (right) was finally unveilled in January 2009 at Pride Park Stadium. - An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who. Douglas Lamming (1990). Hatton Press, p.37./Darlington Northern Echo - 18 August 2007/CradleyLinks

 

Steve Bloomer - Career Statistics
Squads Apps Comp.
Apps		 Mins. Goals Goals Av.min Comp.
Goals		 Capt. Disc.
26 23 23 2070 28 74 min 28 one none
Due to the fact that many matches rarely stuck to exactly ninety minutes long, allowing time for injuries, errors and substitutions.  The minutes here given can only ever be a guideline and cannot therefore be accurate, only an approximation.

 

Steve Bloomer - Goal Record - When The 28 Goals Were Scored
0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-ht ht-50 51-55 56-60 61-65 66-70 71-75 76-80 81-85 86-90
1 0 0 2 2 1 1 3 3 1 0 2 1 0 2 2 3 3
13 15
one second half goal timing unknown

 

Steve Bloomer - Match Record - All Matches - By Type of Match
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts % W/L
Home 16 10 5 1 59 13 +46 0 7 3.688 0.813 78.1 +9
Away 7 5 1 1 17 6 +11 1 4 2.429 0.857 78.6 +4
All - British Championship 23 15 6 2 76 19 +57 1 11 3.304 0.826 78.3 +13

 

Steve Bloomer - Match Record - Tournament Matches
British Championship Competition
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
BC 1894-95 2 2 0 0 12 0 +12 0 2 6.00 0.00 100.0 +2
BC 1895-96 2 2 0 0 11 1 +10 0 1 5.50 0.50 100.0 +2
BC 1896-97 3 2 0 1 11 2 +9 0 2 2.667 0.667 66.7 +1
BC 1897-98 1 1 0 0 3 1 +2 0 0 3.00 1.00 100.0 +1
BC 1898-99 3 3 0 0 19 3 +16 0 1 6.333 1.00 100.0 +3
BC 1899-1900 1 0 0 1 1 4 -3 0 0 1.00 4.00 0.00 -1
BC 1900-01 2 1 1 0 8 2 +6 0 1 4.00 1.00 75.0 +1
BC 1901-02 3 1 2 0 3 2 +1 1 2 1.00 0.667 66.7 +1
BC 1903-04 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 0 1 1.00 0.00 100.0 +1
BC 1904-05 3 2 1 0 5 2 +3 0 1 1.667 0.667 83.3 +2
BC 1906-07 2 0 2 0 2 2 =0 0 0 1.00 1.00 50.0 =0
BC All 23 15 6 2 76 19 +57 1 11 3.304 0.826 78.3 +13
All Competition
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
BC 23 15 6 2 76 19 +57 1 11 3.304 0.826 78.3 +13
All 23 15 6 2 76 19 +57 1 11 3.304 0.826 78.3 +13

 

Steve Bloomer - Match History
 Club: Derby County F.C. - 21 full caps

Coach: F.A. International Select Committee - 23 full capsx

Age 21
1 53 9 March 1895 - England 9 Ireland 0, Derbyshire County Cricket Ground, Derby BC HW Start
4, 58		 cf
2 55 6 April 1895 - England 3 Scotland 0, Goodison Park, Liverpool HW Start 30 ir
Age 22
3 56 7 March 1896 - Ireland 0 England 2, Solitude Ground, Belfast BC AW Start 75 ir
4 57 16 March 1896 - Wales 1 England 9, Cardiff Football Ground, Cardiff AW Start

25, 40, 60, 83, 89		 ir
- 58 4 April 1896 - Scotland 2 England 0, Celtic Park, Glasgow AL withdrew injured
Age 23
5 59 20 February 1897 - England 6 Ireland 0, Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, Nottingham BC HW Start 19, 85 ir
6 60 29 March 1897 - England 4 Wales 0, Bramall Lane, Sheffield HW Start 44 ir
7 61 3 April 1897 - England 1 Scotland 2, Sports Arena, Crystal Palace HL Start 19 ir
Age 24
8 64 2 April 1898 - Scotland 1 England 3, Celtic Park, Glasgow BC AW Start 23, 72 ir
Age 25
9 65 18 February 1899 - England 13 Ireland 2, Roker Park, Sunderland BC HW Start 40, 89 ir
10 66 20 March 1899 - England 4 Wales 0, Ashton Gate, Bristol HW Start 44, 86 ir
11 67 8 April 1899 - England 2 Scotland 1, Aston Lower Grounds, Birmingham HW Start ir
Age 26
12 70 7 April 1900 - Scotland 4 England 1, Celtic Park, Glasgow BC AL Start 35 ir
Age 27
13 72 18 March 1901 - England 6 Wales 0, St. James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne BC HW Start
35,60,80,85		 ir
14 73 30 March 1901 - England 2 Scotland 2, Sports Arena, Crystal Palace HD Start 80 ir
Age 28
15 74 3 March 1902 - Wales 0 England 0, The Racecourse, Wrexham BC AD Start ir
16 75 22 March 1902 - Ireland 0 England 1, Balmoral Showgrounds, Belfast AW Start ir
void 5 April 1902 - Scotland 1 England 1, Ibrox Park, Glasgow AD Captain ir
17 76 3 May 1902 - England 2 Scotland 2, Aston Lower Grounds, Birmingham HD Captain ir
Age 30
- 81 12 March 1904 - Ireland 1 England 3, Solitude Ground, Belfast BC AW reserve
18 82 9 April 1904 - Scotland 0 England 1, Celtic Park, Glasgow AW Start 64 ir
Age 31
19 83 25 February 1905 - England 1 Ireland 1, Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough BC HD Start 50 ir
20 84 27 March 1905 - England 3 Wales 1, Anfield Road, Liverpool HW Start ir
21 85 1 April 1905 - England 1 Scotland 0, Sports Arena, Crystal Palace HW Start ir
 Club: Middlesbrough F.C. - 2 full caps

 

Age 33
22 90 18 March 1907 - England 1 Wales 1, Craven Cottage, Fulham BC HD Start ir
23 91 6 April 1907 - England 1 Scotland 1, St. James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne HD Start 42 ir

Notes

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CG