Bert Sproston - Match History
Club: Leeds United A.F.C. - 8 full appearances F.A. International Select Committee - 11 full capsx
Age 21
1	205	17 October 1936 - Wales 2 England 1, Ninian Park, Cardiff	BC	AL	Start	rb
Age 22
2	212	23 October 1937 - Ireland 1 England 5, Windsor Park, Belfast	BC	AW	Start	2
3	213	17 November 1937 - England 2 Wales 1, Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough		HW	Start	2
4	214	1 December 1937 - England 5 Czechoslovakia 4, White Hart Lane, Tottenham	Fr	HW	Start	2
5	215	9 April 1938 - England 0 Scotland 1, Empire Stadium, Wembley	BC	HL	Start	rb
6	216	14 May 1938 - Germany 3 England 6, Olympiastadion, Berlin	tour	AW	Start	rb
7	217	21 May 1938 - Switzerland 2 England 1, Hardturm Stadion, Zürich		AL	Start	rb
8	218	26 May 1938 - France 2 England 4, Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris		AW	Start	rb
Club: Tottenham Hotspur F.C. - 2 full appearances
Age 23
9	219	22 October 1938 - Wales 4 England 2, Ninian Park, Cardiff	BC	AL	Start	2
10	220	26 October 1938 - England 3 Rest of Europe 0, Arsenal Stadium, Highbury	Fr	HW	Start	2
Club: Manchester City F.C. - 1 full cap
11	221	9 November 1938 - England 4 Norway 0, St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne	Fr	HW	Start	2
-	222	16 November 1938 - England 7 Ireland 0, Old Trafford, Manchester	BC	HW	withdrew injured

Notes

The footballer Bert Sproston, who has died aged 84, was, for several years before the last war, acknowledged as one of the best defenders in England, a blonde, fast, strongly built (5ft 8in, 12st), hard-tackling right-back.

He forged his way into the national team at the expense of as accomplished a player as Arsenal's George Male, who for years had partnered his clubmate and captain, the left-back Eddie Hapgood, and would regain his place from Sproston in 1939. Curiously, however, neither Male nor Sproston would be chosen for England in their unofficial internationals against Wales and Scotland during the war years.

Born in Sandbach, Cheshire, Sproston made his name with Leeds United, and won the first of his 11 international appearances against Wales in Cardiff, in October 1936, a game that England lost 2-1. He was capped seven times the following season, 1937-8, when he became the regular England choice at right-back.

Perhaps the most memorable of these games took place in Berlin in May 1938, against Germany; the Nazi regime very much wanted a home win. Before the game, a reluctant England team, at the behest of Sir Neville Henderson, the appeasing British ambassador, gave the Nazi salute. They then proceeded to play the Germans off the park, winning 6-3.

That season, Sproston had also played all three games in the British international championship. At the end of it, he moved south to Tottenham Hotspur, retaining his place in the England team and appearing against Wales and the Rest of Europe XI, beaten 3-0 at Highbury.

He was unhappy in London, however, and stayed at Tottenham for only a few months before moving back north - this time to Manchester City, a club that had just been relegated to the second division - a single season after winning at the league championship.

Sproston's last international cap came in November 1938, at Newcastle, where England beat Norway 4-0. During the war, he served in the army, eventually playing for Combined Services XIs on the continent, and turning out as a guest player for Millwall, who sometimes used him in the unaccustomed position of inside-right.

The transitional 1945-46 season saw him back with Manchester City, though neither he nor the then England goalkeeper, the celebrated Frank Swift, could save the club from a remarkable humiliation in the FA Cup, revived in 1946 as a two-legged affair. On their home ground at Maine Road, City were thrashed by a Bradford Park Avenue team which scored eight goals, four of them by A H (Jackie) Gibbons, once Tottenham's amateur centre-forward, and by then a professional.

The next season, when league football started, Sproston was a regular member of the Manchester City team which comfortably won the second division championship, and thus returned to the first division. He played on as the regular right-back for a couple of seasons, his last with the club being 1949-50, when he made just five first division appearances. Subsequently, he coached Bolton Wanderers. - The Guardian obituary

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CG