Allen Foster

Allen Foster (c. 1887 – 8 August 1916) was an English professional footballer who made over 140 appearances in the Southern League for Reading. An inside left, he also played in the Football League for Bristol City.

For the Washington D.C. lawyer, see C. Allen Foster.

Allen Foster
Personal information
Full name Allen Foster[1]
Date of birth 1887
Place of birth Rawmarsh, England
Date of death 8 August 1916 (aged 28–29)[2]
Place of death Corbie, France [3]
Position(s) Inside left
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Parkgate Athletic
0000–1909 Rotherham Town
1909–1911 Bristol City 13 (1)
1911–1916 Reading 146 (67)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Foster was born in Rawmarsh, Yorkshire and began his career in non-League football with Parkgate Athletic and Rotherham Town.[1] He moved to First Division club Bristol City in 1909, but made just 13 appearances, scoring one goal.[1] Foster's prolific scoring for the Bristol City reserve team in the Great Western Suburban League prompted newly promoted Southern League First Division club Reading to sign him for a £75 fee in August 1911.[4] A successful player with Reading, he was remembered for his hat-trick scored against Italian giants AC Milan in the Biscuitmen's 5–0 victory on 13 May 1914.[5] The result prompted the leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera to report that "without doubt, Reading FC are the finest foreign team seen in Italy".[6] Foster finished his professional career with Reading with 73 goals.[7]

Personal life

Foster was married and while a footballer with Parkgate Athletic,[6] he worked in the fitter's room at a colliery.[4] In 1914, during the early months of the First World War, Foster enlisted as a private in the Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment.[8] On 8 August 1916, he went over the top with the battalion at Guillemont, during the Battle of Delville Wood and was shot in the thigh, abdomen and arm.[3] Foster was recovered by four stretcher-bearers from no man's land and was transported to a hospital in Corbie, where he died of his wounds.[3] He was buried in Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension.[2]

Honours

References
  1. Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 102. ISBN 978-1905891610.
  2. "Casualty Details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  3. "Remembering Allen Foster, 100 years on". Reading FC. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  4. Riddoch, Kemp & Holmes 2008, p. 139-140.
  5. "Allen Foster". www.readingfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  6. "Royals Remembered". Reading FC | Home of the Royals!. Archived from the original on 15 July 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  7. "Top Scorers". www.royalsrecord.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  8. Riddoch, Andrew; Kemp, John; Holmes, Richard (20 November 2008). When the Whistle Blows: The Story of the Footballers' Battalion in the Great War (1st ed.). Sparkford: Haynes Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 9781844256563.
  9. Low, Jonathan (8 April 2017). "STAR induct 13 new names into Reading FC's Hall of Fame". getreading. Retrieved 28 November 2017.


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