Archie Roe

Archibald Roe (9 December 1893 – 17 October 1947)[1] was an English professional footballer who scored 19 goals in 59 appearances in the Football League playing for South Shields, Birmingham, Gillingham, Arsenal, Lincoln City and Rotherham County.[2] He played as a centre forward.

Archie Roe
Personal information
Full name Archibald Roe
Date of birth (1893-12-09)9 December 1893
Place of birth Hull, England
Date of death 17 October 1947(1947-10-17) (aged 53)
Place of death Wigan, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1914–1918 The Wednesday 0 (0)
1918–1919 South Shields 2 (1)
1919–1920 Birmingham 3 (0)
1920–1921 Gillingham 16 (2)
1921–1922 Castleford Town
1922–1923 Arsenal 4 (1)
1923–1924 Lincoln City 27 (12)
1924–1925 Rotherham County 7 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Roe was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He began his football career with The Wednesday before the First World War, but never appeared for the first team. When competitive football resumed after the war, Roe joined South Shields, newly elected to the Second Division.[2] He scored their first goal in the Football League, the only goal of the home game against Birmingham on 1 September 1919.[3][4] Roe must have impressed his opponents, because he signed for them a few weeks later having played only twice in the league for South Shields.[2] The Sports Argus' report of his Birmingham debut describes him as "about the most prominent member of the home front line ... in evidence in every attack carried out by Birmingham."[5] Nevertheless, he played only three first-team games in his only season at the club.[6]

Roe spent the next season in the Third Division with Gillingham, where he found more playing time but few goals, scoring twice from 16 league appearances. In 1921 he dropped into non-League football with Midland League side Castleford Town.[2] His performances with Castleford earned him a move a year later back to the Football League with Arsenal. Though he only played four First Division games for the club,[7] he scored freely for their reserve team.[8]

In November 1923 Roe completed his tour of the Football League divisions when he signed for Lincoln City of the Third Division North. Although he joined well after the start of the season, he still became their leading scorer for 1923–24; described as "hard as nails despite only being of moderate height", he scored 12 goals from 30 games in all competitions in the year he spent with the club.[3] His last move was to Rotherham County, where the "fearless" Roe's three goals from seven games – one on his debut and two more in his next three games – failed to prevent the club finishing bottom of the Third Division North.[8][9]

After retiring from the game, Roe became a publican in Sheffield. He died while visiting family in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1947 at the age of 53.[3]

References
  1. Triggs, Roger (2001). The Men Who Made Gillingham Football Club. Tempus Publishing. p. 28. ISBN 0-7524-2243-X.
  2. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  3. "Archibald Roe". The Lincoln City FC Archive. Lincoln City F.C. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  4. "Gateshead 1919/1920 Results/matches". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
    Note that South Shields F.C. and Gateshead F.C. have a complicated and intertwined history, and the team referred to as Gateshead by Soccerbase was then called South Shields.
  5. "Blues Triumph". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 7 November 1919. p. 3.
  6. Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  7. "Archie Roe". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  8. "A–Z Past Players (Pre-1939)". Rotherham United F.C. Archived from the original (DOC) on 10 August 2011.
  9. "Rotherham County". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.