International Football History and Statistics

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On this day in football history

1877 Christ Church, Bolton, changed its name to Bolton Wanderers and they became one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888.

1920 Tom Brittleton, former Sheffield Wednesday and England right half, made his League debut for Stoke in a Second Division game against Nottingham Forest at Nottingham. Many record books state that he was 41 years old at this time but he was in fact 37 being born at Winsford in Cheshire in 1883. He joined Wednesday in 1904 from Stockport and won a FA Cup medal in 1907 and played in 5 internationals between 1912 and 1914. Wednesday gave him a free transfer at the end of 1919-20 when they were relegated from Division I and he spent five years with Stoke. Appeared in nearly 300 League games for Wednesday and scored about 20 goals whilst for Stoke he turned out 114 games and scored 5 goals.

1938 Death of Colin Veitch in Switzerland. Joined Newcastle United straight from school and made his League debut during 1901-02. He was a great player who began as a forward and later became a wing half, in which position he won 6 England caps between 1906 and 1909. He became a regular in the Newcastle side in 1904 and for seven years they were the finest side in the League. They won the League 3 times, 1905, '07, '09 and were in the Cup Final five times between 1905 and 1911. They only won once, in 1910 when Veitch was captain, and then only after a re-play. In the first four of those finals he appeared in a different position each time; inside left in 1905, centre forward 1906, centre half in 1908 and right half in 1910 and 1911. Gave up playing in 1912 but remained with the club until after the First War. Had a brief spell as manager of Bradford City and then became a sporting journalist, a profession he was still following at the time of his death at the age of 56.

1963 Tommy Thompson, Barrow inside right, sent off during the Fourth Division match at Chester. Was a prolific scorer throughout his career which began with Newcastle United in 1947 and carried on through Aston Villa 1950, Preston North End 1955, Stoke City 1961 and ended with Barrow in 1964 after 16 months with the club. He scored 224 goals in 444 League outings, 21goals in the FA Cup competition and 5 in the League Cup. Played for England against Wales in 1952 and Scotland 1957 and also for England 'B' and for the Football League.

1965 Denis Haskow, Wood Green Town outside-right, collapsed and died during the Spartan League match against Staines Town. He was 41. He was player-manager to the club and joined them after many years with Barnet for whom he appeared in the 1948 Amateur Cup Final, when they were beaten 1-0 by Leytonstone at Stamford Bridge.