- Jimmy Forrest (footballer)
Infobox Football biography
playername = Jimmy Forrest
fullname = James Henry Forrest
dateofbirth = birth date|1864|6|24|df=y
cityofbirth =Blackburn
countryofbirth =England
dateofdeath = death date and age|1925|12|30|1864|6|24|df=y
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height =
position = Half-back
youthyears =
youthclubs = Imperial United
Witton
King's Own Blackburn
years = 1883–1895
1895–1896
clubs = Blackburn Rovers
Darwen
caps(goals) = 148 0(2)
010 0(1)
nationalyears = 1884–1890
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 011 0(0)
pcupdate =
ntupdate = James Henry Forrest (24 June 1864 –30 December 1925 ) was an English footballer whose career spanned the transition from amateurism to professionalism in English football in the 1880s and 1890s. He played most of his club career for Blackburn Rovers, whose early embracing of professionalism enabled them to become one of the major teams in English football, and with whom he appeared on the winning side in fiveFA Cup final s (a joint record). He was the first professional player to appear for England for whom he made eleven appearances, as a half-back.Playing career
Blackburn Rovers
Early days
Forrest was born in
Blackburn and began playing football at school. By the time he was twelve, he was captain of local side Imperial United. He was first spotted by Blackburn Rovers when playing for Witton in 1880. By now he had left school and was working as a tape sizer in thecotton trade.cite book | author=Graham Betts| title=England: Player by player | publisher=Green Umbrella Publishing | year=2006|pages=p.102| isbn=1-905009-63-1] After moving on to play for King's Own Blackburn, he was eventually persuaded to join Rovers in January 1883.At this time there was no organised league system, and Blackburn were restricted to friendly matches and cup tournaments, especially the
Lancashire Senior Cup and theFA Cup , in which they had been finalists in 1882.In his first season with Rovers, they reached the FA cup final with easy victories in the early rounds over Southport Central (7–0), South Shore (7–0), Padiham (3–0) and Staveley (5–1), before meeting Upton Park in the fifth round. This match was won 3–0 and was followed by a 1–0 semi-final victory over Notts County, thus setting up a final appearance against Scottish club Queen's Park, who had defeated Rovers' local rivals, and cup holders, Blackburn Olympic in the semi-final.
Forrest was called up for his first England cap for their final match in the inaugural British Home Championship against Wales on
17 March 1884 , still aged only 19, replacing Notts County'sStuart Macrae at left half. According to Philip Gibbons in "Association Football in Victorian England", "the Welsh had few answers to the skilful England forwards" [cite book |author= Philips Gibbons|title= Association Football in Victorian England - A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900|year= 2001|publisher= Upfront Publishing |pages= p. 75| isbn=1-84426-035-6] and England won by four goals (including a pair from William Bromley-Davenport) to nil. [cite web | title= Wales 0 - England 4; 17 March 1884 (Match summary)| work= www.englandstats.com| url= http://www.englandstats.com/matchreport.php?mid=22| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008]In the cup final, played at the
Kennington Oval on29 March , Rovers lined up against a Queen's Park side, most of whom were Scottish internationals. [Ironically, Scotland faced Wales in their last match in the1884 British Home Championship on the day of the cup final and were forced to field a reserve eleven.] After half an hour of play in the final, Forrest (who was playing atright-half ) "delivered an excellent pass" [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year= |publisher= |pages= p. 76| isbn=] to Jimmy Brown who rounded two defenders prior to crossing the ball into the Queen's Park goalmouth. The goalkeeper, George Gillespie, was unable to clear the ball which fell to Joe Sowerbutts who had only to apply the gentlest touch to help the ball between the posts. Shortly after, William Anderson thought he had scored for the Scots but the goal was disallowed for offside by refereeFrancis Marindin . Forrest then scored Blackburn's second goal – after the ball was partially cleared by Gillespie it fell toJoe Lofthouse who returned it into the goalmouth where Forrest was waiting to put the ball in the net. Forrest was almost certainly offside but, in the absence of an appeal by the Scots, Mandarin allowed the goal to stand. By half-time, Queen's Park had pulled a goal back through Christie. In the second half, both sides had goals disallowed for offside, but there was no further score, and Blackburn Rovers took the cup for the first time. [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year=|publisher=|pages= p. 76| isbn=] [cite web | title= FA Cup Final 1884 - Match report| work= www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk| url= http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1884.html| accessdate=May 22| accessyear=2008]Forrest was aged 19 years and 277 days when he scored his first FA Cup final goal, making him the youngest FA Cup Final scorer at the time, a record he retained for 75 years, until
Dicky Dorsett scored for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the1939 FA Cup Final . [cite book |author= Mike Collett|title= The Complete Record of the FA Cup|year= 2003|publisher= Sports Books |pages=p.820|isbn=1-899807-19-5]In the 1884–85 FA cup, Blackburn again came through the early rounds without difficulty, with a victory over Rossendale (11–0) before meeting local rivals, Blackburn Olympic in the second round. Rovers won the derby match 3–2 in a tight game with a brace from
Howard Fecitt and a third from Joe Sowerbutts. Rovers then easily went past Witton (5–0) and Romford (8–0); a bye in round five saw them through to a sixth round meeting with West Bromwich Albion. This resulted in a 2–0 victory for the cup holders, who then met Old Carthusians in the semi-final, played on7 March 1885 . Rovers had little difficulty getting past the Old Boys 5–1 to set up a repeat of the previous year's final against Queen's Park, who had come through replayed matches against Notts County and Nottingham Forest in their last two rounds.A week before the semi-final, Forrest was selected for the Home Championship match against Ireland, together with his Rovers team-mates,
Herby Arthur ,Joe Lofthouse and Jimmy Brown. England beat the Irish with ease by four goals to nil, including a goal each from Lofthouse and Brown. [cite web | title= England 4 - Ireland 0; 28 February 1885 (Match summary)| work= www.englandstats.com| url= http://www.englandstats.com/matchreport.php?mid=23| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008] The Rovers quartet retained their places for the next match, against Wales, played on14 March atLeamington Road ,Blackburn . England were "disappointing" [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year=|publisher=|pages= p. 80| isbn=] and Wales returned home with a well-deserved 1–1 draw. [cite web | title= England 1 - Wales 1; 14 March 1885 (Match summary)| work= www.englandstats.com| url= http://www.englandstats.com/matchreport.php?mid=24| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008]The next England match was a week later on
21 March against Scotland to be played atThe Oval . Forrest and his three Blackburn colleagues were again selected for England. The Scottish officials complained as they argued that Forrest was a professional. At the time he was receiving £1 a week from Blackburn Rovers. Forrest was eventually allowed to play but he had to wear a different jersey from the rest of the team. Blackburn Rovers also had to agree not to pay him his wages in the week that he played for England, thus enabling Forrest to become the first professional to play for England. The match itself ended 1–1, with England's equalizer coming fromCharlie Bambridge , thus allowing the Scots to claim the championship. [cite web | title= England 1 - Scotland 1; 21 March 1885 (Match summary)| work= www.englandstats.com| url= http://www.englandstats.com/matchreport.php?mid=25| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008]The
1885 FA Cup Final , played at the Oval on4 April , was against Queen's Park, whom Blackburn had beaten in the previous year's final. This time there was little controversy and it was soon clear that Rovers were the superior side,cite web | title= FA Cup Final 1885 - Match report| work= www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk| url= http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1885.html| accessdate=May 21| accessyear=2008] even though Queen's Park fielded six players who had appeared in the England versus Scotland match two weeks earlier. After 14 minutes, Forrest got the better of his marker Charles Campbell and was able to fire Rovers in front from close range, after Jimmy Brown's shot had come back off the goal-posts. AlthoughWalter Arnott did put the ball in the net just before half-time, refereeFrancis Marindin disallowed the "goal" for hand-ball. The Scots continued to attack, but Rovers increased their lead on 58 minutes when Brown, "who had played throughout like a man inspired", added a second goal. From this point, Rovers controlled the game, and Queen's Park's efforts were to no avail. After the final whistle, the Scottish team were a little unhappy that Rovers had fielded players, including Forrest, whose amateur status was questionable – despite this, there was little doubt that professionalism was here to stay. [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year=|publisher=|pages= p. 81–82| isbn=]During the summer of 1885, there was further pressure put on
the Football Association to accept professionalism, culminating in a special meeting on20 July , after which it was announced that it was "in the interests of Association Football, to legalise the employment of professional football players, but only under certain restrictions". Clubs were allowed to pay players provided that they had either been born or had lived for two years within a six-mile radius of the ground. There were also rules preventing professional players playing for more than one club in a season, without obtaining special permission, and all professional players had to be registered with the FA. [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year=|publisher=|pages= p. 82–83| isbn=]The new rules caused problems for some clubs in the 1885–86 FA cup tournament, especially those who had recruited large numbers of players from Scotland. Leading teams, including Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End, were disqualified for fielding ineligible players. As a consequence, many minor teams were able to progress into the later rounds, including Brentwood who Blackburn Rovers met in the sixth round. A 3–1 victory took Rovers through to a semi-final against the last surviving totally amateur side, Swifts who included England internationals Charlie and
Arthur Bambridge , andGeorge Brann . Despite this, Swifts presented no more of a challenge than Rovers' earlier opponents and after a 2–1 victory in the semi-final, played at theCounty Cricket Ground, Derby on13 March 1886 , they were through to the final, where they were to meet West Bromwich Albion.Forrest was prevented from playing for England against Ireland in the opening match of the
1886 British Home Championship as this was played on the day of the FA cup semi-final. He regained his place for the next matches, against Scotland on27 March 1886 which ended 1–1 [cite web | title= Scotland 1 - England 1; 27 March 1886 (Match summary)| work= www.englandstats.com| url= http://www.englandstats.com/matchreport.php?mid=27| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008] and Wales two days later, which was won 3–1. [cite web | title= Wales 1 - England 3; 29 March 1886 (Match summary)| work= www.englandstats.com| url= http://www.englandstats.com/matchreport.php?mid=28| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008]The
1886 FA Cup Final against West Bromwich Albion was played at the Kennington Oval onApril 3 1886 . Although Blackburn fielded seven players who had appeared in the two previous finals, whereas Albion had reached the final for the first time, the two sides were evenly matched and the game ended goalless. The replay took place atDerbyshire County Cricket Club 's Racecourse Ground inDerby , the first time an FA cup final had been played outside London. Although Albion started the match continually attacking the Rovers goal, eventually Blackburn's experience began to show. Joe Sowerbutts added to his goal in the 1884 final by scoring the first after 26 minutes before Jimmy Brown, who had scored in the 1885 final added a second with seventeen minutes to go. [cite web | title= FA Cup Final 1886 - Match report| work= www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk| url= http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1886.html| accessdate=May 22| accessyear=2008] Blackburn Rovers had thus become one of only two clubs (the other was Wanderers) to win the cup in three consecutive seasons.Blackburn Rovers started their campaign to claim the FA cup for a record fourth time with a bye as their first round opponents Halliwell withdrew. In the second round, they were drawn to play in
Scotland against the previous season'sScottish Cup finalists, Renton based in the village ofRenton, West Dunbartonshire . The first match ended in a 2–2 draw with Renton causing one of the biggest shocks for years when the Scottish club won the replay 2–0.Forrest was selected for all three matches in the
1887 British Home Championship . The matches against Ireland and Wales resulted in easy victories with scores of 7–0 and 4–0 respectively, but in England's final match of the tournament against Scotland played atLeamington Road ,Blackburn onMarch 19 ,1887 the Scots won 3–2 and went on to claim the championship.In the 1887–88 FA Cup campaign, Rovers had an easy passage through the early rounds with victories against other
Lancashire clubs, including Blackburn Olympic (5–1), Accrington (3–1) and Darwen (3–0), before they were drawn against Derby Junction who were appearing in the FA cup for the first time. Rovers were defeated 2–1 in the sixth round match which was played at theDerby Arboretum .As a result of Rovers' relative lack of success, none of their players were selected to represent England in the
1888 British Home Championship , with Forrest losing his place to Wolverhampton Wanderers's Harry Allen.Football League era
In the spring of 1888 the leading professional clubs in Lancashire and the West Midlands agreed to inaugurate a league tournament in order to develop the level of competition between clubs above friendly matches and appearances in cup tournaments. The new league was set up following meetings at Anderson's Hotel in London on
23 March 1888 [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year= |publisher= |pages= p. 103| isbn=] on the eve of the1888 FA Cup Final followed by a further meeting on17 April at Manchester's Royal Hotel. [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year= |publisher= |pages= p. 103–104| isbn=] The first season of the newFootball League began a few months later on8 September with Blackburn Rovers as one of the twelve original member clubs. Rovers’ first league game took place on15 September 1888 when they shared ten goals in a "thrilling" [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year= |publisher= |pages= p. 109| isbn=] match with Accrington. Forrest made 19 league appearances as Blackburn finished the first league season in fourth place, a long way behind the champions Preston North End, who were now by far the strongest club in England, justly earning them the title of "The Invincibles". [cite web | title= Preston North End - Club History| work= www.prestonnorthendyears.com| url= http://www.prestonnorthendyears.com/great%20goals/index.html| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008]In the FA cup, after a victory over Accrington and a "walkover" past Swifts, Blackburn defeated Aston Villa 8–1 in the third round (with four goals from
Jack Southworth ) before going out in the semi-final to Wolverhampton Wanderers after a replay. Forrest was recalled to the England team for the match against Scotland on13 April 1889 which ended in a 3–2 victory for the Scots. [cite web | title= England 2 - Scotland 3; 13 April 1889 (Match summary)| work= www.englandstats.com| url= http://www.englandstats.com/matchreport.php?mid=37| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008]The 1889–90 season saw a modest improvement in Rover's league performance with a third place finish, with Forrest only missing one match. The FA cup saw victories over Sunderland and Grimsby Town, before defeating Bootle 7–0 in the third round, with a
hat-trick fromNat Walton . The semi-final saw a re-run of the previous year's match against Wolves, but this time Rovers reached the final with a 1–0 victory with Southworth the scorer. Before the cup final, Forrest (together with Rovers team-matesBilly Townley ,Joe Lofthouse , John Barton andNat Walton ) was selected for the England match against Ireland on15 March 1890 . Because of the crowded fixture list, England also played a match against Wales on the same day. The match against Ireland ended in a 9–1 victory for England, with a hat-trick fromFred Geary . [cite web | title= Ireland 1 - England 9; 15 March 1890 (Match summary)| work= www.englandstats.com| url= http://www.englandstats.com/matchreport.php?mid=39| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008] This was Forrest's final appearance for England, in an international career which spanned seven seasons in which he played eleven times, with six victories, three draws and two defeats, both against Scotland.The cup final was played at the
Kennington Oval on29 March 1890 against The Wednesday who were the champions of theFootball Alliance which had been set up to provide competition for clubs excluded from the Football League. Rovers put out a team of players most of whom were England or Scotland internationals, although Wednesday had England internationals Edward Brayshaw andBilly Betts in their defence. From the kick-off, the Rovers forwards had the Wednesday defence under pressure which led toJack Dungworth handling the ball on the edge of his goal area in the sixth minute. Forrest took the free kick which fell toBilly Townley whose shot took a deflection for the first goal. Further goals from Nat Walton and Townley gave Rovers a 3–0 lead at half-time. The second half continued with Rovers on top withJack Southworth adding a fourth goal in the fiftieth minute beforeAlbert Mumford was able to score for Wednesday. Further goals from Townley andJoe Lofthouse in the last 15 minutes gave a winning scoreline of 6–1 to Rovers. [cite web | title= FA Cup Final 1890 - Match report| work= www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk| url= http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1890.html| accessdate=May 21| accessyear=2008] Townley had thus become the first player to score an FA cup final hat-trick. According to Gibbons, "the Blackburn side had given one of the finest exhibitions of attacking football in an FA cup final, with England internationals Walton, Townley, Lofthouse and John Southworth at the peak of their form." [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year=|publisher=|pages= p. 142–143| isbn=]Forrest continued to play at the centre of Blackburn's defence for the 1890–91 season, forming a settled half-back line alongside fellow internationals Jack Barton and
Geordie Dewar . Forrest only missed one league game as Rovers ended the campaign in sixth position. Once again, Rovers' priority was in the FA cup. In the first round they went past Middlesbrough Ironopolis 3–0 in a replayed match to set up a meeting with Chester in the second round.Jack Southworth netted his fourth hat-trick of the season in a 7–0 victory over his former club. Victories over Midlands clubs, Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion set up Rovers' sixth appearance in the cup final, to be played atThe Oval on21 March 1891 , against Notts County who had defeated Rovers 7–1 in the penultimate league match on14 March . Despite this Rovers were expected to win the final as they were the holders and fielded seven of the previous year’s winning side, including Forrest, already with four cup winners medals. [cite book |author= Gibbons|title= |year=|publisher=|pages= p. 166–167| isbn=] Blackburn dominated the early stages of the game with Dewar scoring after eight minutes. Goals from Jack Southworth andBilly Townley gave a half-time score of 3–0 to Rovers. Although County pulled a goal back in the second half, Rovers were able to defend their lead and thus claimed the cup for the second consecutive year, the fifth time overall. [cite web | title= FA Cup Final 1891 - Match report| work= www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk| url= http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1891.html| accessdate=June 1| accessyear=2008] Forrest thus became the third player to win five FA cup finals, afterArthur Kinnaird andCharles Wollaston .Rovers' defence of the FA cup faltered at the second round stage where they suffered their first cup defeat for three seasons, against West Bromwich Albion, who went on to claim the trophy in the final. The half-back line-up of the previous season was broken up as a result of injuries to Barton and Dewar, and Rovers finished the 1891–92 season in ninth place having conceded 65 goals, with only Accrington and Darwen conceding more.
For the 1892–93 season, Barton was replaced by
Geordie Anderson and the trio of Forrest, Anderson and Dewar were to remain at the heart of the Rovers' defence for the next three seasons, during which their league campaigns ended with finishes in ninth, fourth and fifth places respectively. Although Rovers reached theFA Cup semi-finals in 1893 and 1894, their cup-winning exploits were over until 1928.Forrest remained at Rovers until October 1895, when there was an acrimonious parting of the ways; Forrest claimed that the committee at Rovers had asked him to revert back to amateur status in order to save paying him a wage, a charge that was vigorously denied by the club. He moved to Darwen after twelve eventful seasons which had not only seen five FA cup victories, but also the move from amateur to professional football and the creation of the
Football League .Darwen
Forrest joined Second Division Darwen in time for the 1895–96 season. One of the first games he played for his new club was against Rovers in a friendly at
Barley Bank . [cite web | title= James Forrest| work= www.darwenfc.com| url= http://www.darwenfc.com/_pages/jamesforrest.htm| accessdate=June 15| accessyear=2008] He played for Darwen for one season scoring one goal before retiring from the game.Later career
After his playing days ended, Forrest became licensee of the Audley Arms Hotel in Blackburn before becoming the landlord of the County Arms on Darwen Street, Blackburn for many years. He later joined a firm of shuttle peg makers, joiners and mill furnishers.
He returned to Blackburn Rovers as an administrator, before becoming a director of the club in 1906. His son,
James Henry Forrest , played for Rovers for four seasons in the 1920s. Jimmy Forrest died on30 December 1925 , aged 61.Honours
;Blackburn Rovers
*FA Cup winner: 5 times, joint record (1884, 1885, 1886, 1890 & 1891)
*Lancashire Senior Cup : 1884 & 1885References and notes
External links
* [http://www.englandfc.com/Profiles/php/PlayerProfileByName.php?id=364 England profile on www.englandfc.com]
* [http://www.englandstats.com/playerreport.php?pid=361 England profile on www.englandstats.com]
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/BLACKBforrest.htm Article on "Spartacus"]
* [http://www.darwenfc.com/_pages/jamesforrest.htm Darwen profile]
* [http://www.brfcs.co.uk/greatestever/cm_jimmyforrest.php Article on Blackburn Rovers F.C. supporters site]Persondata
NAME = Forrest, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Jimmy Forrest
SHORT DESCRIPTION =Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH =24 June 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH =Blackburn ,England
DATE OF DEATH =30 December 1925
PLACE OF DEATH=
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