Arthur Bridgett

Football player infobox
playername = Arthur Bridgett


fullname = George Arthur Bridgett
dateofbirth = birth date|1882|10|11|df=y
cityofbirth = Forsbrook
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath = 1954
height =
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Outside left
youthyears =
youthclubs = Burslem Park
Trentham
years = 1902 1902–1912 1912–? 1923–1924
clubs = Stoke Sunderland
South Shields
Port Vale
caps(goals) = 007 00(0) 320 (108) 014 00(7)
nationalyears = 1905–1909
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 011 00(3)
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

George Arthur Bridgett (11 October 1882 – 1954) was an English footballer who played most of his career, playing at outside left, for Sunderland and also made eleven appearances for England.

Bridgett was a deeply religious man, and refused to play on Good Friday or Christmas Day throughout his career.cite book | author=Graham Betts| title=England: Player by player | publisher=Green Umbrella Publishing | year=2006|pages=p.46| isbn=1-905009-63-1]

Career

underland

Bridgett was born in Forsbrook, Staffordshire and played local football with Burslem Park and Trentham, before joining Stoke in October 1902. After only seven games for Stoke, he moved to Sunderland in December 1902, where he was to remain for ten years and gain his eleven caps, making him Sunderland’s second most-capped England International behind Dave Watson.

He made his Sunderland debut in a 0–0 draw with Sheffield United, but was quickly on the score-sheet scoring at Grimsby Town in the next match. [ [http://www.thestatcat.co.uk/Imatchdets/IMD4259.asp Grimsby Town 2 Sunderland 4, 24 January 1903 (Match summary)] ] Bridgett was a winger with an excellent goal scoring pedigree. His superb finishing meant that he could also operate as a striker, and he was twice on the score sheet against Newcastle United in a 9–1 victory at St James' Park on 5 December 1908. [ [http://www.thestatcat.co.uk/Imatchdets/IMD4015.asp Newcastle United 1 Sunderland 9, 5 December 1908 (Match summary)] ] He was also a good crosser of the ball, making numerous chances for his fellow strikers, including fellow England international George Holley.

In his first three seasons at Roker Park, Sunderland finished third, sixth and fifth in the First Division table. Bridgett was Sunderland’s top scorer in 1905–06 with 17 goals as they finished in 14th place. The following season, Bridgett was again Sunderland’s top scorer with 25 league goals, but Sunderland were only able to improve their league position to tenth.

In 1907–08, Bridgett scored 15 goals with Holley top scorer on 24 as Sunderland again finished in the lower half of the table. For the next few seasons, Holley took over the goal-scoring duties with Sunderland taking third place finishes in 1908–09 and 1910–11.

He wound up his Sunderland career at the end of the 1911–12 season to become player manager at South Shields. In all competitions, he made 347 appearances for Sunderland, scoring 119 goals.

England

Bridgett’s England call-up came on 1 April 1905 against Scotland, when England won 1-0 with a goal from Joseph Bache. His second cap came three years later on 4 April 1908, again against Scotland at Hampden Park. This match was played in front of a new world record crowd of 121,452 and ended in a 1–1 draw.

Bridgett was then part of the squad chosen for England’s first overseas tour, playing in all four matches against Austria, Hungary and Bohemia scoring in both of the matches against Austria which England won 6–1 and 11–1.

The following year, he played in the British Home Championship matches against Ireland (4–0) and Wales (2–0). He was again selected for the summer tour of Europe, playing in all three matches, scoring in the 4–2 victory over Hungary. The last match of the tour, against Austria on 1 June 1909, brought his international career to a close.

Arthur currently hold the best win percentage for any England player who has played more than 3 games of 95.45%, aot of the 11 games Arthur played he won 10 and drew 1.

Port Vale

After an eleven year gap away from league football, he returned as a player for Port Vale for the 1923–24 season, scoring seven goals from fourteen Second Division appearances.

Arthur scored in the 1st minute of his debut for Port Vale.

External links

*Englandstats|id=151|name=Arthur Bridgett
* [http://www.englandfc.com/Profiles/php/PlayerProfileByName.php?id=151 England profile]
* [http://www.thestatcat.co.uk/Mplayers/MPG188.asp Full details of Sunderland career]
* [http://www.a-love-supreme.com/100%20greatest/20-11.htm Sunderland profile]
* [http://www.iffhs.de/?29da14a8db556bdb95e91b55e85fdcdc3bfcdc0aec28d6eda0a70c Photo on www.iffhs.de]