Alf Ward

Alfred Ward (1885 – August 1926)[1] was an English footballer who played as an outside-forward for various clubs in the 1900s.

For other people named Alfred Ward, see Alfred Ward (disambiguation).

Alf Ward
Personal information
Full name Alfred Ward
Date of birth 1885
Place of birth Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England
Date of death August 1926 (aged 40–41)
Place of death Burton-on-Trent, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s) Outside-forward
Youth career
Clowne White Star
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1903–1904 Notts County 7 (0)
1904–1905 Brighton & Hove Albion 3 (0)
1905–1907 Aberdeen 26 (10)
1907–1908 Bradford Park Avenue
1908–1909 Southampton 4 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Football career

Ward was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire and played as a youth for the village team at nearby Clowne, from where he joined Notts County of the Football League First Division in October 1903.

He made eight first-team appearances for Notts County before moving to the south coast to join Brighton & Hove Albion of the Southern League in May 1904. The following summer, he moved to Scotland to join Aberdeen, who had just been elected to join an expanded Scottish Football League First Division.

Ward spent two seasons at Pittodrie, in both of which the "Dons" finished 12th in the league. He then returned to England in 1907, to join Bradford Park Avenue who, despite being based in Yorkshire, had been elected to join the Southern League. The following summer, he returned to the south coast to join another Southern League club, Southampton.

He joined the "Saints" 1908 summer tour of Europe; at Leipzig, in the final match of the tour, Ward displaced the cartilage of his right knee.[2] On his return to England, he underwent three operations on his knee in an effort to repair the injury. By January 1909, he had recovered sufficiently to make his league debut in place of Frank Jefferis, when he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Brentford.[3] Still troubled with his knee, he only managed three further first-team matches before deciding to retire in the summer of 1909.[2]

Ward died in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in August 1926.[4]

References
  1. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
  2. Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 350. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  3. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. pp. 44–45. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
  4. Carder, Tim; Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-9521337-1-1.
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