Steve Bloomer

Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County - becoming their record goalscorer - and Middlesbrough. The anthem Steve Bloomer's Watchin' is played at every Derby home game and there is a bust of him at the Pride Park Stadium. He is also listed in the Football League 100 Legends and English Football Hall of Fame.
During his career Bloomer was a prolific goalscorer for both club and country. A quick thinking forward, he was able to shoot powerfully and accurately with either foot and his speciality was the daisy cutter – a low shot, hit with great power, speed and accuracy. In 536 First Division games he scored 317 goals and, after Jimmy Greaves, he is the second highest all-time goalscorer in the top-flight. He also scored 28 goals in 23 appearances for England. He helped Derby to win the Second Division title in 1911–12, and to reach second in the First Division in 1895–96; he also played on the losing side in four FA Cup semi-finals and three FA Cup finals (1898, 1899 and 1903).
Bloomer also played baseball for Derby County Baseball Club and helped them become British champions three times in the 1890s. After retiring as a footballer he became a coach and worked with clubs in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. During World War I he was interned at Ruhleben, a civilian detention camp. The highlight of his coaching career came in 1924 when he guided Real Unión to victory in the Copa del Rey.

Bloomer was born in Cradley, Worcestershire to Caleb Bloomer (a blacksmith / iron foundry worker) and Merab Dunn, on 20 January 1874; he was the eldest of six children. The family moved to Litchurch, Derbyshire five years later. At the age of 12 he was apprenticed to a local blacksmith, which helped him to build strength.

He first made an impression on the Derby football scene playing for St. Chad's Choir on the losing side of the 1887 Derbyshire Boys' Shield under-15 final, impressing despite his team losing 14-0 to a dominant St Luke's. The following year he began working as a 'striker' at Ley's iron foundry, whilst playing football for Derby Swifts in the Derbyshire Minor League. In 1891 he appeared in the Midland League for Derby Midland, playing in a 1–1 draw with Burton Swifts on 27 March.

Club

Derby County

Bloomer as a Derby player in 1892

Derby County merged with Derby Midland in 1891, and Bloomer was a Derby County player for the start of the 1891–92 – the fourth season of the Football League. He chose to retain his amateur status and instead turned out for the third-team. He signed a professional contract in April 1892. The next month he signed a contract with Burton Wanderers, though the Football Association soon ruled the contract to be invalid and reprimanded the Burton official involved.

An administrative error by Derby secretary William Parker meant that Jimmy McLachlan and Samuel Mills were ineligible for the opening game of the 1892–93 season against Stoke at the Victoria Ground, and Bloomer was a surprise late addition to the first eleven. Bloomer later claimed he scored twice during the game, but contemporary reports instead credited two goals of the 3–1 win to Johnny McMillan. His first officially recorded goal therefore came in a 2–1 defeat to Preston North End the following week at the County Ground. He remained a key member of the first team, and was also given penalty taking duties, and finished the campaign with 11 goals from 28 matches. Veteran striker and captain John Goodall helped to improve his game, helping to improve his ball control and positional skills.

He missed seven games of the 1893–94 season after Leicester Fosse half-back Peggy Lord broke his collarbone on 10 February. Bloomer recovered and claimed 19 goals from 27 appearances during the campaign.

Derby struggled during the 1894–95 campaign, and Bloomer was limited to 10 goals in 29 league games as County finished in 15th place and forced to play a test match against Notts County at Filbert Street to retain their First Division status. County were leading 1–0 with seven minutes to go, but goals from Goodall and Bloomer gave County the win.

Bloomer opened the 1895–96 season by scoring both goals in a 2–0 win over Sunderland in the club's new permanent home at the Baseball Ground (the club had actually already played two first team games at the ground in 1892 due to scheduling conflicts at the County Ground). Derby finished the season in second-place behind Aston Villa and exited the FA Cup at the semi-finals after losing 2–1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

While at Derby he was top scorer in the First Division on five occasions in 1896, 1897, 1899, 1901 and 1904. In 1896, together with John Campbell of Aston Villa. He was also the leading "Rams" scorer for 14 consecutive seasons and scored 17 hat-tricks in the league. One of his best seasons came in 1896–97 when he scored 31 goals, including five hat-tricks, in 33 League and FA Cup games. Between 14 November 1896 and 5 April 1897 he scored 21 goals in 20 games. He also scored six goals for the club in a game against Sheffield Wednesday in January 1899.

Bloomer’s goals helped Derby finish runners-up in the First Division in 1896 and helped them reach three FA Cup finals in 1898, 1899 and 1903. He scored in the 1898 final, a 3–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest. On 3 September 1900 Bloomer scored the first-ever goal at The Hawthorns, the 1–1 draw against West Bromwich Albion being the first match played at the ground.

Middlesbrough

In March 1906 Bloomer joined Middlesbrough for a fee of £750. Among team mates at his new club were Alf Common, the first £1,000 footballer, and Fred Pentland. He was top-scorer at Middlesbrough in both the 1906–07 and 1907–08 seasons. He also scored four goals in a game against Woolwich Arsenal on 5 January 1907.

Return to Derby County

After four years at Middlesbrough he returned to the Rams in 1910 and helped them win the Second Division title in 1912. He scored his last league goal for Derby against Sheffield United on 6 September 1913 and his last match was against Burnley on 31 January 1914 when he was 40 years and 11 days.

International

Bloomer made his England debut on 3 March 1895, scoring twice in a 9–0 win against Ireland. He scored in all his first 10 international appearances, which remains a record for number of consecutive scoring appearances. He netted 19 times during these games. On 16 March 1896 Bloomer scored 5 goals for England against Wales and on 18 March 1901 he scored four goals against the same opposition. Bloomer thus became the first player to score two hat-tricks for England and was also the first to score four goals for England twice. He eventually finished his international career with 28 goals. During his international career Bloomer’s team mates included his County team mate John Goodall as well as Frank Becton, Jack Reynolds, Ernest Needham, Fred Spiksley, Sam Wolstenholme and Vivian Woodward. Bloomer helped England win the British Home Championship eight times. He held the overall England scoring record from April 1898 when he surpassed Tinsley Lindley's total of 14 with two goals against Scotland, until his final tally of 28 was overhauled by Vivian Woodward in 1911.

After retiring as a player Bloomer went to Germany in July 1914 to coach Britannia Berlin 92. However within three weeks of arriving the First World War broke out and he found himself interned at Ruhleben, a civilian detention camp in the Spandau district of Berlin. Bloomer was one of several former professional footballers among the detainees. Others included his former England colleagues Fred Spiksley and Sam Wolstenholme, his former Middlesbrough team mate Fred Pentland, a Scotland international, John Cameron, John Brearley, once of Everton and Tottenham Hotspur and a German international Edwin Dutton who had previously played for Britannia Berlin 92.

The camp contained between 4,000 and 5,500 prisoners. Gradually a mini-society evolved and football became a popular activity. The Ruhleben Football Association was formed and cup and league competitions were organised with as many as 1,000 attending the bigger games. The teams adopted the names of established teams and in November 1914, Bloomer captained a Tottenham Hotspur XI, that also included Dutton, to victory in a cup final against an Oldham Athletic XI. Spiksley also played in the game, refereed by Wolstenholme, although it is uncertain which team he played for. On 2 May 1915 an England XI featuring Pentland, Wolstenholme, Brearley and Bloomer played a World XI captained by Cameron. Bloomer also played cricket at the camp and in May 1915 a Rubleben XI, featuring Bloomer and Brearley, played a Varsities XI in the Rubleban Cricket League. In July 1916 a Lancashire XI, featuring Bloomer, beat a Yorkshire XI that included Wolstenholme.

In summer the prisoners turned to cricket on ‘The Oval’, played to packed houses. Bloomer established the camp batting record with an innings 204 and recorded bowling figures of 6 for 15. There was athletics too. Bloomer won the ‘Old Age Handicap’ at the Ruhleben Olympics, sprinting the 75 yards in 9.6 seconds. Everybody in camp knew ‘Steve’. When he finally left Ruhleben in March 1918, a farewell football match was staged in his honour.

Immediately after the World War I Bloomer briefly coached Blauw-Wit Amsterdam in The Netherlands. In 1923 he became coach of Real Unión in Spain and subsequently guided them to victory in the 1924 Copa del Rey. During the 1920s the Copa was effectively a play-off to decide the Spanish champions. Teams qualified by winning their regional titles and Real Unión represented Guipuzcoa. Nine other regional champions also qualified and in the first round of the competition Real beat Sevilla FC, the champions of Andalusia, 3–1 on aggregate. In the semi-final they faced the Catalan champions, FC Barcelona, coached by another Englishman, Jack Greenwell. Greenwall’s squad included the likes of Paulino Alcántara, Sagibarba and Josep Samitier. Despite this Real beat FC Barcelona 5–1 after a replay and went on to beat Real Madrid, the champions of central Spain, 1–0 in the final.

According to the 1911 census Bloomer lived in a modest terrace house, 35 Portland Street Derby, which was a ten-minute walk from the Baseball Ground.

Bloomer's brother, Philip also briefly played for Derby County. However he only played one first team game and died of peritonitis in May 1896. The same year saw Steve Bloomer marry Sarah Walker. They subsequently had 4 daughters; two of whom died before they reached the age of 18; one died in 1917 while he was still in Ruhleben. Another, Hetty, married Alf Quantrill, who played for Derby County and England as an outside-left. Bloomer lived with another of his daughters, Doris Richards, toward the end of his life, after the death of his wife in 1936. Mrs Richards' son, Steve Richards, is a journalist. Bloomer's nephew, Ted Measures, signed for Arsenal F.C. in 1932. In late 1937, while severely ill, Derby County paid for him to go on a cruise to Australia and New Zealand. He died three weeks after returning home in April 1938. His funeral took place on the afternoon of Wednesday 20 April 1938 at Derby Cathedral. His gravestone can still been seen in Nottingham Road Cemetery Derby, about 150 yards from the front main entrance.

On 17 January 2009, after a long and sustained period of campaigning, a bust of Bloomer was finally unveiled inside Pride Park, Derby. Bloomer's two grandsons, Steve Richards and Alan Quantrill, unveiled the bust in the presence of Bloomer's family and relations, the sculptor Andrew Edwards and thousands of Derby County fans. On 17 January 2009, a bust of Bloomer was unveiled next to the home dugout at Pride Park Stadium. He remains a legend at Derby County and the club anthem, Steve Bloomer's Watchin', is played before every home game. He is also listed in the Football League 100 Legends and English Football Hall of Fame.

a. ^ Includes one appearance and one goal in a League Test match.

• Seddon 1999, p. 216
• Seddon 1999, p. 217

The bust of Bloomer at Pride Park

Player

England

• British Home Championship winner: 1894–95, 1897–98, 1898–99, 1900–01, 1902–03,[a] 1903–04, 1904–05, 1905–06[b]
• British Home Championship runner-up: 1895–96, 1896–97, 1901–02, 1906–07

a. ^ The title was shared with Ireland and Scotland.

b. ^ The title was shared with Scotland.

Derby County

• Football League First Division runner-up: 1895–96
• FA Cup runner-up: 1898, 1899, 1903
• Football League Second Division champion: 1911–12

Manager

Real Unión

• Campeonato de Guipuzcoa champion: 1923–24
• Copa del Rey winner: 1924

Baseball Player

Derby County Baseball Club

• British Champion: 1895, 1897, 1898