Arnold Birch

Arnold Birch (1891 – 1964) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Arnold Birch
Personal information
Date of birth 1891
Place of birth Grenoside, England
Date of death 1964 (aged 72–73)
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
–1914 Tankersley Colliery
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1918 Be Quick ? (?)
1919–1923 Sheffield Wednesday 27 (0)
1923–1927 Chesterfield 141 (5)
1927–1929 Denaby United ? (?)
Total 168 (5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

World War I

Birch worked at Newton, Chambers & Company's Tankersley mine until it closed in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I. He voluntarily joined the 1st Royal Naval Brigade. After a flee from Antwerp, Belgium with his division in October 1914, he spent World War I in a prisoner-of-war camp in Groningen, Netherlands playing football in the highly rated internal competition alongside Harry Waites.

He joined local side Be Quick in 1916 as a masseur and later as a coach and was allowed to play for the team in 1918. Be Quick won the Eerste Klasse North and qualified for the Championship play-off finishing fifth.[2][3]

Football career

Upon returning to England, Birch made 27 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday in the Football League between August 1919 and January 1923.[4] He later played for Chesterfield, scoring 5 goals in 141 League appearances.[5] He later played non-League football with Denaby United.

References
  1. "Optimists of the North. Chesterfield". Athletic News. Manchester. 6 August 1923. p. 6.
  2. (in Dutch) Engelse geïnterneerden en het voetbal in Groningen tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog
  3. (in Dutch) Arnold Birch: de eerste profvoetballer van Groningen Archived 24 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Sheffield Wednesday Archive
  5. Chesterfield F.C. official website Archived 2 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
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