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)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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 the rest of the war in an internment 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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