ARTHUR BRIDGETT

NOVEMBER 10th 1923

Arthur Bridgett first made his name in the history books with his career at Sunderland in the early 1900s. The left-winger made 320 First Division appearances for Sunderland between 1903 and 1912, scoring 108 goals. He also scored three times in 11 appearances for England. He then dropped to non-league football, as a player and manager, before returning to League football with Port Vale in 1923. 

Born on 11 October 1882 , he died on 26 July 1954

At the age of 41 and after 11 years away from League football – which included the years of the First World War – he made the perfect debut for Port Vale. That was on November 10th 1923 at Port Vale’s former Old Recreation Ground home, in a Second Division match against Clapton Orient (now Leyton Orient). In the second minute he scored the only goal of the match! His Port Vale career consisted of 15 league and cup matches in which he scored 7 goals. Arthur Bridgett was one of the few players who refused to play in matches on Christmas Day or Good Friday on religious grounds.

Arthur scored 116 goals in 347 league and cup games in ten seasons at Roker Park, after joining from Stoke in 1902. He later managed both South Sheidls and North Shields, before making an unlikely return to the Football League with Port Vale in 1923 after nine years without competitive football (he had though guested for the club once during World War 1).

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 in the 1902–03 season, he moved to First Division rivals Sunderland in December 1902. He went on to captain the "Black Cats" for ten years and gain his eleven caps, making him Sunderland's second most-capped England International behind Dave Watson, who won 65 caps.

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. 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 Utd in a 9-1 victory at St James Park. on 5 December 1908. 

In his first three seasons at Roker Park, Sunderland finished third, fifth and sixth in the First Division table. Bridgett was Sunderland's top scorer in 1905-6, with 17 goals as they finished in 14th place. In the enxt season, Bridgett was again top scorer, with 25 league goals, but Sunderland were only able to improve their league position to tenth.

In 1907-8, 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 1908-9 and 1910-11.

He wound up his Sunderland career at the end of the next season to become player-manager at local South Shields. In all competitions, he made 347 appearances for Sunderland, scoring 116 goals, ranking him eighth in Sunderland's all time top scorer's list. The 1913–14 season saw him score 30 goals in 47 matches for South Shields.

Port Vale

During the War he guested for Port Vale, scoring twice in a 5–2 home win over Manchester United in a war league match on 28 April 1917.

After an eleven-year gap away from the Football League he returned as a player for Port Vale for the 1923-4 season at the age of 41. Ninety seconds into his first Vale game for over six years he had scored; this was the only goal in a win over Clapton Orient at The Old Recreation Ground on 10 November 1923. However, he lost his first team place in February 1924, and departed three months later for Sandbach Ramblers. He had scored seven goals from 14 Second Division appearances

Bridgett's England call-up came on 1 April 1905 against Scotland, when England won 1–0 with a goal from Joe 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 in 1908, playing in all four matches against Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, he scored in both of the matches against Austria which England won 6–1 and 11–1.

The following year, he played in the British Home VChampionship matches against Ireland (4–0) and Wales (2–0); England won the tournament. 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, having won 11 caps.

Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1902	Stoke	7	(0)
1902–1912	Sunderland	320	(108)
1912–19??	South Shields
1923–1924	Port Vale	14	(7)
	Sandbach Ramblers
Total		341	(115)

Management

After leaving Sunderland in 1912 he turned his hand to management with both South Shields and North Shields.