Key Takeaways:
Vivian Woodward, a prolific English footballer, excelled in both club and international football.
He played for Tottenham and Chelsea, scoring numerous goals and achieving significant milestones.
Woodward captained Great Britain to two Olympic gold medals and held multiple scoring records for England.
His career was interrupted by WWI, leading to his retirement due to injury.
Vivian Woodward was an English footballer who rose to prominence in the early 20th century. His career was on the rise, until the unfortunate outbreak of the First World War.
He was an architect by profession, who then began his football career at Clacton Town. This was followed by stints at Harwich & Parkeston and Chelmsford. In March 1901, the Englishman joined Tottenham, who went on to win the FA Cup that year.
As for Woodward, his Spurs debut took place in the Southern League on 6th April 1901, as they beat Bristol City 1-0. Woodward's work and cricket commitments meant that he did not begin to appear regularly for Spurs until the 1902–03 season. He went on to spend 9 seasons with the London club, making 169 appearances and scoring 73 goals.
It was during this phase that Spurs were elected to the Second Division of the Football League for the 1908–09 season, and Woodward scored their first ever goal in the Football League. The goal came against Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 1908, as Tottenham beat them 3-0. Woodward eventually helped Spurs win promotion to the First Division that season.
Before the 1909 season commenced, Woodward shockingly decided to retire from. Football to concentrate on his architectural practice and cricket. However, he made a return with Chelmsford. The Englishman was soon persuaded to join David Calderhead's Chelsea on 20th November 1909. He went on to play 116 games for the Blues, scoring 34 goals in the process. In fact, he was their leading scorer in the 1912–13 season with ten goals.
As the First World War began, he was listed in the British Army and thus did not play many matches during the 1914–15 season. However, he was given special leave to join Chelsea at Old Trafford for the Cup Final when Bob Thomson was injured. What followed was an incident that showed the kindness of Woodward. Surprisingly, Thomson had recovered, and Woodward ended up refusing to play, as he didn't want to deny Thomson his chance to play in an FA Cup final. Another reason was that Woodward had not played in any of Chelsea's matches in their run to the final.
The final phase of Woodward's career was a sad one, as he was injured in the right thigh during the war and did not return to top class football. In fact, the injury caused him to retire. He then served on Chelsea's Board between 1922 and 1930 as a director of the club.
International legacy
Woodward was captain of Great Britain for the 1908 Olympics in London, which ended with them winning the gold medal. History was repeated in the 1912 edition as well. In addition to his leadership abilities, Woodward was excellent on the field in the Olympics. He scored three goals in 1908, including one in the final, and two in 1912.
He was part of the England national side between 1903 and 1911, earning 23 caps and scoring 29 goals. This strike rate of 1.26 goals per game is the second highest for an England player. Also, he had set an English record at the time that lasted till the 1950s. He had held the overall England goalscoring record, either jointly or alone, for 47 years, which was longer than any other player. It was eventually broken by Tom Finney in 1958. In addition to this, he made 44 appearances for England Amateurs and scored 57 goals.
Woodward is an underrated icon of English football, and he surely deserves to be more widely known for his legendary feats.
