Vivian Woodward

Vivian Woodward
Woodward while playing for England
Personal information
Full name Vivian John Woodward[1]
Date of birth 3 June 1879
Place of birth Kennington, Surrey, England
Date of death 31 January 1954(1954-01-31) (aged 74)[2]
Place of death Ealing, England
Height 5 ft 10+12 in (1.79 m)[3]
Position(s) Centre forward, inside forward
Youth career
Ascham College
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1895–1900 Clacton Town 25+ (46+[4])
1900–1901 Harwich & Parkeston
1901 Chelmsford
1901–1909 Tottenham Hotspur 146 (68[a])
1909 Chelmsford
1909–1915 Chelsea 106 (30)
1919–1920 Clacton Town 6 (4)
Total 283 (148)
International career
1903–1911 England 23 (29)
1906–1914 England Amateurs 30 (46)
1908–1912 Great Britain 6 (5)
Southern League XI
1908–1913 Football League XI 3 (3)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1908 London Team competition
Gold medal – first place 1912 Stockholm Team competition
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Vivian John Woodward (3 June 1879 – 31 January 1954) was an English footballer who enjoyed the peak of his career from the turn of the 20th century to the outbreak of the First World War. He played for Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.[5]

Internationally, Woodward captained Great Britain to gold medals at the 1908 Olympics in London and in Stockholm in 1912, and made a combined 59 international appearances for a combination of England, England Amateurs, and Great Britain. His combined record for England of 75 goals in 53 matches (1.42 goals a game) is still the highest international record of any player to have scored more than 50 goals for their country, whilst his record of 75 goals is still the highest combined total of international goals scored by any English footballer. Woodward took part in ten British Home Championships, lifting the trophy eight times. In the 1903-04 Home Championship, Woodward was the top scorer with 4 goals, whilst in the 1908-09 tournement he was the joint top goalscorer with 3 goals. Woodward is the 5th highest all-time record goalscorer of the Home Championship with 14 goals in total.

He served in the British Army during the First World War, and as a result missed out on Chelsea's run to their first-ever FA Cup final in 1915. Woodward's injuries during the war caused his retirement from football. He then served on Cheleas's Board between 1922 and 1930 as a director of the club.

  1. ^ Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 319. ISBN 978-1905891610.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference FATFWW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Vivian Woodward". englandfootballonline.com. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  4. ^ Vivian Woodward: Football's Gentleman. 2005. pp. 17–35.
  5. ^ "Vivian Woodward". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.


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