 |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
Steve Bloomer
| Category: | Male Player |
| Year Inducted: | 2008 |
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of Football's Greatest Heroes, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
More than a century after his first appearance at the Baseball Ground, Derby County fans still sing the praises of Steve Bloomer, the great England inside-forward.
There is more to this lingering admiration than a remarkable record as a goalscorer, though his total of 352 goals in league football for Derby and Middlesbrough has only been bettered by two men in history - William ‘Dixie' Dean and Jimmy Greaves.
For Rams supporters, Bloomer was one of them: a local lad who proudly and loyally served the club either side of World War One, in turn, as player, coach, scout, and, later in life, ‘general assistant' on the ground staff. No wonder Derby folk remember him: fourteen times in succession, he finished the season as the club's leading goalscorer. Fives times - between 1896 and 1904 - his tally was sufficient to top the division chart. Asked to explain his secret, Bloomer replied: ‘I try to get there first.'
His fame spread beyond Derbyshire when he broke both the appearance and goalscoring records for England during the same calendar year, 1905. As a tribute, the Football Association commissioned his portrait and established a national testimonial fund in reward. It was the first time the ruling body had sanctioned this type of gesture for a player.
There were more headlines the following year, when Derby, to the consternation of many of their supporters, sold the terrace hero to Middlesbrough, for a then hefty fee of £750.
Bloomer spent four successful years at the newly-built Ayresome Park, during which time he averaged a goal every other game and made the last of his 23 appearances for his country, between 1895 and 1907. To this day, his tally of 28 goals for England earns him a place in the top ten in the all-time list. ‘I never faced a more twisting tormentor or wonderful shot than Bloomer,' Ernest ‘ Nudger ' Needham, the Sheffield United and England left-half, once said.
There was more to Bloomer's ‘wonderful shot' than a willingness to try his luck from virtually any angle, however. Speed of execution was also vital, according to Ivan Sharpe, a one-time team-mate and amateur England international. ‘ Bloomer's shot came from nearer the toe than the instep, which enabled him to make the effort a moment quicker than other men who took a bigger backlift.' A ‘sudden shot,' as Sharpe described it.
The sudden and unexpected return of Bloomer to Derby County in 1910 was cause of wild celebrations. During his first stint at the Baseball Ground, his goals had helped establish the Rams as one of the leading sides in the country. And one of the unluckiest. Three times - in 1898, 1899 and 1903 - Derby reached the FA Cup Final, and three times they lost. ‘ I have tasted deep of the bitters of defeat and the sadness of those tragic Finals took a long, long time to wear away,' Bloomer wrote later. ‘Derby is surely the most unlucky Cup fighting club in the country. ' In the league, the highlight came in 1896-97, when Derby finished third in Division One.
Worse times were just around the corner, however. And many Derby fans were convinced that Bloomer's shock departure, in 1906, was the reason behind the club's relegation the following season. It was the first time the proud founder members of the Football League had experienced the drop to the second tier of English football.
Throughout his time away, though, Bloomer remained immensely popular in Derby, and the local paper reported his progress at Middlesbrough. His departure had come as a great shock to Rams fans, as did his return to the Baseball Ground, in 1910. Bloomer received a rapturous welcome back in Derby, and the transfer fee of £100 was recouped by the increased numbers who turned up to watch his first game back in Rams colours. His popularity soared again when he led the side to promotion as champions in 1911-12. Derby clinched top sport with a 2-0 win at Barnsley, and 20,000 people greeted the team on their arrival home by train. Bloomer and manager Jimmy Methven were carried shoulder high through the streets.
The fans loved Bloomer for his commitment and enthusiasm. In his early days as a professional Bloomer often celebrated a goal by doing a cartwheel on his hands, at a time when such flamboyance was almost unknown. At other times, instead of walking back to centre circle or modestly shaking the hand of his team-mates, as was the norm, Bloomer was somewhat more animated. ‘I would take a great jump in the air and whoop aloud,' he recalled later. ‘As I grew older, though, I took my successes and failures more philosophically.' Age may have mellowed him in many ways, but he remained an unforgiving critic of team-mates who failed to reaching the standard he expected.
In 1913, the year before he hung up his boots, the Football Players ' Magazine, the organ of the players themselves, wrote: ‘ He is the greatest inside-forward who has ever played for England and his name has for years been a household word wherever football is played. He has done as much for the game as any man who ever kicked a ball ... He was the best marksman of his day, a great genius, a sportsman of splendid nerve.'
His contribution to the Derby cause and symbolic value has since more recently been celebrated in song. To this day, before each home game at Pride Park, where a memorial stands in his honour, supporters sing the anthem, Steve Bloomer's Watching, the chorus of which reads:
Steve Bloomer's watching
Helping them fight,
Guiding our Heroes,
In the black and white,
For all teams who come here,
There's nowhere to hide,
Everyone is frightened,
Of that Derby pride.