Rab Howell
Rab Howell
|
|||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rabbi Howell | ||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 25 October 1867 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Dore Moor, Sheffield, England | ||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 21 July 1937 (aged 69) | ||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Preston, Lancashire, England | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Right half-back | ||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||
| 1887–1889 | Ecclesfield | ||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||
| 1889–1890 | Rotherham Swifts | ||||||||||||||
| 1890–1898 | Sheffield United | 192 | (8) | ||||||||||||
| 1898–1901 | Liverpool | 59 | (0) | ||||||||||||
| 1901–1903 | Preston North End | ||||||||||||||
| National team | |||||||||||||||
| 1895–1899 | England | 2 | (1) | ||||||||||||
|
Honours
|
|||||||||||||||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||||||||||||||
Rabbi "Rab" Howell (25 October 1867 – 1937) was a nineteenth-century professional footballer who played for Sheffield United and Liverpool primarily as a defender. Born in Dore moor in Sheffield he was of Romani descent and was the first Romani to play for England, winning two caps.
Howell was a highly skilled player despite his small size (5 feet 5 inches or 1.65 metres), playing as a nippy half-back or inside right. He began his career with the Sheffield club Ecclesfield and also played for Rotherham Swifts before signing along with two other Swifts players, Arthur Watson and Michael Whitham for newly formed Sheffield United in March 1890. Although he made his debut as a striker Howell was soon moved to defence where he played for the remainder of his career. He won promotion with the Blades to the First Division in 1893, and, in 1897–98, a Championship medal.
"Rab Howell," observed the player's Sheffield United team-mate Ernest Needham,
Howell often fell foul of the club hierarchy who imposed strict codes of conduct on their players, and regularly appeared in front of the Football Committee on charges of 'misconduct' although this often resulted in him being offered a pay increase and asked to 'mend his ways'. More serious allegations were to be levelled at him however, as in his final season at the club he was believed to have attempted to throw a game against rivals for the Championship Sunderland, scoring two own goals. No charges were ever brought but Howell only played one more game for United before being quietly sold to Liverpool. He left Bramall Lane having played for 5 years, making over 200 appearances for the club. There is no evidence of match fixing, however. A more likely explanation for his sudden departure is his extra-marital affair: he set up another family in Lancashire after he left for Liverpool. Such a scandal in Victorian times would have been hushed up.
...
Wikipedia