Steve Bloomer

Club

Derby County

Derby County merged with Derby Midland in June 1891, and Bloomer was a Derby County player for the start of the 1891–92 – the fourth season of the Football League. He chose to retain his amateur status because he wanted to help out his team Derby Swifts in their shield competition. Bloomer turned out for the third-team twice, and the second team once in this season. He signed a professional contract for Derby County on Thursday 28 April 1892. Mr. Clarke, the Secretary of Burton Wanderers also tried to sign Bloomer for his club. Two days after he signed for Derby, he tried to persuade Bloomer to sign for his club, but he refused. He was approached by Mr. Clarke again on Monday 2 May 1892, and this time signed a professional contract with Burton Wanderers but the Football Association soon ruled the contract to be invalid and reprimanded the Burton official. A hearing of the case was held at Crewe, on 25 January 1893. An administrative error by Derby secretary William Parker meant that Ernest Hickinbottom, Jimmy McLachlan and Samuel Mills were ineligible for the opening game of the 1892–93 season against Stoke at the Victoria Ground, and Bloomer was a surprise late addition to the first eleven. Hickinbottom, McLachlan and Mills had been registered a day too late and so they could not play unless by special permission, which could not be granted in time. Bloomer later claimed many times that he scored twice during the game but contemporary…

Immediately after World War I, Bloomer briefly coached Blauw-Wit Amsterdam in The Netherlands. He returned to England on 22 November 1918, and became player-coach of the Derby County reserve team, retiring from playing in January 1920. He was coach of the Derby first team in 1921. Between May and August 1922, he was in Montréal, Canada coaching the Grenadier Guards football team during their close season. He arrived back in England on 11 August 1922, and resumed his coaching duties with Derby County. In 1923, he became coach of Real Unión in Spain and subsequently guided them to victory in the 1924 Copa del Rey. During the 1920s, the Copa was effectively a play-off to decide the Spanish champions. Teams qualified by winning their regional titles and Real Unión represented Guipuzcoa. Nine other regional champions also qualified and in the first round of the competition Real beat Sevilla, the champions of Andalusia, 3–1 on aggregate. In the semi-final, they faced the Catalan champions, Barcelona, coached by another Englishman, Jack Greenwell. Greenwell's squad included the likes of Paulino Alcántara, Sagibarba and Josep Samitier. Despite this, Real beat Barcelona 5–1 after a replay and went on to beat Real Madrid, the champions of central Spain, 1–0 in the final.

Bloomer was born in Cradley, Worcestershire (now the West Midlands) to Caleb Bloomer (a blacksmith / iron foundry worker) and Merab Dunn, on 20 January 1874. He was the eldest of six children. The family moved to Litchurch, Derbyshire five years later. Caleb began working for Ley's Malleable Castings foundry in Derby which was founded by Francis Ley. At the age of 12 Bloomer left school, and started working as an apprentice for a local blacksmith. This helped him to build strength. Bloomer had an aptitude for football that he later described as "a natural gift". He first made an impression on the Derby football scene playing for St. Chad's Choir on 11 April 1887. Bloomer was on the losing side of the 1887 Derbyshire Boys' Shield under-15 final on this date, and impressed despite his team losing 14–0 to a dominant St Luke's Choir. His mother died on 27 November 1887 at 87, Yates Street in Derby. In 1888, soon after his 14th birthday Stephen began working as a 'striker' at Ley's iron foundry, where his father Caleb, and uncle Farley worked. In 1888 he also began playing football for Derby Swifts in the Derbyshire Minor League. On 20 December 1890, at Belper he scored seven goals against Belper Town in a 22–2 win. In 1891 he appeared in the Midland League for Derby Midland, playing in a 1–1 draw with Burton Swifts on 27 March.

A plaque commemorating Bloomer's by-then demolished birthplace in Bridge Street, Cradley, was unveiled in 2000 by former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Derby player Jimmy Dunn and Bloomer's grandson Steve Richards. On 17 January 2009, after a long and sustained period of campaigning, a bust of Bloomer was finally unveiled inside Pride Park, Derby. Bloomer's two grandsons, Steve Richards and Alan Quantrill, unveiled the bust in the presence of Bloomer's family and relations, the sculptor Andy Edwards and thousands of Derby County fans. On 17 January 2009, a bust of Bloomer was unveiled next to the home dugout at Pride Park Stadium. He remains a legend at Derby County and the club anthem, "Steve Bloomer's Watchin'", is played and sang before every home game. He is also listed in the Football League 100 Legends and English Football Hall of Fame. Real Unión held a Steve Bloomer Day on 21 January 2017, to pay tribute to Bloomer. In recognition of his contribution to both clubs, Real Unión and Derby County met to contest the Steve Bloomer Trophy in a friendly match in Irun on 3 October 2017, in what is intended to become an annual fixture. On 16 February 2018, a Blue plaque honouring Bloomer was unveiled on Bloomer's former school, in Portland Street, Derby, by the Derby Civic Society, in the presence of the Mayor of Derby, councillor John Whitby. It reads:

Steve Bloomer 1874-1938 Footballer Played for Derby County FC (1892-1914) and capped 23 times for his Country

Brought up in…