Profile of Steve Bloomer on Famous Like Me

Stephen Bloomer (January 20, 1874 - April 16, 1938) was an English footballer from 1892 until 1914. He is recognised as one of the best pre-war footballers, and is probably the best-known player from his era. He was also a top-class cricketer and baseball player.

He moved to Derby as a child, where he played for St. James' School in the Derbyshire Minor League. At one time, he scored 14 goals for them in one match. In his first game for Derby County, he scored four times against Darley Dale.

First spotted by Preston North End double-winner John Goodall, Bloomer made his league debut at Stoke in September 1892 and was soon a crowd favourite. He ended up being Derby's leading scorer for 14 seasons, scoring 292 goals in 473 appearances for the club. In 1906, Bloomer joined Middlesbrough and developed pneumonia soon after this. He was listed as 'critical' but made a full recovery and rejoined Derby again in 1910, quickly helping them to get promoted.

To this day, Derby's club anthem is 'Steve Bloomer's Watching' and is played before every home game.

When his playing career ended in 1914, he went to coach in Germany. In total, he scored 353 goals in 598 league games during his playing career. He is currently the second highest goalscorer of all-time in England's top division and lies in fourth place in the rankings for goals in all English league divisions. Bloomer was the First Division's top-scorer 5 times, in 1896 (joint with another player), 1897, 1899, 1901 and 1904.

He won 23 England caps over the course of his career, the first being on March 9, 1895, when he scored twice in a 9-0 win against Ireland. Bloomer scored 28 goals in 23 England games, still leaving him in the 10 highest scorers for his country.

After World War I, he played for and then coached Derby reserves. After that, he went to coach abroad again, but came back to become a general assistant at Derby. He died three weeks after coming home at the end of a cruise, in April 1938. His grave can been seen in Nottingham Road Cemetery, Derby.

Outside football

Bloomer was also a very successful baseball player, winning the English Baseball Cup 3 times with Derby in the 1890s.

As well as being a top-class footballer and baseball player, Bloomer was a talented cricketer and scored a number of centuries in amateur games.

Outside sport, Bloomer was also a top celebrity of the time and was used to sell products such as 'Bloomer's Lucky Strikers' football boots and 'Phosferine Tonic,' which was also endorsed by C. B. Fry.

When the Queen Mary made its maiden voyage, Bloomer's image was used in a mural in one of the public rooms, 22 years after he had retired from playing.

Quotes

• On how he was so effective: "I try to get there first."

External Link

• Steve Bloomer

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