Widdowson (hand on hip) depicted in an engraving titled "Famous Football Players" issued by the Boy's Own Paper in the early 1880s

Sam Weller Widdowson (16 April 1851[1] – 9 May 1927[2]) was an English sportsman of the Victorian era. He played cricket for Nottinghamshire[3] and association football for Nottingham Forest and also played once for the England national football team, against Scotland in 1880.[1] Widdowson is also credited with inventing football shin pads in 1874 when he cut down a pair of cricket pads and strapped them outside his stockings. Initially, the concept was ridiculed but it soon caught on with other players,[3] and shin pads are now required by the Laws of the Game.[4] He later became a football referee and was in charge of the first ever match in which goal nets were used.[3] He was Nottingham Forest chairman from 1879 to 1884.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Sam Widdowson". EnglandStats.com. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  2. ↑ "Sam Widdowson". cricinfo. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 "Hucknall Cricketers". Ashfield District Council. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  4. ↑ "Law 4 – The Players Equipment". The FA. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  5. ↑ Graham Betts (2006). England: Player by player. Green Umbrella Publishing. p. 258. ISBN 1-905009-63-1.


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