Bob Whiting

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Bob Whiting
Personal information
Full name Robert Whiting[1]
Date of birth (1883-01-06)6 January 1883[2]
Place of birth Canning Town, England
Date of death 28 April 1917(1917-04-28) (aged 34)[2]
Place of death Oppy Wood, Arras, France[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1904–1905 South West Ham
1905 West Ham United 0 (0)
1905–1906 Tunbridge Wells Rangers
1906–1908 Chelsea 52 (0)
1908–1915 Brighton & Hove Albion 253 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Robert Whiting (6 January 1883 – 28 April 1917), sometimes known as Pom Pom Whiting,[3] was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Chelsea.[1][4][5] He made 253 appearances in the Southern League for Brighton & Hove Albion and was a part of the club's 1909–10 Southern League First Division and 1910 FA Charity Shield-winning teams.[6]

Personal life[edit]

Whiting was married with three sons and the second-youngest, William, later followed in his footsteps to play as a goalkeeper for Tunbridge Wells Rangers.[4] In December 1914, four months after the outbreak of the First World War, Whiting enlisted in the Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment.[4] After arriving in France in November 1915, Whiting became infected with scabies at the front and was sent to a hospital in Brighton for treatment.[4] As a result of the discovery of his wife's pregnancy and the death of his brother on the Somme in August 1916, Whiting went AWOL.[4] He was caught in October 1916 and court-martialled in France in February 1917.[4] A shortage of men meant that his sentence of 9 months' hard labour lasted just one week before he rejoined the Football Battalion.[4] He was killed in action whilst assaulting a fortified German position at Oppy Wood during the Battle of Arras on 28 April 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.[4][2]

Career statistics[edit]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Chelsea 1905–06[7] Second Division 1 0 0 0 1 0
1906–07[7] 36 0 2 0 38 0
1907–08[7] First Division 15 0 0 0 1 0
Total 52 0 2 0 54 0
Brighton & Hove Albion 1908–09[6] Southern League First Division 37 0 1 0 38 0
1909–10[6] 42 0 1 0 43 0
1910–11[6] 37 0 3 0 40 0
1911–12[6] 38 0 1 0 39 0
1912–13[6] 34 0 3 0 37 0
1913–14[6] 34 0 4 0 38 0
1914–15[6] 31 0 0 0 31 0
Total 253 0 13 0 266 0
Career total 305 0 15 0 32 0

Honours[edit]

Brighton & Hove Albion

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 309. ISBN 978-1905891610.
  2. ^ a b c "Casualty Details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d "Footballer featured in War Stories exhibition". brighton-hove.gov.uk. May 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Robert (Bob) 'Pom Pom' Whiting". robertpompomwhiting.com. Archived from the original on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  5. ^ "Bob Whiting: big kicker and casualty of war". Great War London. 12 June 2012. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Carder, Tim; Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. p. 258. ISBN 0-9521337-1-7.
  7. ^ a b c "Robert Whiting". 11v11.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.


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