Steve Bloomer
(1874-1938)

Died aged c. 64

Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem Steve Bloomer's Watchin' is played at every Derby home game and there is a bust of him at the Pride Park Stadium. He is also listed in the Football League 100 Legends and English Football Hall of Fame. During his career, Bloomer was a prolific goalscorer for both club and country. A quick thinking forward, he was able to shoot powerfully and accurately with either foot and his speciality was the daisy cutter – a low shot, hit with great power, speed and accuracy. In 536 First Division games he scored 317 goals and, after Jimmy Greaves, he is the second highest all-time goalscorer in the top-flight of English football. He also scored 28 goals in 23 appearances for England. He helped Derby to win the Second Division title in 1911–12, and to finish second in the First Division in 1895–96; he also played on the losing side in four FA Cup semi-finals and three FA Cup finals (1898, 1899 and 1903). Bloomer also played baseball for Derby Baseball Club and helped them become British champions three times in the 1890s. After retiring as a footballer he became a coach and worked with clubs in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. During World War I he was interned at Ruhleben, a civilian detention camp. The highlight of his coaching career came in 1924 when he guided Real Unión to victory in the Copa del Rey.

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Commemorated on 2 plaques

Steve Bloomer 1874-1938 Footballer Played for Derby County FC (1892-1914) and capped 23 times for his Country Brought up in Portland Street, he received his earliest education in this building

Portland Street, Derby, United Kingdom where they was educated

"Steve Bloomer, the first king of English football goalscorers, entered the 20th century with his fame as Derby County's outstanding marksman already established. As the next century beckoned - when this monument was erected in 1996 - his Rams' all-games record of 332 goals was still unsurpassed. His 353 Football League goals for Derby County and Middlesbrough was a record until near his death in 1938 at 64. Bloomer's 28 goals in 23 England games gave him a then unique average of 1.21 per cap. The son of a Midlands' blacksmith, Bloomer was a pupil at St James' School in Derby. He was described as a 'Working Class Hero' by Nottingham Trent University student Jonathan Belshaw in his 1990's study of Victorian social changes. The monument erected through the auction of Bloomer's England caps, plus family contributions, has been presented to Derby City Council by his descendants."

Lock-up Yard, Derby, United Kingdom where they was