Everything about James Richardson Spensley totally explained
Dr James Richardson Spensley (
17 May,
1867 -
10 November,
1915) was an
English doctor, footballer, manager,
Scout Leader and medic from
Stoke Newington,
London. He is considered to be one of the "Fathers of
Italian football", due to his association with
Genoa CFC and his contribution to the modern day variation of the game in
Italy.
Biography
He was born in
1867 in the
Stoke Newington district of
London to William Spensley and Elizabeth Alice Richardson. Although he was born and grew up in London, the Spensley family were originally from the
Swaledale area in
Yorkshire.
Richardson Spensley had the opportunity to travel far and wide as an adult. Amongst the most keen interests which he'd acquired whilst travelling were;
oriental religion, languages; he was versed in
Greek and
Sanskrit,
boxing and
football. As well as working as a doctor, he'd go on to spend some time as a correspondent for British newspaper the
Daily Mail.
Football in Genoa
Richardson Spensley arrived in
Genoa during
1896, he initially arrived to cure English sailors on the coal ships. He joined
Genoa Cricket & Athletics Club; a
cricket and
athletics club formed by British
expatriates. He opened the
footballing section for the club on
10 April 1897 and was put in place as its first ever manager. This was innovative as the modern day footballing scene in Italy was in its embryonic stages.
In fact, if it wasn't for
Edoardo Bosio in
Turin founding clubs, there would have been no football at all in Italy at Richardson Spensley's time of arrival. Richardson Spensley participated as a player-manager for Genoa in the first ever
Italian Football Championship (which he initiated) during
1898 which his club won. The following season he switched position from defender to goalkeeper, playing on until
1906.
Including the first title, Genoa won the Italian league six times while Richardson Spensley was at the helm. After retiring from playing when he was almost 40 years old, he stayed on in the management role for one more year, before leaving entirely.
Scouting and death
While living in England he'd known
Robert Baden-Powell who founded the
Scout Movement, from whom he'd received an autographed copy of
Scouting for Boys. Along with a Genovese man named
Mario Mazza, they founded the first Italian scouting movement called
Federazione Italiana dello Scautismo in 1910.
During
World War I, he worked in the medical field putting his scouting abilities to use as a
Lieutenant in the
Royal Army Medical Corps. He was injured on the battle field while tending to the wounds of an enemy out of
compassion, he died at
Mainz,
Germany in hospital not long after. His grave was discovered at
Niederzwehren Cemetery in
Kassel by two Genoese students during
1990.
Honours
Further Information
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