As today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Birkett, the only South Devon born footballer ever to represent England, we will now take a look back at his career.
Ralph James Birkett was born in Torquay, instead of Newton Abbot which is widely reported, on January 9th 1913 and first joined Torquay United as a 16-year-old amateur from Dartmouth United.
At this time, Torquay United were still establishing themselves in Division Three South, after being elected to the Football League in 1927 at the expense of Aberdare Athletic.
Their first season in the league, the 1927-28 campaign, had seen the Magpies, as they were then known, apply for re-election.
In January 1930, the club wasdealt a major off-field blowwhen the roof of the grandstand was blown off in a heavy storm.
This setback provided a serious threat to the club’s existence as Torquay were already heavily in debt and weren’t in a position to fund the cost of replacing the roof, but Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City offered to play friendly matches at Plainmoor, which helped to pay for the reconstruction.
Whilst they had a number of off-field problems to worry about, they also had a few on-field concerns too, namely the fact that by March 1930, Torquay were still seeking their first win of the new decade.
However, that was soon to change when they faced Bournemouth on March 8th 1930, the game that saw Ralph handed his Football League debut by Magpies’ manager Frank Womack on the right wing.
It proved to be an inspired move by Womack as Torquay won 7-0 with Ralph laying on four of them. The Magpies also had a further four efforts disallowed for offside and missed a penalty.
Following the victory over Bournemouth, Ralph was quickly signed professional terms with United and soon became a regular in the Torquay starting eleven
He went to make a further 94 league appearances for the Magpies and three in the FA Cup before he was snapped up by the legendary Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman in April 1933 for a fee of £1,500.
On arriving at Highbury, Ralph found himself appearing alongside fellow Devonians Ray Bowden and Cliff Bastin, who had both joined the Gunners from Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City.
At this time Arsenal were the dominant force in English football and Ralph helped Arsenal to win the First Division title in the 1933-34 campaign, his first full campaign with the Gunners.
However, Ralph’s arrival at Highbury served to inject a new lease of life into the player he was signed to replace, Joe Hulme.
He was later sold by George Allison, who replaced Herbert Chapman as manager following his death in 1934, to Middlesbrough in 1935 for £5,000.
Whilst at Ayresome Park, Ralph became a star for Boro and scored 35 goals in 93 appearances during his stay on Teeside.
In October 1935, he was received his first and only England cap, becoming the first former Torquay United player to receive this honour, as well as being the first South Devon born player to do so, in a friendly against Northern Ireland, which England won 3-1.
Ralph impressed the England selectors sufficiently to be selected for their next international fixture against Germany, but he missed the match through injury and was replaced by a young winger by the name of Stanley Matthews.
His next transfer move saw him remain in the North East as he signed for Newcastle United for a fee of £5,800 in 1938.
Sadly for Ralph, as with many players of his generation, the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 saw his playing days interrupted and robbed him of what possibly could have been the best years of his career.
During the conflict, he served as a Physical Training instructor in the Army and made guest appearances for Darlington, Fulham, Chester, Middlesbrough, Chelsea and Reading as well as playing in a war time international for England against Scotland.
Following the end of the war, Ralph made one more appearance for Torquay, at the age of 33, in the 1945-46 interim season before the Football League officially resumed in 1946.
After retiring from playing, Ralph later returned to South Devon where he remained until his death in 2002 at the age of 89.
Footnote: Ralph is one of four Torquay United players to have gone on to play for England, the other three are Don Welsh, Lee Sharpe and Keith Curle.
