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Personal
Fullname: Leigh Richmond Roose
aka: Leigh Roose
Born: 27 Nov 1877
Died: 7 Oct 1916
Birthplace: Holt, Wales
Signed: March 1910 (loan)
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: Clyde 3-1 Celtic, Scottish Cup, 12 Mar 1910
Internationals: Wales
International Caps: 24
International Goals: 0
Biog
| “A good goalkeeper, like a poet, is born not made.” Leigh Richmond Roose |
A great player in the history of the game, Leigh Richmond Roose made a brief appearance for Celtic. In retrospectives, he is regarded as a pivotal goalkeeper in the history of football and a Welsh sporting legend. He was also a bit of a character and is said to have had a bit of a temper, nevertheless that all seemed to help his game, and he is remembered fondly for being an eccentric.
Leigh Richmond Roose was said to be a brilliant and controversial Edwardian goalkeeper – so good at his job that the FA had to change the rules of the game to keep him in check, by limiting the ability for a goalkeeper to handle the ball only now in his box and not the whole of his own half as was previously allowed.
His was the first name on the Daily Mail’s teamsheet for their “World XI to challenge another planet at football“. He was an inspirational figure for Stoke City, Sunderland and Wales (when they won their first Home Nations Championship), and also played for Aston Villa, Arsenal and Everton. He was even crowned as ‘The Prince of Goalkeepers‘.
Through dating music hall stars he became one of the first footballers (if not the very first) to regularly appear in the newspaper gossip columns in England. He was linked to a string of women, wore Saville Row suits and could earn more off-field than professional footballers would on it. He was also according to some accounts a doctor of bacteriology (although never qualified as a doctor). So definitely a man ahead of his times in football.
The Welsh International Leigh Richmond Roose came to Celtic Park on loan from Sunderland in March 1910. Securing his services at Celtic was the result of a somewhat bizarre deal. Leigh Richmond Roose had tended the goal for the Wales v Scotland International at Rugby Park the previous week in a match which led to Jimmy McMenemy being injured as a result of some nasty play by Welshman Llewellyn Davies.
Thus when Celtic keeper Davy Adams was floored with pneumonia for the Scottish Cup semi against Clyde, it made perfect sense to secure the services of Leigh Richmond Roose as a form of compensation (as well as likely a convenient excuse to get him to play for Celtic for the gate receipts).
His one and only game for Celtic was his loan to the club in the Scottish Cup semi-finals when Celtic lost 3-1 to Clyde, a rare blot on Leigh Richmond Roose’s books. Apparently he ran the length of the pitch to congratulate and shake the hand of the Clyde player who had scored the third goal and ousted Celtic out of the Cup. We wonder how that might have been taken by some of the exasperated Celtic support at the match.
World War One
During the First World War, like millions of others he served his country but he tragically died in 1916 aged 38 at the tail-end of the Battle of the Somme.
He may only have played once for Celtic but it’s an honour to have such a great character and player from footballing history to have played for the club. He deserved better than to die so prematurely and so wastefully as did all the others during that grim war. He will have had so much more to offer football and society.
Leigh Richmond Roose’s name is inscribed on the massive Thiepval Memorial to his 72,000 other colleagues who died in the Battle of the Somme in World War One but who also have no known grave.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1910 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Shut-outs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none
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Anecdotes
1) Woolwich Arsenal keeper Leigh Richmond Roose (cited by the Daily Mail in 1905 as one of the capital’s most eligible bachelors, no less) had a curious clothing ritual.
Legend has it that Roose played every match with an unwashed ‘lucky’ black-and-green Aberystwyth top underneath his jersey.
“Roose is one of the cleanest custodians we have, but he apparently is a trifle superstitious about his football garments, for he seldom seems to trouble the charwoman with them,” read one March 1904 account in Bolton’s Cricket and Football Field.
“Considerable amusement was created at Stoke on Saturday and again at Liverpool on Monday, when it was noticed that Roose alone failed to turn out in spick and span garments. His pants, we should say, carried about them the marks of many a thrilling contest.”
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/02/runaway-leading-goalscorers-in-a-single-football-season
Articles
From The Rough Guide To Football published by Penguin
”When he made his debut for Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final in 1910; he let in three goals; after he retrieved the ball from the net for the third time he ran up the pitch,and shook the scorer, Chalmers, by the hand. History does not record what his team mates made of this gesture……”
Although well above the age of the average recruit, Roose joined the British Army as a private of the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1916 and served in the First World War on the Western Front, where his goalkeeping abilities resulted in his becoming a noted grenade thrower.
He was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery on the first occasion he saw action, the regimental history recording: “Private Leigh Roose, who had never visited the trenches before, was in the sap when the flammenwerfer attack began. He managed to get back along the trench and, though nearly choked with fumes with his clothes burnt, refused to go to the dressing station. He continued to throw bombs until his arm gave out, and then, joining the covering party, used his rifle with great effect.” His award was gazetted on 21 September 1916.
Promoted to the rank of lance corporal, Roose was killed, aged 38, towards the end of the Battle of the Somme. The exact location and manner of his death remain a matter of dispute.
His body was not recovered, and his name appears (spelled incorrectly) on the war memorial to missing soldiers at Thiepval.
From an article by Robert Hoskins, Celtic Football Club and the Great War
“One of those players [two Celtic players who died at The Somme] was the enigmatic Welsh International goalkeeper Leigh Roose who also held a Doctorate in Bacteriology, who played on loan to Celtic once in March 1910. Leigh joined the 9th Royal Fusiliers in 1914 and rose to the rank of Lance Corporal and won the Military Medal. Leigh died on 7th of October 1916, his Battalion was caught up in fierce fighting in the Battle for Montauban.
At 1:45pm Leigh’s regiment led the attack on enemy lines, encountering heavy machine gun fire on the way. On reaching the top of the nearby ridge, the attacking battalions were practically decimated by heavy shelling and machine gun fire. Like many attacking manoeuvres throughout the 1st World War, the objectives of this attack were never reached.
That one day’s attack highlighted the human tragedy that was the First World War, costing the lives of 25 men with an additional 165 missing presumed dead and 132 wounded for no material gain. As one of those 165 who is still ‘missing’ Leigh’s name is inscribed on the massive Thiepval Memorial to his 72,000 other comrades who died in the Battle who also have no known grave.”
Leigh Roose the fourth son of Richmond Roose, the minister of Holt Presbyterian Church, was born on 26th November, 1877. His mother, Eliza Roose, died of cancer when Leigh was only four years old.
After leaving Holt Academy in 1893, Roose went to study medicine at the University of Wales. A talented sportsman, Roose played in goal for the university team. He soon emerged as the team’s star player, and was signed by Aberystwyth Town, who played in the North Wales Combination League.
Roose developed a unique style of goalkeeping. At this time goalkeepers could handle the ball anywhere inside their own half. Law 8 stated: “The goalkeeper may, within his own half of the field of play, use his hands, but shall not carry the ball.” Roose developed the habit of bouncing the ball up to the half-way line before launching an attack with a long kick or a good throw. As Spencer Vignes points out in his book on Leigh Roose: “This was perfectly within the letter of the law, though few goalkeepers risked doing it for fear of either leaving their goal unattended or being streamrollered by a centre-forward. It became a highly effective, direct way of launching attacks and Leigh used it to his side’s advantage whenever possible.”
Fred Griffiths was the regular goalkeeper for the national team. However, he let in five goals against Scotland and Roose was awarded his first international cap for Wales against Ireland on 24th February, 1900. During the game Ireland launched an attack down the right wing through Harry O’Reilly. Roose sprinted from his goalmouth and deliberately barged the Irishman into touch. Roose hit O’Reilly so hard that he was knocked unconscious. According to the rules of the time, no free-kick was awarded. As Rose later pointed out: “If a forward has to be met and charge down, do not hesitate to charge with all your might.” Wales won 2-0 with goals from Billy Meredith and Thomas David Parry.
The following month Roose was a member of the Aberystwyth Town team that won the Welsh Cup. However, at the end of the season Roose left the club as he had taken up a job as a trainee doctor at Kings College Hospital in Holborn.
On 12th October, 1901, Roose joined Stoke City in the First Division of the Football League. As he was working as a doctor he signed as a amateur. Although he was not paid wages he was given an unlimited expense account. This included the club paying for first-class train travel, the best hotels for overnight stays, new suits, designer shoes and other unnamed “extras”.
In Memory of
Lance Corporal LEIGH RICHMOND ROOSE
M M
PS/10898, 9th Bn., Royal Fusiliers
who died age 38
on 07 October 1916
(Served as Leigh ROUSE). Former football player and Wales International. Son of Richmond L. and Eliza Roose.
Remembered with honour
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
London Gazette (21st September 1916)
Private Leigh Roose, who had never visited the trenches before, was in the sap when the flammenwerfer attack began. He managed to get back along the trench and, though nearly choked with fumes with his clothes burnt, refused to go to the dressing station. He continued to throw bombs until his arm gave out, and then, joining the covering party, used his rifle with great effect.
On the outbreak of the First World War Roose immediately joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. His father, Richmond Roose was a pacifist who was strongly opposed to his son becoming involved in the conflict. Roose was sent to France and worked at a hospital in Rouen. His job was to treat injured soldiers from the Western Front before arranging their transport back to Britain.
In April 1915 Leigh Roose was transferred to the Evacuation Hospital at Gallipoli. After spending several months treating the wounded, Roose returned to London. Roose now joined the 9th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers as a private. In 1916 he was sent to Western Front and had his first experience of trench warfare close to the village of Dainville. In August he won the Military Medal for bravery while fighting at the Battle of the Somme. The citation explained how he threw “bombs until his arms gave out, and then, joining the covering party, used his rifle with great effect”.
While serving on the front-line Roose suffered from trench foot, a fungal infection brought on by prolonged exposure to damp, cold and unhygienic conditions.
Leigh Roose was killed on 7th October 1916 during an attack on the German trenches at Gueudecourt. Gordon Hoare, who before the war had represented England as an amateur footballer, saw Roose running towards the enemy at full speed in No Man’s Land, while firing his gun. Soon afterwards, another soldier saw Roose lying in a bomb crater. His body was never recovered.
Within a few months of his own death, three of his former team-mates, Albert Milton (Sunderland), Wilf Toman (Everton) and Peter Johnstone (Celtic), were killed on the Western Front.
