Bob Whiting

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

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

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

Brighton & Hove Albion

• Southern League First Division: 1909–10[3]
• FA Charity Shield: 1910[3]

References

1. Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 309. ISBN 978-1905891610.
2. "Casualty Details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
3. "Footballer featured in War Stories exhibition". brighton-hove.gov.uk. May 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
4. "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. 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. "Robert Whiting". 11v11.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.