'Ephraim Longworth', (born
2 October 1887 died
1968), was an
England international footballer for
Liverpool in the early part of the
twentieth century.
Life and playing career
Longworth, born in Haliwell,
Bolton,
Lancashire,
England, noted for his lock of hair, was comfortable in either the right or left-back berth's and started his career at
Bolton who were in the amateur Lancashire combination league at the time, he then moved to
London signing for
Southern League Clapton Orient (Became
Leyton Orient upon the conclusion of
World War ll). It was here that Liverpool manager
Tom Watson spotted his potential and signed him in
1910. he made his debut on
19 September 1910 in a
Football League First Division game at
Bramall Lane,
Sheffield, a game that
Sheff Utd won 2-0.
Longworth went on to appear 370 times in a Red shirt unfortunately not scoring a goal for the
Anfield club; in fact he went on the play until he was 40 years old. One of Liverpool's all time greats Ephraim has the distinction of being Liverpool's first ever
England captain when he was given the job in only his second appearance a 2-0 against
Belgium at the Oscar Bossaert Stadion,
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean,
Brussels in
1921. His debut for the national side was in
1920 and was just as memorable, England fought back from 4-2 down to beat bitter rivals
Scotland 5-4 at
Hillsborough. Longworth went on to gain 5 international
caps all of which England remained unbeaten.
During his time at
Anfield Longworth won back to back league titles in 1921-22 and 1922-23 and appeared in the 1-0
1914 FA Cup final defeat to Burnley in front of the reigning King
George V.
Longworth's final game came 17½ years after his first appearance for the club, it came in a 2-0 defeat at
St Andrews against
Birmingham on
21 April 1928.
After retiring in
1928 Longworth stayed on at Liverpool in a coaching role. Ephraim passed away in
1968 forever a Liverpool legend.
Career details
★ Liverpool F.C. (1910 - 1928) 371 appearances 2 Football League Championship medals (1922 - 1923), (he played his last game as a 40 year old)
★ England (1920 - 1923) 5 caps (Ephraim also captained his country, the first Liverpool player to do so)
External links
★
Official LFC profile
★
Player profile at LFChistory.net