Arthur Reed

Who was Arthur Reed?

Arthur Reed was an English professional footballer who scored 12 goals in 28 appearances in the Football League playing for Birmingham.

Reed was born in Sheffield. A short man of less than athletic physique, he began playing for Leadmill St Mary's and, very briefly, as an 18-year-old for Doncaster Rovers in March 1912. He had been on the teamsheet for Doncaster reserves as "S.O. Else" and managed a hattrick in what was his first game. The following Saturday he was playing for the first team in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup final due to one of the Rovers strikers being injured, and another ineligible. He scored two goals in a 3−1 victory and was carried off the field by the Rovers supporters. However, due to him not being officially transferred from Leadmill, Doncaster were fined 10 shillings.

Within a couple of weeks, he had joined Birmingham of the Football League Second Division. He made his debut on 6 April 1912, scoring twice in a 4–0 win at home to Burnley. Over the next three seasons Reed played only intermittently, apart from a run of nine consecutive games at the end of the 1912–13 season in which he scored six goals, and he retired through injury in 1917.