Hi Folks on this thread,
Googled across; no desire to stay long; but as one of two Leicester Fosse/City historians who've been digging these partic trenches for years, it's always good to find someone nagging at the same itch.
Therefore, please accept the following: the latest version of a mini bio for James Lynes which will form part of the third edition of the club history, 'Of Foxes & Fossils', if all goes well next year (2009). All of you somehow seem to have missed one string to the lad's sporting bow...
Cheers,
PT
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LYNES, James
b. Coleshill, Warks, c1872
Career: Plymouth Argyle Alliance; Plymouth St James, Plymouth United; Nov 1895 FOSSE; May 1896 Lincoln City; 1897 Halifax FC; Oct 1901 Warrington; Dec 1904 Bacup.
Fosse debut v Hucknall St Johns (H) FAC 2.11.1895
> Announced as having signed from an unnamed junior club in the Birmingham area – which actually turned out to be in Plymouth! – James rejoiced in the nickname of ‘Trilby’, and apparently revelled in identity confusions. For some unfathomed reason, he adopted his forename as a pseudonymous surname on each of his first three Fosse outings – a friendly at Nottingham Forest, the above Cup tie and a League game at Anfield – then made intermittent appearances under the above title during the rest of 1895/6 at both outside-right and centre-forward, where he was regarded as less skilful than Harry Trainer, but a better and weightier bustler than his Welsh international rival. At Lincoln, in a re-election-bound side, he claimed four Second Division goals, the last proving to be the winner against Fosse. He was next heard of playing as a goalkeeper in the Yorkshire League for the original, short-lived Halifax club. This link-up was characteristic, as almost all the player’s football moves were made in tandem with changes in his cricketing allegiance. He’d played the summer game as a pace bowler both in Birmingham and the South-West (for Yardley, Liskeard, Plymouth Garrison and Devon side Ivy Bridge) before his name appeared in senior football – initially as a Devon county representative – and he would assist Lincoln Lindum while with the Imps before settling in the North as a professional with each of the Halifax (1899, 1900), Warrington, Bacup (1905. 1906) and Werneth clubs. He also, through his birth qualification, occasionally represented Warwickshire in the County Championship (on eight occasions between 1897 and 1905); though most cricket archives erroneously assign these appearances to a John Lynes (with a Coleshill birthdate of 6th June 1872, unsupported by either registration or census evidence).
Apps: FL?7; FAC 3.
Goals: FL 3.
