Looking back over the history of our club in the Football League (now EFL) I was interested to see how many players had made their debuts over the festive period (sad, I know and perhaps I’ve got too much time on my hands!).
I’ve come up with a list of 10, one of whom first appeared in a league match for Rovers on Christmas Day. It’s some 67 years now since Rovers last played a game on a day reserved for present opening and possibly a drink or three, so the list was always going to be a short one given that it only took in a period of 38 years, which also included the War years when there was no league football.
The first of Thomas Wildsmith’s 24 league appearances for Rovers came on Christmas Day 1934, away at Aldershot, a game that ended in a 2-1 win
Born in Sheffield, in January 1913, Wildsmith had played one league game for Wolverhampton Wanderers before arriving at Eastville in the
summer of 1934 and the defender scored the first of his two league goals for Rovers against Gillingham in a 4-3 win at Eastville on 18th September 1935. His second came against Bristol City in a 1-1 draw at Eastville on 4th January 1936.
He was a member of the Rovers reserve side that secured the Western League Championship in April 1936 and a month later he joined the Rovers of Doncaster and made just four league appearances for them.
Thomas Wildsmith, the 205th player to represent Rovers in league football, died in Sheffield on 28th February 1976.
The only photo we have of Wildsmith is reproduced here and if anyone has a photo of him either playing for Rovers or taken around the time he was playing, we would love to be able to have a copy for our website.
In addition, if there are any relatives of the player out there who might be interested in receiving one of the caps we present to any player or his family to commemorate his league debut, please get in touch.
secretary@bristolroverssc.co.uk