| 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 goalkeeperinthe 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]
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]
| 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 | ||
Brighton & Hove Albion
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