Bob Torrance

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Bob Torrance
Personal information
Full name Robert Torrance[1]
Date of birth 1888
Place of birth Kirkintilloch, Scotland
Date of death 24 April 1918 (aged 30)[2]
Place of death Ypres salient, Belgium
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Kirkintilloch Rob Roy
1908–1917 Bradford City 161 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Robert "Bob" Torrance (1888 – 24 April 1918) was a Scottish footballer who played in defence for hometown team Kirkintilloch Rob Roy and Bradford City.[3][4]

He joined Bradford City in August 1908 and for three years was a hard-working understudy to the first team players.[4] He had played just 36 league games in his first three seasons and one FA Cup game before he played in the 1911 FA Cup Final replay as replacement for the injured Willie Gildea.[4] City won 1–0, with Torrance being considered the 'Man of the Match'.[5]

Torrance became more involved in first team games, playing 23 league games the following season and all seven games during City's FA Cup defence, and more than 30 in the three seasons before league football was suspended for the First World War.[4] His last game for City was a wartime regional game against Barnsley in March 1917.[4]

Torrance, along with City's FA Cup winning captain Jimmy Speirs, was one of the club's players to die during service in the First World War whilst a gunner with the Royal Field Artillery. He was severely wounded in the arm by shell fragments on the Ypres salient during the German spring offensive, and was killed by shellfire while being treated in hospital.[1][2][6]

Honours[]

Bradford City

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Bob Torrance - Bradford City and the First World War". Football and the First World War. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b Manchester, Reading Room. "Casualty Details". cwgc.org. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  3. ^ "BBC - Bradford & West Yorkshire - Life and death of a City legend". BBC News. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d e Frost, Terry (1988). Bradford City A Complete Record 1903-1988. Breedon Books Sport. p. 144. ISBN 0-907969-38-0.
  5. ^ "CITY TEAM-MATES: The 1911 FA Cup winners". Bradford Telegraph and Argus.
  6. ^ Frost. Bradford City A Complete Record 1903-1988. pp. 324–325.


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