 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Richardson Spensley | ||
| Date of birth | 17 May 1867 | ||
| Place of birth | Stoke Newington,London, UK | ||
| Date of death | 10 November 1915(1915-11-10) (aged 48) | ||
| Place of death | Mainz,Rhine Province,German Empire | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper,Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1896–1906 | Genoa | 22 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1896–1907 | Genoa | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
James Richardson Spensley[1] (17 May 1867 – 10 November 1915) was an English medical doctor, footballer, manager,scout leader and medic fromStoke Newington, London. He is considered to be one of the "Fathers ofItalian football",[2] due to his association withGenoa CFC and his contribution to the modern day variation of the game in Italy and of Italian scouting.
He was born in 1867 in theStoke Newington district of London to William Spensley and Elizabeth Alice Richardson.[3] Although he was born and grew up in London, the Spensley family were originally from theSwaledale area inYorkshire.[4]
Richardson Spensley had the opportunity to travel far and wide as an adult. Amongst the most keen interests which he had acquired whilst travelling wereeastern religions, languages (he was versed inGreek andSanskrit),boxing andfootball.[5] In addition to working as a doctor, he spent some time as a correspondent for the British newspaper theDaily Mail.[5]
Richardson Spensley arrived inGenoa in 1896, initially for the purpose of curing English sailors on the coal ships.[5] He joinedGenoa Cricket & Athletics Club, acricket andathletics club formed by Britishexpatriates. He opened thefootballing section of the club on 10 April 1897[5] and was put in place as its first ever manager.[6] This was innovative as the modern day footballing scene in Italy was in its embryonic stages: if it had not been forEdoardo Bosio who founded four clubs inTurin, there would have been no football at all in Italy at the time of Richardson Spensley's arrival.[7]
Richardson Spensley acted as player-manager for Genoa in the first everItalian Football Championship (which he initiated) during1898 which his club won. The following season, he switched position from defender to goalkeeper, playing on until 1906.[8]
Including the first title, Genoa won the Italian league six times while Richardson Spensley was at the helm. After retiring from playing when he was almost 40 years old, he stayed on in the management role for one more year, before leaving entirely.
While living in England he became acquainted withRobert Baden-Powell who founded theScout Movement, from whom he had received a signed copy ofScouting for Boys. In 1910 genoan pedagogistMario Mazza, who had founded in 1905 a youth movement calledLe gioiose, decided to join scouting with his group. He approachedSir Francis Vane, another Briton living in Italy and former collaborator of Baden-Powell, who had founded the first Italianscout troop inBagni di Lucca in 1908.[9] Vane came to Genoa to hold a lecture, and referred Mazza to Spensley. Spensley and Mazza together founded the first scout troops in Genoa and joined the newly born associationRagazzi Esploratori Italiani (REI), the first scout association in Italy. Mazza was Section Secretary and Spensley regional commissioner for Liguria. The Genoa section was one of the most active in the early years of scouting in Italy, and Mazza and Spensley are counted amongst the pioneers of Italian scouting.[10]
DuringWorld War I, he worked in the medical field putting his scouting abilities to use as a lieutenant in theRoyal Army Medical Corps.[3][11] He was injured on the battle field while tending to the wounds of an enemy out ofcompassion. As an officer, he was interned in theFortress of Mainz, in Germany, where he died of his wounds not long after.[12][13]
His body was one of many moved in 1922 from smaller graveyards to larger cemeteries in Germany (no British bodies were returned to Britain). Spensley was reburied atNiederzwehren War Cemetery south ofKassel. His final burial location remained unknown until 1993, when two Italian scouts, after long research, managed to locate it again.[12]
