Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Herbert James Leopold Coates | ||
Date of birth | 29 September 1901 | ||
Place of birth | West Ham, England | ||
Date of death | 25 October 1965 | (aged 64)||
Place of death | Southsea, England | ||
Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||
Playing position | Inside left | ||
Youth career | |||
Royal Navy | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1928–1934 | Southampton | 99 | (26) |
1934–19?? | Leyton | ||
National team | |||
1928–1931 | England amateur | 8 | |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Herbert James Leopold "Rigger" Coates (29 September 1901 – 25 October 1965) was an English amateur footballer who played as an inside forward for Southampton in the 1920s and 1930s.
Coates was born in West Ham, Essex and joined the Royal Navy, where he served on the Royal Yacht "Victoria and Albert". He represented the Royal Navy at football at an amateur level, but in October 1927 he joined Southampton of the Football League Second Division.
He made his Southampton debut away to Chelsea on 27 October 1928, replacing the ageing Charlie Petrie at inside-left. After six matches, in which he failed to score, he was replaced by Dick Rowley. His duties on the Royal Yacht tended to restrict his appearances, but by the end of the season he had made 14 appearances, scoring seven goals (including one in each of his last five appearances), as the Saints finished fourth in the table, their highest League finish to date.
In the following season, he was a regular starter until early March, with Peter Dougall generally filling in when Coates was not available; Coates made a total of 25 appearances during the season, with four goals. He played for the "Amateurs" in the 1929 FA Charity Shield. For the 1930–31 season, he was restricted to sixteen appearances, most of which came in a spell between late September and December in which he scored seven goals, including two in a 5–0 victory over Bury on 13 December.