Background
Nicholls was born in Southampton and joined the Southampton Saint Mary"s in 1888, aged 16.
Nicholls was born in Southampton and joined the Southampton Saint Mary"s in 1888, aged 16.
He scored the club"s first goal in the in October 1891. At first, his appearances were restricted to friendly matches and he was not selected for the club"s successes in the Hampshire Junior Cup. On 24 January 1891, he played at outside-left in the second round of the Hampshire Senior Cup, scoring in a 5–0 victory over Geneva Cross, a team based at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley.
Nicholls followed this up with a goal in the semi-final (against Banister Court School) setting up the final against the holders, a team from the Royal Engineers from Aldershot.
Nicholls opened the scoring in the 20th minute with "a stinging shot no goalkeeper could have saved" before the engineers equalised. Two second-half goals, from Frank Bromley and Bob Kiddle, saw Saint Mary"s claim the senior cup for the first time.
In the next round, Saint Mary"s defeated Reading 7–0, with Nicholls scoring one of the goals, but the match was awarded to Reading following an FA enquiry into the eligibility of two Saint Mary"s players, Jock Fleming and Alexander McMillan. In March 1892, Saint Mary"s retained the Hampshire Senior Cup, with an easy 5–0 victory over a Medical Staff team, with Nicholls scoring twice.
In the Hampshire Senior Cup, he missed the semi-final against Freemantle but did play in the final which was lost 1–0 to the Royal Engineers.
Not wanting to commit to regular league football, Nicholls decided to retire from the club, having scored over 40 goals in all fixtures for the club, with four goals from his five Field Artillery Cup appearances. Nicholls was also a fine all-round cricketer who played for the Deanery club from 1901 to 1922, and became their captain in 1902. He continued to live in Southampton and was a season-ticket holder at The Dell.
He died in February 1971, nine months short of his hundredth birthday.
From the autumn of 1890 onwards, he became a regular member of the team, scoring hat-tricks in friendlies against Winchester City and the Royal Engineers.