Walter Langton

Background

Hailing from Greenhill Lane near Alfreton, Derbyshire, he was the son of Fanny and Samuel Langton. He followed his father, working as a coalminer.

Career

After some time playing for Mexborough Town, he moved to play for Doncaster Rovers in 1887 at around the age of 19 where, being an amateur, he worked as a slotting machinist at the GWR railworks. Langton started off in the left back position, moving to centre forward in the 1890−91 season, then latterly returning to left back. He scored at least 55 goals in his career at Doncaster - in his early days many goals weren"t accredited to a player in the records.

The first recorded goals were a brace on 9 February 1889 in a 2−2 draw against Newark.

In his next season Langton scored at least 14 out of the 34 matches that the team played, including 5 against Newark in an 8−0 victory on 1 February 1890. In 1890−91 it was 11 goals out of the 19 games Rovers played.

Langton was the only recorded scorer of penalties for Rovers up till 1898. The first one recorded was in a 3−3 draw against Sheffield Strollers in front of a crowd of 6,000 in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Challenge Cup on 18 February 1893 at the Olive Grove, Sheffield.

In all he is listed as having scored 8 goals from the spot.

After the 1904−05 season with Doncaster, Langton retired from playing the game.

Achievements

• Midland Alliance League Runner up: 1890−91 Midland League Champions: 1896−97, 1898−99Runner up: 1900−01 Yorkshire League Runner up: 1898−99 Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup Champions: 1890−91.