Arthur Albert Attwood was born on 1 December 1901 in
Walsall, Staffordshire. The
1921 Census finds him serving as a
private in the 2nd Battalion,
King's Shropshire Light Infantry, then based at
Curragh Camp in Ireland. He went on to spend several years with the
British Army of the Rhine, during which he played representative football for Army teams. Towards the end of his military service he was occasionally able to play football for
Walsall LMS, and in September 1928, after he left the Army, he turned professional with
Football League Third Division South club
Walsall. A switch from
outside right to
centre forward in late October brought Attwood nine goals in two matches, six against
Bilston in the
Birmingham League and three against
Birmingham in the
Staffordshire Senior Cup, and a place in the first team. He made his
Football League debut on 3 November 1928 at home to
Brentford, scored, and by his 14th league match, on 23 February 1929 against
Queens Park Rangers, he had 13 goals. Straight after that match, Attwood signed for
First Division club
Everton for a fee widely described as substantial, believed by the
Birmingham Gazette's Nimrod to be "in the region of £2,000", and recorded in the buying club's
minutes as £1,500. He made a good impression on debut for
Everton's reserves a few days later on a hard and snowy pitch, scoring from a move that he himself had started, but his first-team debut was less successful. Brought into the side with
Dixie Dean on international duty, "Attwood, the ex-Walsall player, was unlucky in having to make his First Division debut in a match in which none of the home players could find his form", as Everton lost 4–0 at home to
West Ham United on 10 April 1929. He played twice more during the
1929–30 First Division season, at the end of which Everton were relegated, Attwood returned to Third Division South football with
Bristol Rovers in May 1930, He finished his first season with Rovers as the club's top scorer and only ever-present. He shared a prolific partnership with Dix, who scored 19 league goals to Attwood's 24. The following season, three goals from the first nine matches were not enough to stop him being dropped in favour of
Tommy Cook, newly arrived on a month's trial, nor were four goals in his first game for the reserves enough to restore him to the first team. In early November 1931, Attwood signed for Third Division South rivals
Brighton & Hove Albion. He played 30 matches in what remained of the season, and his 29 goals made him the team's top scorer. Attwood scored 20 goals from his 33 league matches, but 15 FA Cup goals11 in the qualifying roundsmade a major contribution to his setting a new club record of 35 goals in a season. and later played for
Hove and for the
works team of
Brighton Hove and District Omnibus, who employed him as a
bus conductor. Attwood served in the
RAF during the
Second World War, and played wartime football for clubs including
Leicester City. He died in
Hove, Sussex, on 6 December 1974 at the age of 73. ==References==