Roberts was born at
Penycae, near
Wrexham and, on leaving school, obtained employment in a
terracotta works. He joined
Druids, based in the neighbouring village of
Ruabon, as an amateur in 1882 and helped them reach the fifth round (last eight) of the
F.A. Cup in
1883. Roberts replaced
Jack Powell in the third round replay against Bolton Wanderers and retained his place for the quarter-final match, losing 4–1 to eventual winners
Blackburn Olympic. Druids also had a long run in the
Welsh Cup, reaching the final for the fifth year out of the six since the competition was inaugurated in 1877. Roberts played in the final on 21 April 1883, with Druids losing 1–0 to
Wrexham. Druids reached the Welsh Cup final again the following year, this time to lose 1–0 to
Oswestry White Stars in a replay. The week before the 1884 Welsh Cup Final, Roberts was called up for his first appearance for
Wales, when he took the place of Jack Powell at
right back for the final match of the
1884 British Home Championship against
Scotland on 29 March. Although Roberts scored after seven minutes, Scotland equalised midway through the first half and ran out 4–1 winners to claim the trophy with three victories. In April 1884, Roberts moved to
Lancashire to join
Bolton Wanderers in the
Football League, where he was re-united with several former Druids players, including Jack Powell and
Jackie Vaughan, both of whom had moved to Bolton the previous year. This time, however, Everton were disqualified for fielding two professional players who had been registered as amateurs, and the match was awarded to Bolton, who were then defeated 9–1 by Preston North End, Bolton were one of the twelve founder members of the
Football League, which formed in 1888. Bob Roberts made his League debut on 8 September 1888, playing at wing-half, at
Pike's Lane, then home of Bolton Wanderers. The opposition were
Derby County. Bolton Wanderers lost the match 6–3. His debut League goal was scored on 6 October 1888 at
Turf Moor, home of
Burnley Bob Roberts scored Bolton Wanderers only goal in a 4–1 defeat. In
the inaugural Football League season, Roberts was ever-present, scoring twice. Bob Roberts was one of five Bolton Wanderers players, who, in season 1888–89 played in every (22) League game. The other four, apart from Roberts, were,
James Brogan,
Kenny Davenport,
John Milne and
Davie Weir. Bob Roberts played as a Full–Back (two appearances) in a Bolton Wanderers defence that kept the opposition down to one–League–goal–in–a–match once. Bob Roberts played as a wing–half (20 appearances) in a Bolton Wanderers midfield that achieved big (three–League–goals–or–more) wins on five separate occasions. In 1889, Roberts was described as "a very fast man (120 yards in 13 seconds), a splendid dribbler and difficult to overcome in possession of the ball". One newspaper dubbed him "the best half back in England". Roberts remained at Bolton until March 1892, when he moved to
Preston North End where he played five league matches at the end of the
1891–92 season. Later that year, he dropped down to the
Second Division, spending one season with
Lincoln City before retiring. ==Later career==