Arthur Blackburn (footballer) Arthur Blackburn (footballer) Arthur Blackburn (1877 – after 1901) was an English footballer who played as a full-back with Blackburn Rovers and Southampton around the turn of the 20th century. He was the elder brother of England international footballer, Fred Blackburn. Blackburn was born in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire and first joined his home-town club, Blackburn Rovers, in March 1895. After three years of reserve-team football, he spent the 1898–99 season with Northamptonshire club Wellingborough playing in the Midland League. He returned to Blackburn in the summer of 1899; by now his brother Fred had become established at outside-left.
Roy of the Rovers a striker he comes closer to fitting the "Roy of the Rovers" fantasy than anyone else lately admired by English crowds". Shearer was at that time the leading goal-scorer for "unfashionable" Blackburn Rovers F.C., who were on the verge of winning the Premiership title. Comparisons have been drawn between the fictional Roy Race and the captain of England's 1966 World Cup winning team, Bobby Moore, whose playing career spanned a similar time-scale to that of Roy's. Moore's death in 1993, just days after the last edition of the "Roy of the Rovers" comic was published, produced a "literature of tribute",