Thomas Stott | |||||||
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OVERALL STATISTICS | |||||||
| BIRTH | AGE | SIGNED ON | FROM | ||||
| DEBUT | LAST MATCH | LEFT | |||||
| CAREER | APPEARANCES (SUBS) | ||||||
| TRIES | GOALS | DGOALS | PTS | ||||
Biography of Thomas Stott | ||||
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 HERITAGE NO : 72 Stott by Alex Service This biography goes off on a bit of a tangent! James Forman (Tod) Sloan was born in Indiana in 1874 and was initially rejected by his parents. He overcame extreme poverty and neglect to become a famous jockey. His technique was unique, in that he sat high on the horse`s neck. This was called the `monkey crouch` and Tod made this technique his own. He became one of the most popular sportsmen in the world and, effectively, lived the American dream. `Tod sloan` or `on your tod` became Cockney rhyming slang for `on your own`. It was therefore surprising to find in the match report for the debut of Stott that he was immediately referred to by his apparent nickname of Tod Sloan! Could this mean he was a loner? Unlikely. It probably refers to his stature. Jockeys tend not to be the biggest people! Just like, for example, Tommy Bishop and, in Super League, Rob Burrow in later years, this half-back was somewhat vertically challenged, yet this did not seem to be too much of a barrier to prevent him playing rugby for the Saints, initially in the A Team. Our Tod got off to a marvellous start when he made his senior debut against Wigan on 12th November 1898 at Knowsley Road. Athos, in the St. Helens Reporter [15-11-1898] gave favourable reports of `Sloan` the scrum-half and his combination with the legendary Billy Briers in the halves: "Tod Sloan, the miniature half, did not give a bad display by any means, his smartness in gathering, and trickery in eluding his opponents being very pretty while his passes were always clean and well-timed. But on the other hand, his rush-stopping will always be weak. This is not a fault, it is a physical impossibility". The St. Helens Newspaper concluded that: "He played trickily and showed a good deal of judgement in is passing, while he also proved that he could kick and run." Saints won 10-7 against their famous opponents, with centre David Traynor scoring all the points, two tries and two goals. Tod was also a try-scorer himself on two occasions during his 13-match odyssey with the seniors, scoring in wins against Salford and Warrington, both at Knowsley Road. His final match was in the second round of the Challenge Cup, at home to Morecambe, which was a 0-0 draw. In 1901 he was living with his wife Edith in the Milk Shop in College Street, St. Helens. In 1921 Thomas was living in College Street, St. Helens with his wife, Edith who hailed from St Helens and ran a China Glass business in her own right, and three daughters Esther, Hilda and Emily. Thomas operated a Milk Dealing business on the premises. By 1939 he was an unemployed labourer still living in College Street with his wife Edith. His death was registered in Prescot in October 1954 at the age of 79. If anyone could provide any further information, or an image of this player, we would like to hear from you. | ||||
PLAYER HONOURS | ||||
SEASON STATISTICS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season (Official Matches) | Tries | Goals | DGoals | Matches |
| 1898~99 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| TOTALS: | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Season (Other Matches) | Tries | Goals | DGoals | Matches |
| 1898~99 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| TOTALS: | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
ALL MATCHES | ||||
| Date | Match | Pos | Opponents | Comp | Venue | FT | FTO | T | G | DG | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15th Oct 1898 | -- | L |
6 | Lancaster* | Fr | A | 2 | 8 | VIEW | |||
| 12th Nov 1898 | 1 | W |
7 | Wigan | L | H | 10 | 7 | VIEW | |||
| 19th Nov 1898 | 2 | L |
7 | Leigh | L | A | 2 | 5 | VIEW | |||
| 3rd Dec 1898 | -- | W |
6 | Birkenhead* | Fr | H | 14 | 0 | 1 | VIEW | ||
| 24th Dec 1898 | 3 | L |
7 | Salford | L | A | 2 | 13 | VIEW | |||
| 26th Dec 1898 | 4 | W |
7 | Tyldesley | L | H | 9 | 5 | VIEW | |||
| 30th Dec 1898 | -- | W |
6 | Hull Kingston Rovers * | Fr | A | 8 | 3 | VIEW | |||
| 2nd Jan 1899 | 5 | D |
7 | Runcorn | L | H | 0 | 0 | VIEW | |||
| 7th Jan 1899 | 6 | D |
7 | Salford | L | H | 8 | 8 | 1 | VIEW | ||
| 14th Jan 1899 | 7 | W |
7 | Swinton | L | H | 6 | 5 | VIEW | |||
| 21st Jan 1899 | -- | W |
6 | Birkenhead* | Fr | A | 9 | 0 | VIEW | |||
| 28th Jan 1899 | 8 | L |
7 | Oldham | L | A | 0 | 16 | VIEW | |||
| 11th Feb 1899 | 9 | W |
7 | Tyldesley | L | A | 6 | 3 | VIEW | |||
| 18th Feb 1899 | 10 | W |
7 | Warrington | L | H | 12 | 3 | 1 | VIEW | ||
| 4th Mar 1899 | 11 | W |
7 | Stockport | L | A | 13 | 3 | VIEW | |||
| 11th Mar 1899 | 12 | L |
7 | Rochdale Hornets | L | A | 0 | 16 | VIEW | |||
| 25th Mar 1899 | 13 | D |
6 | Morecambe | CC2 | H | 0 | 0 | VIEW |
| *Unofficial Match. **Non Playing Sub. |
| WINS : 9 | LOSSES : 5 | DRAWS : 3 |
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GALLERY |
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