Oliver Ruck

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Oliver Ruck
Personal information
Full name Oliver Edwal Ruck
Date of birth (1851-05-27)27 May 1851
Place of birth Pennal, Merionethshire, Wales
Date of death 24 July 1934(1934-07-24) (aged 83)
Place of death
Aberdovey, Gwynedd
, Wales
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1876–78 Royal Engineers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Oliver Edwal Ruck was an

association footballer and officer in the Royal Engineers, who played in the 1878 FA Cup final
.

Early life

Oliver Ruck was born at Pennal, Merionethshire, Wales on 27 May 1851,[1] the fifth child and third son of Laurence Ruck (c.1820–1896), a gentleman farmer, originally from Newington in Kent. On his mother's side, he could claim descent from Owain Glyndŵr, the last Welsh native Prince of Wales.[2]

Ruck attended the Royal Military Academy, following in the footsteps of his brother Richard Ruck, and was commissioned as lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in July 1875, having scored the fifth highest marks on passing out for the year; future football team-mate Charles Haynes had beaten him.[3] He also won the RMA Governor's Prize that year for his skill with watercolours, as well as prizes for technical drawing - three of his future team-mates also won prizes in 1875.[4]

Football career

Richard Ruck had played in the Royal Engineers A.F.C. side which won the FA Cup in 1875.[5] Oliver made his debut for the Sappers in goal against the Gitanos at the Prince's Cricket Ground in February 1876, and kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 victory.[6] He only played once more in goal, and by the end of the 1875–76 season had moved up front; in April both he and Richard scored in a win for the Engineers over the Wanderers.[7]

He made his competitive début in the second round of the

Oxford University, in which he scored one of the Sappers' goals in a 4–2 win.[9] He played in the semi-final and final as well, all three appearances being on the right wing. He was picked out for his "untiring" play in the final, but it was not enough as the Wanderers took the trophy with a 3–1 win.[10]

Military career

The 1878 final was Ruck's final football match, as his army duties took him away from the game. Ruck was made captain on 28 January 188, major on 3 November 1894,

Personal life

On 16 November 1884, at

Neuve Chapelle in 1915,[19] and one daughter, Mary.[20]

In retirement, he moved to

Aberdovey, where he became an authority on local archaeology. He died suddenly at his home on 24 July 1934.[21]

References

  1. ^ Warsop 2004, p. 122.
  2. ^ Brown, William Baker (June 1935). "Memoir: Major-General Sir Richard M. Ruck, K.B.E., C.B., C.M.G" (PDF). Royal Engineers Journal. No. XLIX (49). pp. 278–283. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. ^ "The Royal Military Academy". Broad Arrow: 10. 31 July 1875.
  4. ^ "List of prizes". Evening Mail: 6. 28 July 1875.
  5. ^ "FA Cup Final: 1875". www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Royal Engineers v Gitanos". Sporting Life: 1. 9 February 1876.
  7. ^ "Wanderers v Royal Engineers". Field: 432. 15 April 1876.
  8. ^ "Shropshire Wanderers v Royal Engineers". Bell's Life: 9. 16 December 1876.
  9. ^ "Royal Engineers v Oxford University". Sportsman: 4. 13 March 1878.
  10. ^ "Wanderers v Royal Engineers". Sportsman: 4. 25 March 1878.
  11. ^ Hart, Lt-Gen H.G. (1898). Annual Army List. London: John Murray. pp. 63–4.
  12. ^ "Line battalions". Evening Standard: 6. 8 October 1904.
  13. ^ "The Trans Vaal War". Evening Standard: 5. 17 February 1881.
  14. ^ "Regimental memoranda". Naval & Military Gazette: 16. 18 July 1883.
  15. ^ "Royal Engineers". Army and Navy Gazette: 11. 5 October 1901.
  16. ^ "Royal Engineers". Army and Navy Gazette: 13. 16 May 1908.
  17. ^ British Army Lists, 1882-1962
  18. ^ "Marriages". Homeward Mail: 21. 3 December 1884.
  19. ^ "Lieutenant Laurence Humphrey Ruck". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  20. ^ "report of marriage". Morning Post: 7. 24 May 1906.
  21. ^ "Noted archæologist dead". Hull Daily Mail: 10. 25 July 1934.

Sources

  • Warsop, Keith (2004). The Early FA Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs. SoccerData. .