The Times obituary 16th july 1965 | 
Max Woosnam was a quite exceptional all-round sportsman and was one of City’s most famous players during their first season at Maine Road. He had a brief spell with Chelsea in 1914 and joined the Blues in November 1919, but his fame was not merely as a member of City’s exciting early twenties side. He was a Wimbledon doubles champion, a member of the Davis Cup team, an Olympic Gold medallist, a Cambridge Blue at soccer, golf, and lawn tennis, and 12th man for their cricket team.
He was also a very committed and highly respected amateur player and felt the game of football was one to be enjoyed purely for sporting and not financial reasons. Several times during his career he joined the famous amateur side Corinthians.
During his time with City he also captained England for a game, and appeared three times as an amateur international. Woosnam was the archetypal English gentleman. On 6th May 1922 he received a broken leg in a collision during a match with Newcastle but, in typical style, refused to blame his opponent: "I went out to tackle Lowe, the Newcastle winger, pushed the ball into touch and got it just below the knee, as I deserved to do. Entirely my own fault.”
…Woosnam was brought back into the City team in August 1923 when he was appointed captain for the day at the opening of Maine Road. It was a fitting gesture and Woosnam enjoyed the accolade. In later life he played for Northwich Victoria, and worked for ICl. He died in 1965, and 12 years later a street close to Maine Road, "Max Woosnam WaIk", was named after him. As a superb aIl-round athlete and as captain at Maine Road’s opening, Woosnam will forever be remembered as one of sport’s Maine Men.
EXTRACT FROM AN ARTICLE BY GARY JAMES IN THE CITY PROGRAMME 19TH OCTOBER 2002 |
