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Steve Bloomer (January 20, 1874 - April 16, 1938)
was an England|English footballer from 1892 until
1914. He is recognised as one of the best
pre-World War I|war footballers and was also a
top-class cricketer and baseball player.

He moved to Derby as a child, where he played for
St. James' School in the Derbyshire Minor League.
At one time, he scored 14 goals for them in one
match. In his first game for Derby County
F.C.|Derby County, he scored four times against
Darley Dale.

First spotted by Preston North End F.C.|Preston
North End The Double|double-winner John Goodall,
Bloomer made his league debut at Stoke F.C.|Stoke
in September 1892 and was soon a crowd favourite.
He ended up being Derby's leading scorer for 14
seasons, scoring 292 goals in 473 appearances for
the club. In 1906, Bloomer joined Middlesbrough
F.C.|Middlesbrough and developed pneumonia soon
after this. He was listed as 'critical' but made a
full recovery and rejoined Derby again in 1910,
quickly helping them to get promoted.

To this day, Derby's club anthem is 'Steve
Bloomer's Watching' and is played before every
home game.

When his playing career ended in 1914, he went to
coach in Germany. In total, he scored 353 goals in
598 league games during his playing career. He is
currently the List of top goalscorers|second
highest goalscorer of all-time in England's top
division and lies in fourth place in the rankings
for goals in all English league divisions. Bloomer
was the Football League First Division|First
Division's top-scorer 5 times, in 1896 (joint with
another player), 1897, 1899, 1901 and 1904.

He won 23 England national football team|England
cap (football)|caps over the course of his career,
the first being in 1895, when he scored twice in a
9-0 win against Northern Ireland national football
team|Ireland. Bloomer scored 28 goals in 23
England games, still leaving him in the 10 highest
scorers for his country.

After World War I, he played for and then coached
Derby reserves. After that, he went to coach
abroad again, but came back to become a general
assistant at Derby. He died three weeks after
coming home at the end of a cruise, in April 1938.
His grave can been seen in Nottingham Road
Cemetary Derby.

==Outside football==

Bloomer was also a very successful baseball
player, winning the English Baseball Cup 3 times
with Derby in the 1890s.

As well as being a top-class footballer and
baseball player, Bloomer was a talented cricketer
and scored a number of century (cricket)|centuries
in amateur games.

Outside sport, Bloomer was also a top celebrity of
the time and was used to sell products such as
'Bloomer's Lucky Strikers' football boots and
'Phosferine Tonic,' which was also endorsed by
C.B. Fry.

When the RMS Queen Mary|Queen Mary made its maiden
voyage, Bloomer's image was used in a mural in one
of the public rooms, 22 years after he had retired
from playing.