October 7, 2016 marks the centenary of Roose's death. Jon Spurling remembers the maverick goalkeeper who enchanted early 20th-century football
Goalkeeper Leigh Roose – an early 20th-century cross between the theatrical Bruce Grobbelaar and the physically intimidating Peter Schmeichel – was one of football's most colourful and controversial characters. Roose's distinctive playing style, natty attire (padded knee bandages, twin peaked cap) and occasionally scandalous social life made him, according to the Daily Mail in 1905, London's second-most eligible bachelor behind cricket legend Jack Hobbs.
Not bad for a player who, for several years, had appeared more likely to commit himself to a career in bacteriology, after studying medicine for a short period at King's College London.