James Henry Forrest (24 June 1864 – 30 December 1925) was an English footballer whose career spanned the transition from amateurism to professionalism in English football in the 1880s and 1890s. He played most of his club career for Blackburn Rovers, whose early embracing of professionalism enabled them to become one of the major teams in English football, and with whom he appeared on the winning side in five FA Cup finals (a joint record). He was the first professional player to appear for England for whom he made eleven appearances, as a half-back.
Playing career
Blackburn Rovers
Early days
Forrest was born in Blackburn and began playing football at school. By the time he was twelve, he was captain of local side Imperial United. He was first spotted by Blackburn Rovers when playing for Witton in 1880. By now he had left school and was working as a tape sizer in the cotton trade. After moving on to play for King's Own Blackburn, he was eventually persuaded to join Rovers in January 1883.
At this time there was no organised league system, and Blackburn were restricted to friendly matches and cup tournaments, especially the Lancashire Senior Cup and the FA Cup, in which they had been finalists in 1882.
In his first season with Rovers, they reached the FA cup final with easy victories in the early rounds over Southport Central (7–0), South Shore (7–0), Padiham (3–0) and Staveley (5–1), before meeting Upton Park in the fifth round. This match was won 3–0 and was followed by a 1–0 semi-final victory over Notts County, thus setting up a final appearance against Scottish club Queen's Park, who had defeated Rovers' local rivals, and cup holders, Blackburn Olympic in the semi-final.
Forrest was called up for his first England cap for their final match in the inaugural British Home Championship against Wales on 17 March 1884, still aged only 19, replacing Notts County's Stuart Macrae at left half. According to Philip Gibbons in "Association Football in Victorian England", "the Welsh had few answers to the skilful England forwards" and England won by four goals (including a pair from William Bromley-Davenport) to nil.
In the cup final, played at the Kennington Oval on 29 March, Rovers lined up against a Queen's Park side, most of whom were Scottish internationals. After half an hour of play in the final, Forrest (who was playing at right-half) "delivered an excellent pass" to Jimmy Brown who rounded two defenders prior to crossing the ball into the Queen's Park goalmouth. The goalkeeper, George Gillespie, was unable to clear the ball which fell to Joe Sowerbutts who had only to apply the gentlest touch to help the ball between the posts. Shortly after, William Anderson thought he had scored for the Scots but the goal was disallowed for offside by referee Francis Marindin. Forrest then scored Blackburn's second goal – after the ball was partially cleared by Gillespie it fell to Joe Lofthouse who returned it into the goalmouth where Forrest was waiting to put the ball in the net. Forrest was almost certainly offside but, in the absence of an appeal by the Scots, Mandarin allowed the goal to stand. By half-time, Queen's Park had pulled a goal back through Christie. In the second half, both sides had goals disallowed for offside, but there was no further score, and Blackburn Rovers took the cup for the first time.
Forrest was aged 19 years and 277 days when he scored his first FA Cup final goal, making him the youngest FA Cup Final scorer at the time, a record he retained for 75 years, until Dicky Dorsett scored for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1939 FA Cup Final.
In the 1884–85 FA Cup, Blackburn again came through the early rounds without difficulty, with a victory over Rossendale (11–0) before meeting local rivals, Blackburn Olympic in the second round. Rovers won the derby match 3–2 in a tight game with a brace from Howard Fecitt and a third from Joe Sowerbutts. Rovers then easily went past Forrest's old club Witton (5–1) and Romford (8–0); a bye in round five saw them through to a sixth round meeting with West Bromwich Albion. This resulted in a 2–0 victory for the cup holders, who then met Old Carthusians in the semi-final, played on 7 March 1885. Rovers had little difficulty getting past the Old Boys 5–1 to set up a repeat of the previous year's final against Queen's Park, who had come through replayed matches against Notts County and Nottingham Forest in their last two rounds.