James Forrest

James was signed from local rivals Blackburn Rovers before the 1895/96 season, and one of the first games he played for the Salmoners was against the Rovers in a pre-season friendly at Barley Bank.
Despite the animosity that for years had existed between the clubs James was welcomed at Darwen and became a firm favourite at Barley Bank.
His signing was regarded as such a coup that he was carried around the town on the shoulders of excited Darwen fans. In football terms James was a "God" immortalised in football folklore for his feats with the Rovers which included winning five FA cup winners medals a record equalled but never beaten, James was one of five Rovers players that played in every game in the longest unbeaten run in the history of the FA cup, (24 games from 2-12-1882 to 27-11-1886) during this period Rovers won the FA cup three times.
James was a tape-sizer in the cotton trade, before becoming one of the first full time professional footballers, he had been a member of the Witton and Park road teams (Blackburn) before signing for the Rovers.
On the 29th March 1886 he became the first professional footballer to play for England, against Wales which England won 4-0 he played in a different style shirt to distinguish him from his team-mates. He was paid the sum of £1 for playing for England, which Rovers duly deducted from his wages! in total he played 11 times for England, one of which was the International against Ireland in Belfast on the 15th March 1890 which included five Rovers players, England won 9-1.
James played for Darwen for one season scoring one goal before retiring from the game. After his playing days James became the landlord of the County Arms on Darwen Street, Blackburn for many years. He later returned to the Rovers as an administrator becoming a director of the club in later years. James died in 1925 aged 62.

Acknowledgements for the history in this section are made to :  Darwen RBL -- who originally published this page in 2002