{{short description|English footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{use British English|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Arthur Gale | image = | image_size = | caption = | fullname = Arthur Reuben Gale<ref name=Joyce/> | birth_date = {{birth date|1904|11|16|df=y}}<ref name=Joyce/> | birth_place = Salford, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1976|5|13|1904|11|16|df=y}}<ref name=DeathDetails/> | death_place = Ashton upon Mersey, England | height = 5 ft 9+1/2 in<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-dispatch-football-preview-page-iv/134275291/ |title=West Bromwich Albion. Directors rely on reserves |newspaper=Sunday Dispatch Football Guide |location=London |date=23 August 1936 |page=iv |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> | position = Centre forward | youthyears1 = |youthclubs1 = South Salford Lads' Club | years1 = |clubs1 = Sedgley Park (Prestwich) | years2 = 1925–1930 |clubs2 = Bury | caps2 = 39 | goals2 = 5 | years3 = 1930–1931 |clubs3 = Chester | caps3 = 39 | goals3 = 73 | years4 = 1931–1936 |clubs4 = West Bromwich Albion | caps4 = 23 | goals4 = 18 | years5 = 1936–1938 |clubs5 = Chester | caps5 = 35 | goals5 = 16 | years6 = 1938–1939 |clubs6 = Macclesfield Town | caps6 = 29 | goals6 = 12 | years7 = 1939 |clubs7 = Accrington Stanley | caps7 = 0 | goals7 = 0 | years8 = 1939–194? |clubs8 = Altrincham }} '''Arthur Reuben Gale''' (16 November 1904 – 13 July 1976) was an English footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Bury, West Bromwich Albion, Chester and Accrington Stanley.<ref name=Joyce>{{cite book |last=Joyce |first=Michael |title=Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939 |publisher=SoccerData |location=Nottingham |date=2004 |page=227 |isbn=978-1-899468-67-6}}</ref>
==Life and career== Gale was born in 1904 in Salford.<ref name=Rowley/> He played football for South Salford Lads' Club and Sedgley Park, from where he signed for First Division club Bury. He made his debut in 1926, but played infrequently for the first team{{snd}}39 appearances spread over five seasons of which two-thirds were in 1928–29{{snd}}and spent the 1930–31 season at Chester. In that season Gale scored more than 100 goals, of which no fewer than 73 came in Cheshire League matches.<ref name=Rowley/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chester-city.co.uk/century_of_football.asp |title=A century of football |first=Chas |last=Sumner |website=chester-city.co.uk |publisher=Steve Mansley |access-date=9 May 2024}}</ref> Chester were elected to the Football League for the 1931–32 season, and were willing to pay Bury the £400 asking price, but he was sold instead to First Division club West Bromwich Albion, who as part of the deal allowed their player Frank Cresswell to rejoin Chester.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chester signings |newspaper=Lancashire Evening Post |date=10 June 1931 |page=9 |quote=Chester have decided to pay the necessary fee for Arthur Gale, who is on Bury's transfer list for £400.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Albion–Chester change |newspaper=Birmingham Daily Gazette |date=22 June 1931 |page=9}}</ref>
He remained a fringe player at West Bromwich Albion, and the club encouraged him to continue in his chosen profession, as a schoolteacher in the Manchester area.<ref>{{cite news |title=Arthur Gale |newspaper=Sports Argus |location=Birmingham |date=2 April 1932 |page=1}}</ref> He did however play a major role in their progress to the 1935 FA Cup Final.<ref name=Rowley/> He came into the team in place of the injured Tommy Glidden, and scored in each round from third to sixth, but was dropped in favour of Glidden and the previously injured Joe Carter for the final against Sheffield Wednesday. Carter was injured early on,{{efn|Tony Matthews' 1987 ''Albion! A Complete Record of West Bromwich Albion 1879–1987'' mistakenly suggests that it was Glidden who was injured.<ref>{{cite book |title=Albion! A Complete Record of West Bromwich Albion 1879–1987 |first=Tony |last=Matthews |publisher=Breedon Books |location=Derby |date=1987 |page=263 |isbn=0-907969-23-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/albioncompletere0000matt/page/262/mode/2up?q=gale |url-access=registration |via=Archive.org}}</ref>}} so Albion played much of the match with effectively ten men, and lost 4–2.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wba.co.uk/news/2015/december/stars-in-stripes-193435/ |title=Stars in stripes: 1934/35 |publisher=West Bromwich Albion F.C. |date=7 December 2015 |access-date=4 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504225539/https://www.wba.co.uk/news/2015/december/stars-in-stripes-193435/ |archive-date=4 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=West Bromwich Albion The First Hundred Years |first=G. A. |last=Willmore |publisher=Robert Hale |location=London |date=1979 |pages=102–103 |isbn=0-7091-7865-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/westbromwichalbi0000will/page/102/mode/2up?q=gale&view=theater |url-access=registration |via=Archive.org}}</ref> In light of the circumstances, the Football Association agreed to award Gale a losers' medal.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-mirror-arthur-gale-1935-fa-cup-fi/146914306/ |title=Life in the old lion yet. Gale gets consolation |author=Rolling Stone |newspaper=Sunday Pictorial |location=London |date=21 July 1935 |page=37 |quote=This is no precedent. The F.A. has acted in a similarly thoughtful manner on previous worthy occasions. |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> After five and a half seasons during which he made 23 league appearances and scored 18 league goals, he returned to Chester.<ref name=Joyce/><ref name=Silkmen>{{cite web |url=http://www.silkmenarchives.org.uk/manager_and_player_profiles/manager_and_player_profiles/g.html |title=Manager and player profiles: G |website=The Silkmen Archives |publisher=Geoffrey Knights and Macclesfield Town FC |access-date=9 May 2024}}</ref>
Less prolific and less of a regular in the side than before, Gale still produced 16 goals from 35 matches in the Third Division North{{snd}}11 from 16 in the 1937–38 season{{snd}}before moving back to the Cheshire League with Macclesfield in October 1938. He finished as their top scorer for 1938–39,<ref name=Silkmen/> and earned himself a return to the Football League with Accrington Stanley,<ref name=Rowley/> but did not play a league game before competitive football was abandoned for the duration of the war.<ref name=Joyce/> He played and scored in the wartime competitions for Altrincham, and went on to act as the club's reserve team manager, first-team coach, assistant first-team manager and scout.<ref name=Rowley>{{cite web |url=http://www.lusoweb.co.uk/legend30.htm |title=Alty Legends section 28 |first=Terry |last=Rowley |publisher=Altrincham F.C. |accessdate=1 May 2018}}</ref>
Gale became head of Lower Kersal Council School in Salford, where one of his pupils was the mountaineer Don Whillans.<ref name=Rowley/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rT19_3nVBt4C&pg=PA24 |title=The Villain: The Life of Don Whillans |first=Jim |last=Perrin |page=24 |publisher=Arrow Books |location=London |date=2006 |isbn=978-0099416722}}</ref> Gale died on 13 May 1976 at his home in Ashton upon Mersey, Greater Manchester, at the age of 71.<ref name=DeathDetails>{{cite web |url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?scan=1&r=257006375:3346&d=bmd_1713787724 |title=Index entry |website=FreeBMD |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=9 May 2024}}<br />{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/manchester-evening-news-arthur-gale-deat/146924302/ |title='Goal ace Gale' dies aged 72 |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |date=14 May 1976 |page=22 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>{{efn|Although the newspaper headline gave his age at death as 72, the vital dates make him 71.}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gale, Arthur}} Category:1904 births Category:1976 deaths Category:Footballers from Salford Category:English men's footballers Category:Men's association football forwards Category:Bury F.C. players Category:Chester City F.C. players Category:West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Category:Macclesfield Town F.C. players Category:Accrington Stanley F.C. (1891) players Category:Altrincham F.C. players Category:English Football League players Category:20th-century English sportsmen