Morris Bates

Joseph Morris Bates ( * 1864 in Nottingham, † September 6, 1905 in Woolwich, London) was an English footballer and 1886, founding member of the " Dial Square Football Club ", the forerunner of today's world famous Arsenal.

Bates learned to play football in his hometown at Nottingham Forest and later moved to London to work together to compete there with his former teammate Fred Beardsley in the arms manufacturers Royal Arsenal a new job. Bates met on numerous football enthusiasts, including Jack Humble and David Danskin included; together they founded in 1886 the " Dial Square Football Club ", which was only a short time later renamed " Royal Arsenal " and today ( German: " Arsenal FC ") as the " Arsenal Football Club" is known. At the games of Nottingham Forest he continued to serve as an arbitrator (or more precisely as " umpire ", more than " arbitration " was used ) and concerned during one of these trips to Nottingham together with Fred Beardsley a set of red jerseys and therefore created the color scheme of the club that are still valid.

Overall, the first captain of the club played 73 games for Royal Arsenal, most of them as a defender. This also included on 5 October 1889, The first FA Cup match of the club against FC Lyndhurst. One of the strengths of the "Iron Man" was one especially the head and fell to his time by winning the Kent Senior Cup and the London Charity Cup in 1890, the first two titles in the club's history.

From the summer of 1890 Bates was no longer represented in the first team of Royal Arsenal and the age of 36, he finished his final career. In contrast to many other founding fathers, he did not get the club and rather he continued to work in the armaments factory, where he specialized in Maxim machine guns. At the age of only 41 Bates died of tuberculosis.