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Archie Goodall

Irish footballer (1864-1929)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ4786692 ↗
Source-derived summary

Archibald Lee Goodall (3 January 1865 – 20 November 1929) was an Irish footballer who made 429 appearances in the Football League for Preston North End, Aston Villa, Derby County, Glossop and Wolverhampton Wanderers. He won 10 caps at full international level for Ireland. Goodall could play in the centre half and forward positions.

Goodall made 424 appearances and scored 52 goals (Football League & FA Cup) for Derby County. He also served as club captain and established a club record for consecutive league appearances. Goodall was employed regularly as a centre half and made great use of the shoulder charge. His stamina and shear physical presence also made him very effective in this position.

During his career Goodall also set three age records. He was the oldest player to score an international goal during the 19th century, the oldest player to score for Ireland and is the oldest player ever to play for Wolves. Goodall also proved to be a controversial character.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Archie Goodall” is irish footballer (1864-1929). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Archie, Goodall and Irish, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1865, 1929—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1864-06-19. For this dossier, Archie, Goodall and Irish is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “irish footballer (1864-1929)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4786692. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1865 and 1929.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Archie Goodall”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Archie Goodall primary sources, Archie Goodall archive and Archie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Archie Goodall”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Archie Goodall” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.