Robert Kay (footballer)
English footballer
Robert Kay was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played five games for Burnley in the first-ever season of the Football League.
Robert Kay signed for Burnley in 1884, just two years after the club was formed. Kay, playing in goal, made his League debut on 29 September 1888 at Stoney Lane, the then home of West Bromwich Albion. Burnley lost to the home team 4–3. Robert Kay appeared in five of the 22 League matches played by Burnley in season 1888–89. Kay, as a goalkeeper (five appearances), was part of a Burnley defence that restricted the opposition to one–League–goal–in–a–match once.
In 1889 he left Burnley to play for Burnley Union Star one season before the club joined the Lancashire League.
“Robert Kay (footballer)” enters the record as english footballer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Robert, footballer and English can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Robert Kay (footballer)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Robert, footballer and English provides the most credible route into that argument.
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 Jul 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7346273. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1884, 1888 and 1889.
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.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Robert Kay (footballer)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Robert Kay (footballer) primary sources, Robert Kay (footballer) archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Robert Kay (footballer)”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Robert Kay (footballer)” 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.