article: But you might take a second glance when you notice that the footballer in question isn't playing in 2011, but in 1911. Leigh Richmond Roose was born in Holt near Wrexham on 27 November 1877, and died during the Battle of The Somme, aged 38, in October 1916. His biographer calls him a "forgotten hero" and the game's "first superstar". Roose started his amateur career at Aberystwyth Town in 1895, while studying medicine at the university there. But within two seasons Roose became famous throughout Wales, both for his keeping, and his crowd-pleasing antics. He would turn his back on play to tell jokes to the fans, and perform gymnastics from the goal crossbar while the ball was at the other end of the field. By 1900, he'd led Aberystwyth to the Welsh Cup, and earned an international call-up It also brought him to the attention of English First Division clubs, seeing him play for Stoke City, Everton, Sunderland, Celtic, Aston Villa and Woolwich Arsenal. His biographer, Spencer Vignes, explained the Football Association was even forced to change the rules of the game because of him. "Leigh revolutionised the way the game was played in England. Before Leigh, goalkeepers were just shot-stoppers, if they came off their line they had no protection from being punched, shoulder-charged and trampled by the forwards, in a game which was vastly more physical than today. "Usually they were too terrified to come out of their goal, even though - in those days - they were allowed to handle the ball anywhere in their own half of the field." "But Leigh was such a physical specimen that he could take on the forwards at their own game. "He'd flatten the striker, catch the ball, and carry play up field like a rugby fullback does today. So in 1912, at the end of his career, the rules were changed so that keepers could only handle the ball inside the penalty area." Practical jokes But Mr Vignes said the FA was not a fan of Roose. "They hated him every bit as much as the fans loved him. He insisted on staying amateur, playing practical jokes and larking around at a time when the FA were trying to portray football as a serious professional sport." "Leigh was also a bit of a London socialite, and made as many headlines off the field as on it; something else which didn't go down too well with the FA" In 1909 the FA launched an investigation into the expenses Roose, as an amateur, was claiming from his then club, Sunderland. As an amateur, he could not be paid for playing, but received more in expenses than his team-mates earned professionally. According to Mr Vignes, the FA's concerns weren't entirely unmerited. When Roose missed his train from Euston for a 1906 Stoke match away to Aston Villa, he hired his own locomotive and carriage, and sent the £31 bill to his club; this at a time when a miner would earn around £1, three shillings a week. Yet Roose's clubs considered it money
summary: You could be forgiven for skipping over yet another article talking about a talented international goalkeeper who courts the cameras, dates the trendiest singers, lands himself in hot water through his bad behaviour and gets big money.