Alf Littlehales had graduated from Shropshire football to join two founder-members of the Football League: Wolves and Stoke, in turn. While he never managed to play League football for either club,

he was a member of the Stoke team that came to Southampton in 1893 to beat St Mary’s 8-0 in a friendly.

Along with two team-mates – Charlie Baker and Lachie Thomson – Alf signed for the Saints in time to play in their inaugural Southern League match in 1894.

Over the next three seasons, he featured in every FA Cup match – always at centre-half – and missed only four League games. Extremely popular with the fans he was presented with an engraved pocket watch by his admirers in Jan 1896, but then, having played in the opening match of the 1897-98 season, his Southern League days were over, mainly because of the arrival and then form of Arthur Chadwick..

Awarded a benefit match against Eastleigh in January 1898, he retired soon after. He settled in Southampton, becoming a school caretaker in the Bevois Town area. His team-mates nicknamed him “Dan Leno”  after alleging the pair of them had similar looks, which if the cigarette card of the music hall comedian is anything to go by was taking dressing-room banter to a slightly unfair level.