Alf Bishop came to Southampton’s attention while playing for the Royal Air Force in 1923. He figured in a Reserve friendly but his engagements prevented him from signing until after his discharge in 1926. Alf enjoyed a seven-match run at inside-forward at the start of the 1926-27 season, but the emergence of Dick Rowley then relegated him to the Reserves. This was not what he had come for and, in January 1927, his contract was canceled.

Apart from a brief return to League football with Barrow, he became a non-league itinerant. Working for Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) on retirement, he was called up early in the War and served as an aircraft gunner in France before Dunkirk. He was given a compassionate discharge when his wife became terminally ill. She died aged 35 and, four years later, Alf died of TB, aged 41.