Although only 25 when he arrived at Southern League Southampton, Jack Lewis had already played for three other clubs in that League and had had three seasons in the Football League’s Division II with Burton United. He had a special affinity for Bristol Rovers, in his third spell with whom he had collected a Southern League championship medal and was capped by Wales (v England in March 1906), when he became the first Rovers player to win international honours.

A clever little inside-forward who sometimes found his size a handicap against burly opponents,

he slotted in at inside-right, alongside Fred Harrison until November 1907, when Harrison departed for Fulham. He thereupon became one of six players tried at centre-forward in a vain bid to fill the gap left by Harrison. Amid all that chopping and changing, he contrived, in 24 Southern League appearances, to top-score without breaking into double figures. But then he was on his way, helping Croydon Common to win the Southern League’s Second Division, before having a final season at Burton United, by now out of the Football League and about to be disbanded.