A teenage Royal Navy player based in Portsmouth, Robert Porter was a regular left-back for Southampton’s Reserves during the 1913-14 season. He had a couple of games in the Southern Alliance but, with the outbreak of war, his naval duties took him away. Serving on the HMS Glasgow (below) between January 1916 to Dec 1918, he managed half-a-dozen war-time games for the Saints.

As the War ended in November 1918, he joined Pompey and had a few games in the final season of those “unofficial” competitions. Before peace-time football was resumed in 1919, however, he had quit the game. And he left the navy in 1926, to become a merchant seaman, working for Cunard, who were rebuilding their fleet, following such heavy losses in the War. Robert served on the luxury liner, RMS Scythia, the first ship in the new fleet.