* 1900's England GB captain Baines Chelsea Vivian Woodward RAREST card - WON x2 Olympic soccer Golds

The world's soccer cup before The World Cup. He won it two times: 1908 and 1912, captaining Great Britain.

A Baines card of the man with 29 goals in 23 matches for England, including one in the Olympic Games soccer final in 1908.

His tally remained a record from 1911 to 1958, and he still has the 2nd highest goals to match ratio for an England player!

This is the only one of these cards known. It's a plain-back, so-called "error" Baines card.

In his day, many said he was greater than G O Smith. Well, he was certainly Smith's equal.

While Smith's family wealth bought his place in college, and played a large part in Smith's position in sport in those days, in the 1890's when only the wealthy or star athletes could afford to play, Woodward and other greats would have been sidelined due to money shortage. Thankfully by the 1900s, Woofward's time, things had changed for the better and he captained his country to the then world soccer championships of the time, winning 2 gold medals at the 1908 and 1912 Olympic Games: 1908 in London and 1912 in Stockholm.

Woodward's tally of 29 goals in 23 matches for England remained a record until 1958; his strike rate of 1.26 goals per game is the second highest ever for an England player!

He served in the British Army during the First World War, and as a result missed out on Chelsea's run to their first-ever FA Cup final in 1915.

His wartime injuries caused his retirement from football. He then served on Chelsea's Board between 1922 and 1930, as a director.

So, Woodward was a 2x soccer "world soccer cup" winner before The World Cup! That's what the Olympic Games Soccer Tournaments were. They were the only fully international world event for soccer, until 1930. He captained the winning side, Great Britain, in 2 of them! How many other England or British captains come close? Bobby Moore did 1966. Woodward did 1908 and 1912!

The card says ENGLAND but Baines notably added the GREAT BRITAIN coat of arms - that's the GB heraldic shield, the UK of GB with the Irish harp, Scottish Lion etc , not the England 3 Lions shield.

Worth saying again: record goal scorer, he WON 2 OLYMPIC GAMES SOCCER GOLD MEDALS in 1908 and 1912, so Vivian Woodward is a two-time world soccer champion winning captain. Not only the Captain of 2-times Gold Medal-winning GB, he was also captain of England and Chelsea.

Original plain (error) back J. Baines card. Some handling marks and light faults but this must be the rarest and the most desirable card of Woodward in the world!