Rigby, Jimmy

Birth Date

2nd November 1883

Birthplace

Bolton, Lancashire

Occupation

Half-Back

Biographical Text

Jimmy Rigby was a significant figure in the annals of Exeter City either side of World War One. Hailing from Bolton, and arriving from Accrington Stanley in 1911 to play in the Southern League for the Grecians, he played through until the suspension of football in 1915. Returning after the war he remained at St James’ Park for the first three seasons in the Football League between 1920 and 1923. He took part in the 1914 tour to Argentina and Brazil.

Jimmy started his career with St Mark’s Juniors in the Bolton Sunday School League before moving into senior football with Atherton Church House in the Lancashire Combination. Signing professional forms a division higher with Accrington Stanley in 1905, he continued to work as a cotton spinner in the textile industry and played in the Stanley side that won the Lancashire Combination and were finalists in the Lancashire Cup.

Catching the eye of his home town club, Jimmy joined Bolton Wanderers for the 1906/07 season where he mainly played for the reserves save for a first-team outing on 18 March 1907 in the goalless draw at Stockport County in the Manchester Cup. Noted as one of five reserves in that game, he quickly returned to second-team duties prior to leaving Burnden Park at the end of the campaign to return to Accrington Stanley for whom he was to spend a further four seasons without ever repeating the successes of his first spell with the club. With Stanley enjoying FA Cup encounters with the likes of Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Jimmy would also have been on the club's books at the time of the tie against Torquay Town in 1910/11.

Moving to Exeter City in the summer of 1911, Jimmy made his Southern League debut against Bristol Rovers in October 1911. This was to be the start of a long and successful stay with Exeter which included being a member of the squad that toured South America in 1914. He continued his playing career with the Grecians after the First World War so that, of his 217 league appearances for the club, the final sixty were in the Football League between 1920 and 1923. After being an ever-present in the league in 1912/13, he only missed four more league games before the suspension of football in 1915 with his final league appearance coming against Bristol City on 17 February 1923.

After retiring from football Jimmy continued to live in Exeter, and running a successful tobacconist business, became a director of Exeter City for many years.

Jimmy Rigby died in 1967.

[Additional information about Jimmy's early career supplied by Aidan Hamilton based on a profile in the Lancashire Daily Post 24/02/1906]