John Elvey

John Elvey, known also as Richard, or Dick, started playing football with Luton side Leagrave United before joining the Spartan League side Luton Clarence. In 1912 he was selected as a non-playing reserve for the Great Britain side at the Stockholm Olympics. In 1913 he moved to his home-town team Luton Town as an amateur before turning professional. Elvey spent seven years with Luton and occasionally turned out for Millwall during the War. A full-back and the Luton captain, he was uncapped but did play in two international trial matches in 1920 and then toured South Africa with the FA XI in the summer of 1920 and he played all three unofficial internationals against the South African national side. After the tour he was transferred to Bolton Wanderers for a then club record fee of £2,500 and made his début in the 3-2 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford on the opening day of the 1920-21 season. However, his Bolton career was restricted to just 11 matches over two seasons, largely through injury. As the partner in a Luton iron foundry with his brother at the time, he needed to spend a lot of time in the area and despite Bolton giving him permission to train locally and travel north for matches, it was not practicable and in September 1922 Wanderers took a loss on their investment and sold Elvey to Arsenal for £250. He played just one game for the Gunners, against Preston North End in January 1923 in what was his only season at Arsenal.