Footballsup Heroes: Number 1: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This is the first in our ‘Heroes’ series, where we profile someone we like/respect/worship/adore. Each will be – sometimes tenuously – linked to football…

Number 1: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur’s talents extended well beyond the written word. He was a doctor, a scientist, an inventor, a politician – and a hugely talented sportsman.

Doyle was a highly skilled cricketer, with a first class best of 43 with the bat – he also famously captured the wicket of WG Grace, possibly the greatest English cricketer to ever play the game – see the scorecard here. ACD was also a fine golfer (counting Rudyard Kipling amongst his playing partners), a powerful boxer, a keen motorist (a pioneer in Britain) and a gifted rugby player – he also played billiards. Furthermore, he was responsible for the introduction of cross country skiing to Switzerland! Read more about his sporting exploits here.

And the true relevance… Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a fine goalkeeper, and founder member of Portsmouth Association Football Club. They were a forerunner to the Portsmouth we know today. Doyle played under the moniker ‘A C Smith’, probably because football was not considered a gentleman’s game in those days.

Off the pitch, Doyle was hugely loyal – although falling in love with his second wife years before, while still in his first marriage, he maintained an entirely platonic relationship with her through honour to the mother of his children. It was only upon his wife’s death that he married his true love. He was also loyal to his country, forming a local voluntary force at the outbreak of WW1.

ACD had possibly the coolest best friend ever; Harry Houdini, the world famous American escapologist. It was because Doyle refused to believe that there was not anything supernatural about Houdini’s escapades that the two eventually became divided – so he believed in magic, too! He was an agnostic, relatively uncommon at the time, but later devoted himself to spiritualism.

Most famous in print, Doyle was far from one dimensional there; he wrote plays, poetry, novels, non-fiction, political manifestos, philosophical missives, and romance. Sherlock Holmes was his most notable achievement however – the fifty six short stories and four novels have been syndicated and translated all across the world. Baker St is now most famous as the home of his fictional character, and the image of Sherlock Holmes adorns the walls of the tube station. There are pubs, guest houses, cafes and museums across the tourist hotspot; a fantastic legacy, to take over an area of London with your storybook creation.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – for your literary achievements, for your influence on a hugely popular part of London, for your character, for your sporting legerdemain, but most of all for the fact you were the David James of your day – you are our hero.