Eric Thornton

British-born Belgian footballer

Eric Thornton

Personal information

Full name

Eric Peter Hypolithe Thornton

Date of birth

(1882-07-05)5 July 1882

Place of birth

Worthing, England

Date of death

26 November 1945(1945-11-26) (aged 63)

Place of death

Brussels, Belgium

Position(s)

Forward, goalkeeper

Senior career*

Years

Team

Apps

(Gls)

1897–1907

Léopold FC

(25)

1907–1911

Beerschot AC

(0)

Total

112

(25)

International career

1905

Belgium

(0)

Medal record

Men's football

Representing Belgium
	1900 Paris	Team Competition

*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Eric Thornton (5 July 1882 – 26 November 1945) was a footballer who competed in the 1900 Olympic Games, where he won a bronze medal as a member of a mixed team representing Belgium that was mostly made up of students from the Université de Bruxelles.^[1] Born in England, he represented the Belgium national team in two official matches in 1905.^[2]

Biography

Although born in England and possibly an English national in 1900, Thornton became a resident in Brussels for unclear reasons and joined the city's Léopold FC as a forward in 1897, but later turned to goalkeeping and in 1907, he moved to Beerschot AC.^[1]^[3]

At the time of the 1900 Olympics in Paris, Thornton was still a forward at Léopold and was studying at the Université de Bruxelles, and like many other students of that university, he was selected to represent Belgium in the football tournament of the Olympics,^[1] featuring in the team's only games at the tournament against Club Français, which ended in a 2–6 loss.^[4]

Despite being a British citizen, Thornton has the distinction of having played two official matches with the Belgium national team, both in 1905, and both against the Netherlands, conceding a total of eight goals in 1–4 and 0–4 losses.^[1]^[2]^[5] In-between these two matches, Thornton was also selected to play against France in Brussels on 7 May, but the French protested against Belgium fielding an English goalkeeper, which delayed the match for one hour since Belgium had to get another goalkeeper, Robert Hustin of Racing Club de Bruxelles.^[6]

Thornton ended his footballing career in 1911 to concentrate on his ship brokering business.^[1] He died in Antwerp on 26 November 1945, at the age of 63.^[1]

Honours

International

Université de Bruxelles

Summer Olympics:
- Bronze medal (1): 1900

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Eric Thornton". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Eric Thornton, international footballer". eu-football.info. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
^ "Eric Thornton". www.mondefootball.fr. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
^ "Games of the II. Olympiad". RSSSF. 12 May 2022. Archived from the original on 9 July 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
^ "Eric Thornton - Duels en doelpunten tegen het Nederlands elftal in 1905" [Eric Thornton - Duels and goals against the Dutch national team in 1905]. www.voetbalstats.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 February 2024.
^ "Curious facts about full internationals and national players (1905)". www.iffhs.com. 2 February 2019. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 3 February 2024.