Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough.

The anthem "Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played at every Derby home game and there is a bust of him at the Pride Park Stadium.

In 535 First Division games he scored 314 goals and, after Jimmy Greaves, he is the second-highest all-time goalscorer in the top-flight of English football.

The highlight of his coaching career came in 1924 when he guided Real Unión to victory in the Copa del Rey.

[17] He chose to retain his amateur status because he wanted to help out his team Derby Swifts in their shield competition.

[note 1] An administrative error by Derby secretary William Parker meant that Ernest Hickinbottom, Jimmy McLachlan and Samuel Mills were ineligible for the opening game of the 1892–93 season against Stoke at the Victoria Ground, and Bloomer was a surprise late addition to the first eleven.

Hickinbottom, McLachlan and Mills had been registered a day too late and so they could not play unless by special permission, which could not be granted in time.

[note 2] He remained a key member of the first team, and was also given penalty taking duties, and finished the campaign with 11 goals from 28 matches.

[30] He missed seven games of the 1893–94 season after Leicester Fosse half-back Peggy Lord broke his collarbone on 10 February.

[32] Notts County were leading 1–0 with seven minutes to go, but goals from Goodall and Bloomer gave Derby the win.

[33] Derby finished the season in second-place behind Aston Villa and exited the FA Cup at the semi-finals after losing 2–1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

On 3 September 1900 Bloomer scored the first-ever goal at The Hawthorns, the 1–1 draw against West Bromwich Albion being the first match played at the ground.

[38][32] The Sporting Life viewed Bloomer as being the best forward on the field for England in this game with Billy Bassett coming a close second.

He netted 19 times during these games, including 5 goals against Wales on 16 March 1896,[40] winning three British Home Championships.

He became England's all-time top goalscorer on 2 April 1898, when he surpassed Tinsley Lindley's total of 14 with two goals against Scotland.

[43] On 5 August 1914, Steve Bloomer, anxious to leave Germany, went to the British Consul office in Berlin.

Along with about a dozen others, he was marched through the streets of Berlin for about a quarter of a mile to the Alexander Platz, accompanied by a guard with revolvers and swords.

Bloomer was given a slip of paper with his name and description, and told to report to the police at periodic intervals.

Others included his former England colleague Sam Wolstenholme; his former Middlesbrough teammate Fred Pentland; a Scotland international, John Cameron; John Brearley, once of Everton and Tottenham Hotspur; and a German international, Edwin Dutton, who had previously played for Britannia Berlin 92.

The Ruhleben Football Association was formed and cup and league competitions were organised with as many as 1,000 attending the bigger games.

He returned to England on 22 November 1918,[46] and became player-coach of the Derby County reserve team, retiring from playing in January 1920.

Between May and August 1922, he was in Montréal, Canada coaching the Grenadier Guards football team during their close season.

After finishing coaching Real Union, Bloomer returned to England and to Derby where he worked the rest of his life as a groundsman and general assistant at the Baseball Ground.

The Vulcan team contained many members of the old Derby Baseball Club which had disbanded in 1890, but had reformed again later in that same year.

It contained, with Bloomer and among others, players who were or had been, members of Derby County football team up to that date: Enos Bromage, Hugh McQueen, Jonathan Staley, John Goodall, and Jimmy Methven.

[52] On 17 January 2009, after a long and sustained period of campaigning, a bust of Bloomer was finally unveiled inside Pride Park, Derby.

[63] He remains a legend at Derby County and the club anthem, "Steve Bloomer's Watchin'", is played and sang before every home game.

[51] In recognition of his contribution to both clubs, Real Unión and Derby County met to contest the Steve Bloomer Trophy in a friendly match in Irun on 3 October 2017, in what is intended to become an annual fixture.

[65][66] It reads: Steve Bloomer 1874-1938 Footballer Played for Derby County FC (1892-1914) and capped 23 times for his Country