# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/sam-weller-widdowson
# Generated: 2026-08-14T05:05:38.801Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/sam-weller-widdowson"
name: "Sam Weller Widdowson"
slug: "sam-weller-widdowson"
description: "Sam Weller Widdowson was an English sportsman of the Victorian era. He played cricket for Nottinghamshire and association football for Nottingham Forest and also played once for the England national football team, against Scotland in 1880. Widdowson is also credited with inventing football shin pads in 1874 when he cut down a pair of cricket pads and strapped them outside his stockings. Initially, the concept was ridiculed but it soon caught on with other players, and shin pads are now required by the Laws of the Game. He later became a football referee and was in charge of the first ever match in which goal nets were used. He was Nottingham Forest chairman from 1879 to 1884."
tagline: "English sportsman (1851-1927)"
image: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/SWWiddowson.jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Athletes"
  slug: "athletes"
profileType:
  name: "Athlete"
  slug: "athlete"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2066131"
birthDate: "1851-04-16"
deathDate: "1927-05-09"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           39.28
  momentum:             1.621621621621621
  historical:           5.673218666666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     35
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Weller_Widdowson"
    title: "Sam Weller Widdowson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Weller_Widdowson"
    title: "Sam Weller Widdowson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Widdowson"
    title: "Samuel Widdowson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B4%D0%BE%D1%83%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD%2C_%D0%A1%D1%8D%D0%BC"
    title: "Уиддоусон, Сэм"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A6%D9%84_%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "ساموئل ویدوسون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Widdowson"
    title: "Samuel Widdowson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2218978"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump