Thomas Midgley was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward. Born in the town of Burnley

Burnley

Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, he initially played rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 for the Burnley Rovers club before they changed codes to association football in May 1882 and changed their name to Burnley

Burnley F.C.

Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...

. He represented the club in many of the early friendly matches, but by the time the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 was formed in 1888, Midgley was nearing the end of his career as a footballer. Accordingly, he played only one league match for Burnley, playing at inside-right in the 3–4 defeat away at Stoke on 20 October 1888. Midgley left Burnley in 1889 and retired from professional sport.