John Robert Bainbridge was a professional footballer who played as a forward for three Southern League

Southern Football League

The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

 clubs between 1903 and 1910.

Bainbridge started his footballing career in the North East with Silksworth and Sunderland Royal Rovers, before turning professional with Glossop

Glossop North End A.F.C.

Glossop North End A.F.C. are an English football club based in Glossop, Derbyshire. Former members of the Football League, they are currently in the North West Counties League and are members of the Derbyshire County Football Association. They play their home matches at Surrey Street, which has a...

 in May 1903.

In the summer of 1904 he moved South to join Reading

Reading F.C.

Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...

 where he spent two seasons before joining Portsmouth

Portsmouth F.C.

Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

 in 1906. After a season at Portsmouth, he moved along the South coast to join Southampton

Southampton F.C.

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

 in May 1907.

According to Holley & Chalk's The Alphabet of the Saints, Bainbridge was "a reliable performer. His right-wing partnership with Frank Jefferis

Frank Jefferis

Frank Jefferis was a football player.-Playing career:He initially played football for his local non-league team, Fordingbridge Turks, before being invited for a trial at The Dell by Southampton of the Southern League in March 1905...

 drew favourable comparisons with the famed duo of Wood

Harry Wood (footballer)

Harry Wood was a professional footballer who played most of his career as an inside-forward for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton.-Wolverhampton Wanderers:...

 and Turner seven years earlier".

In Saints' FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 run in 1908, in which they reached the semi-finals, he scored 4 goals in 6 games. Ill health ended his career at The Dell

The Dell (Southampton F.C.)

The Dell in Milton Road, Southampton, England was the home ground of Southampton Football Club, between 1898 and 2001.-New stadium:Since 1896, Southampton had been tenants of Hampshire County Cricket Club at the County Ground, having vacated the Antelope Ground in the summer of 1896...

 and he returned to his native North-East where, after playing briefly for Hartlepools United, he returned to his original occupation as coal-miner.