Joseph Morris Bates usually known as Morris Bates, was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

er.

Bates first played as an amateur for Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest F.C.

Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...

, before moving south to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to take up work at the Royal Arsenal

Royal Arsenal

The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, originally known as the Woolwich Warren, carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing and explosives research for the British armed forces. It was sited on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England.-Early history:The Warren...

 in Woolwich

Woolwich

Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...

 (along with former team-mate Fred Beardsley

Fred Beardsley

Frederick William Beardsley was an English footballer, chiefly associated with the foundation of Arsenal Football Club.Born at Nottingham, Beardsley started working in a government munitions factory. In his spare time he was a keen goalkeeper, and played for Nottingham Forest as an amateur...

). There, he met several other keen football fans, including Jack Humble

Jack Humble

John Wilkinson "Jack" Humble was an English football player and club director, who was one of the principal founders of Arsenal Football Club....

 and David Danskin

David Danskin

David Danskin was a Scottish mechanical engineer and footballer. He was a principal founding member of Dial Square FC, later renamed Royal Arsenal, the team that are today known as Arsenal....

, and together they formed Dial Square Football Club in 1886; the club were soon renamed Royal Arsenal, and are today known simply as Arsenal

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

. Bates continued to officiate as an umpire at some of Forest's games; with Fred Beardsley, he was responsible for obtaining a set of red kit from their old club Forest, giving Arsenal the colours they still wear.

Bates played 73 first-team matches for Royal Arsenal, mainly as a full-back, in the 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...

 (including the Gunners' very first FA Cup tie, against Lyndhurst

Lyndhurst F.C.

Lyndhurst F.C. is an English association football club based in Lyndhurst, near Southampton....

 on October 5, 1889) and various regional competitions. Bates went on to become Arsenal's captain and earned the nickname "The Iron Man", with a reputation for his powerful heading of the ball, in an era when footballs were far heavier and more dangerous to head than they are now. He skippered Arsenal to their first trophy wins – the Kent Senior Cup

Kent Senior Cup

The Kent Senior Cup is an English football competition played between senior clubs in the county of Kent. It is administered by the Kent County Football Association.-History:...

 and London Charity Cup

London Charity Cup

The London Charity Cup was one of the London Football Association's County Cups. The original trophy was donated by the Rt. Hon. Reginald Harrison. Former winners include Cheshunt , Wimbledon , among others. The competition was however discontinued in 1975.-External links:*...

 in 1890.

Bates was 36 by the time of the cup wins and decided he was getting too old for the game; he quit playing for the Royal Arsenal first team in the summer of 1890. Unlike Beardsley or Danskin, he did not maintain his association with the club after retiring, as no mention of him is made in subsequent records. He continued to work at the Royal Arsenal, specialising in Maxim gun

Maxim gun

The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".-Functionality:...

s, until his death from tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

at 41.