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Albert (Kelly) Houlker was born in Blackburn on 27th April 1872. He played local football for Blackburn Hornets and Park Road before signing for Blackburn Rovers in 1896.
Houlker joined the club at a time when it had an outstanding group of young players. This included Bob Crompton, Tom Booth, Sam McClure, Tommy Briercliffe, Arnie Whittaker and Fred Blackburn.
Blackburn Rovers had experienced a great deal of success under Tom Mitchell, Blackburn's club secretary/manager. However, in October, 1896, Mitchell resigned. His replacement was Joseph Walmsley, a local cotton mill manager. It seemed Blackburn missed Mitchell as they slumped to 14th place in the First Division of the Football League in the 1896-97 season.
In the 1897-98 season Blackburn Rovers finished second from bottom. Only a decision to increase the size of the First Division of the Football League to 18 clubs saved Blackburn from relegation. The following season saw a revival with the team finishing in a respectable 6th place.
Blackburn found itself in another relegation struggle in the 1899-1900 season. The club had to win one of its last two games against Notts County and Preston North End in order to avoid the drop to the Second Division. Blackburn lost to Preston but managed to beat Notts County 2-0.
The Blackburn Times criticized the performance of the Blackburn team arguing: "There can be no such thing as standing still in the football world as in many other things, and as the Rovers have not made headway they must have been going backwards. Alas, this is only too plain. The rovers of today are not the Rovers of yore, when their fame spread far and wide".
In 1902 Houlker won his first international cap for England. Playing at left-half he joined Bob Crompton in the team that drew with Scotland 2-2. Soon afterwards Houlker joined Portsmouth in the Southern League. In his six years at Blackburn Rovers he scored two goals in 121 games.
Houlker also played for England against Wales and Scotland in 1903. He moved to Southampton and in 1906 was recalled to the England team and played two more games for his country.
Houlker rejoining Blackburn Rovers for the 1906-07 season. However, now aged 34, he was passed his best and only managed 31 more games over the next two years.
Kelly Houlker died in 1962.
Playing career
Houlker was born in Blackburn and started his long playing career at Blackburn Hornets, progressing through a variety of local sides in his home-town (including Oswaldtwistle Rovers, Cob Wall and Park Road) before joining Blackburn Rovers in August 1894. He remained at Blackburn Rovers for eight seasons. His time at Blackburn Rovers was during a long lean period for the club. During the 1896–97 season they stayed in the First Division only as the result of a decision to increase the number of teams. The final years of the 19th century brought little success for Blackburn Rovers and several narrow escapes from relegation.
Houlker won his first England cap against Scotland two days before he left Rovers to join Southern League champions Portsmouth in May 1902. His second cap came against Wales on 2 March 1903 in the only international played at Fratton Park, Portsmouth followed by another cap against Scotland a month later.
Houlker then moved along the south coast to join newly crowned Southern League champions Southampton in May 1903. He remained at The Dell for three seasons, helping the Saints to retain the championship in 1903–04, playing alongside Bert Lee and Tommy Bowman.
Tenacious and strong, rather than clever, Houlker became very popular with the Southampton public and during his time at The Dell he also won two more England caps against Ireland and Wales in 1906.
In 1906 he intended to retire from professional football but was persuaded to rejoin Blackburn Rovers where he turned out regularly until finally retiring in 1907. Retirement didn't last long and he joined Colne in 1909.
During World War I he played for Blackburn Rovers in a wartime match when he was 45.
He was then working as an overseer at a mill, before running a coal and haulage business in Blackburn before retiring in 1947. He died in 1962, a month after his 90th birthday.
England v Scotland 2-2 (International: May 3, 1902)
May 3, 1902
International: British Championship, at Villa Park (Birmingham).
England – Scotland 2-2 (0-2).
Attendance: 15,400 gate receipts: £990.
Referee: Mr. James Torrans (Irish F.A.) linesmen: Messrs. J. Albert (Chatham) and R. Kirkwood (Scottish F.A.).
England (2-3-5): Billy George (Aston Villa), Bob Crompton (Blackburn Rovers), George Molyneux (Southampton), Albert Wilkes (Aston Villa), Frank Forman (Nottingham Forest), Albert “Kelly” Houlker (Blackburn Rovers), Billy Hogg (Sunderland), Steve Bloomer (Captain, Derby County), Billy Beats (Wolves), Jimmy Settle (Everton), John Cox (Liverpool).
Scotland (2-3-5): Henry Rennie (Hibernian), Nicol Smith (Glasgow Rangers), John Drummond (Glasgow Rangers), Andrew Aitken (Captain, Newcastle United), Alex Raisbeck (Liverpool), John Robertson (Glasgow Rangers), Bobby Templeton (Aston Villa), Robert Walker (Hearts), Robert McColl (Newcastle United), Ronald Orr (Newcastle United), Alex Smith (Glasgow Rangers).
The goals: 0-1 Templeton (3 min.), 0-2 Orr (28 min.), 1-2 Settle (65 min.), 2-2 Wilkes (67 min.).
Robert Walker (Scottish Referee: March 4, 1901). 
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All articles about Albert “Kelly” Houlker on PlayUpLiverpool.com. About Albert “Kelly” Houlker: Born: April 27, 1872: Blackburn (Lancashire). Passed away: May 27, 1962: Blackburn (Lancashire).
Wednesday, February 16 – 1910 Colne achieved another great success on their own enclosure on Saturday, defeating Liverpool Reserves by 7-2. Speakman was absent from
Might Southwest (finally) switch to assigned seats?
Southwest has occasionally studied changing another one of its quirks: open seating. Instead of assigning seats, the airline assigns numbered boarding positions in three groups based on the time of online check-in and other factors, including frequent flyer status, ticket type or the payment of an early boarding fee. Passengers are free to pick any open seat when they board.
One of the assigned-seating studies, which Jordan led, led to the creation of the current boarding system in 2007. "You spoke and we listened! Southwest Airlines says open seating is here to stay,'' the airline said in announcing the decision.
Jordan said "every single time'' time the airline has studied changing its seating policy customers "generally prefer open seating.''
He didn't rule out testing assigned seat again, putting it in the same camp as other potential changes ahead, including the addition of new international routes. Southwest doesn't serve Europe, for example, focusing its international service in the Caribbean and Mexico.
"If it was clear that the need (for assigned seating) was there, that this was essential to our product, we would absolutely look at that,'' Jordan said.
Kelly, who has previously acknowledged Southwest's open boarding turns off some potential customers and said the airline's new reservations system gives it the capability to assign seats, said at the moment, however: "There's no work on that.''
Kelly and Jordan said Southwest is still working on new products or services that will boost revenue, hush-hush efforts they regularly touted before the pandemic without providing any details.
On Wednesday, Kelly said the projects are still not ready for "prime time'' but said two of them fit well with the resurgence of leisure travel. Southwest, like most airlines, has added flights to several vacation destinations to cater to pandemic travel trends.
Kelly Houlker - History
In 1908 no less than thirteen of the top division's twenty clubs were defeated in the FA Cup by lower division opposition. A century later this figure remains a record number for a single season. Not surprisingly three of the four semi finalists were from outside the elite division and the cup itself was won by a second tier club.
First round: 11th January 1908
Scorers: Percy Humphreys, Bob Pollock Leicester Fosse team: Horace Bailey, Joe Blackett, Harry Thorpe, Billy Leech, Billy Bannister, Bob Pollock, Jimmy Durrant, Fred Shinton, Percy Humphries, Shirley Hubbard, Frank Middleton Blackburn Rovers team: Willie McIver, Bob Crompton, Jimmy Heywood, James Ferguson, Albert Walmsley, Albert 'Kelly' Houlker, Arnie Whittaker, Jimmy Robertson, Bill 'Tinker' Davies, Eddie Latheron, Billy Bradshaw 1908 marked the year when Leicester Fosse reached the big time as they secured promotion as second division runners up with a team made up largely of seasoned veterans, which included former England Internationals Billy Bannister and Percy Humphries as well as the former Wolves and Derby defender Joe Blackett and ex Stoke man Billy Leech. From the start Leicester were the quicker and more skillful side on the hard wet field and deservedly took the lead midway through the first period through Percy Humphreys. Blackburn's fate as a giant slain for the second consecutive season was assured when their England International defender Bob Crompton felled Shirley Hubbard to give Bob Pollock the chance to seal the victory from the spot. Fosse were themselves the victims of a more minor shock in the second round when they were knocked out at Portsmouth but that was quickly forgotten when promotion was secured for the first time in their history at the end of the season. However Blackburn would enjoy sweet revenge in April the following year when they easily won 4-2 at Filbert Street to help Leicester towards a speedy relegation and thus start the Foxe's reputation as a yo yo club. First round: 11th January 1908 Scorers: Cup fever reached Gillingham in Kent in late 1907 when an easy qualifying round victory over Shepherds Bush ensured that for the first time in history a top flight club would be visiting Priestfield for an F A cup tie. Sunderland were to be the prestigious visitors, a team full of star studded internationals, albeit performing well below their capabilities in the top flight this season. New Brompton however were also struggling badly in the Southern League and would ultimately finish bottom of the table, avoiding relegation only by virtue of the defection of other clubs to other leagues. The club's most famous representative was the manager Steve Smith, the former England International who had won five league titles and one FA cup in the colours of Aston Villa who, despite this result still parted company with the club at the end of the season. This game would prove to be Gillingham's, as the club would be later known, only giant killing act of the twentieth century and among those in attendance was one Charlie Westwick who, upon his centenary birthday in 1979 could recall the game seventy-one years earlier as if it were yesterday. charlie, who prized among his possessions the shirt worn by hat-trick hero Charlie McGibbon and a photograph showing him and other Brompton fans chairing their goalscorer from the field recalled the events of 1908 to his grandson Danny Westwick.
