While at Denstone College, Arthur Berry captained the rugby team but when he went up to Wadham College, Oxford, he devoted his attentions to soccer and met with immediate success. He won his blue in 1908 and 1909, represented England in the full international against Ireland in 1909 and played on the right-wing for his country in 32 amateur internationals between 1908 and 1913. Berry was one of the most brilliant amateurs of his day and a contemporary described his direct style as “a complete art without tinsel or gaudiness”. On leaving Oxford, Berry entered Gray’s Inn and retired from football when he was Called to the Bar in 1913. He was commissioned into the Liverpool Regiment in 1916 and served as Adjutant of the Lancashire Fusiliers before leaving the Army in 1919. After the war, he settled in Liverpool and joined the family law firm which was headed by his father Edwin, a director of Liverpool FC and Chairman of the club from 1908 to 1909. At the time of the 1908 Olympics Berry was still at Oxford University, but he later played for Northern Nomads, Liverpool, Fulham, Everton and Wrexham and was a member of the Oxford City team which reached the FA Amateur Cup final in 1913. After playing in the opening match against Hungary in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Berry was replaced by Edward Wright for the semi-final against Finland but he regained his place for the final to become, with Vivian Woodward, one of two British players to be on the winning team at both the 1908 and 1912 Olympics.
Great Britain