Jesse Pennington was an English football player in the early part of the 20th century. He was nicknamed "Peerless Pennington". Born in West Bromwich, Pennington was a left-back for West Bromwich Albion for 19 years, from March 1903 to May 1922. Although his career was interrupted by World War I, Pennington made 455 league appearances for the club, captaining them to the league title in 1919–1920. He had also been a part of the team promoted from the Second Division in 1911 and had received an FA Cup runners-up medal in 1912. During World War I, with regular league play suspended, Pennington was employed in Coventry to work in a munitions factory. While in the city he made a number of guest appearances for Coventry City in the 1918–19 Football League Midland Section, a temporary wartime division operating while the main league was suspended. On the international front, Pennington earned 25 caps for England between 18 March 1907and 10April 1920, captaining the side in his last two matches. At the time of his final cap he was, at 36 years and 231 days, England's oldest capped outfield player. This record has since been exceeded by Stanley Matthews, Leslie Compton and Stuart Pearce. After retiring, he worked as a scout for West Bromwich Albion from 1950 to 1960 and was made a life member of the club in 1969, a year before he died in Kidderminster. Pennington was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations in 2004. Until the shop was bought by the Co-operative in 1934, Pennington also owned a fishing tackle shop at 33 Smethwick High Street, where his family had lived since 1911.
The Bioletti scandal
In 1913, Pennington was approached by Pascoe Bioletti who offered £5 per player for Albion corruptly to endeavour not to win their forthcoming game against Everton on 29 November. Pascoe's son, William Alfred Bioletti, was operator of a football betting business in Geneva. Pennington alerted the police and after the game, which ended in a draw, he met Bioletti, ostensibly for the payoff, at which point the police moved in to arrest Bioletti. Bioletti was sentenced to 5 months' imprisonment in 1914.
