For nearly ten years Reg Wilkinson’s name was one of the first to be entered on Albion manager Charlie Webb’ team-sheets. The polished half-back from Norwich made 396 appearances for the club, the eighth-best total ever, and once appeared in 115 consecutive games, a considerable achievement.
Reg had started out with his local club, Norwich City, upon the completion of wartime duties with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in 1919. In August 1920 he was in the “Canaries'” first-ever Football League line-up, and gained a reputation as a stylish, attacking wing-half over the next three seasons, playing in 102 Third Division (South) matches.
First Division Sunderland paid £250 for his transfer in June 1923, but he struggled to make the first team at Roker Park and spent most of the 1923-24 season in the reserves before coming to Hove in August 1924.
Starting out as a reserve at the Goldstone, Reg got his chance in December when Billy McAllister lost favour. After initially vying for the vacant right-half berth with Sid Bedford, he made the role his own and remained there until May the age 35.
On leaving the Albion, Reg returned to Norfolk to work for the Norwich Electricity Works and turned out as a player for their football team for some ten years.