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Jimmy Robertson (footballer, born 1885)

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Jimmy Robertson MM
Personal information
Full name James Robertson[1]
Date of birth (1885-03-15)15 March 1885[1]
Place of birth Alexandria, Scotland
Date of death 26 April 1968(1968-04-26) (aged 83)[1]
Place of death London, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Bonhill Union
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1903–1905 Vale of Leven
Distillery
1905–1908 Blackburn Rovers 78 (22)
1908–1909 Brighton & Hove Albion 23 (5)
1909–1911 Vale of Leven 33 (21)
1911–1919 Falkirk 160 (75)
1915 → Dunfermline Athletic (wartime)
→ Armadale (wartime)
→ Vale of Leven (wartime)
19??–1921 Dumbarton Harp
1921–1922 Dumbarton 30 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

James Robertson MM (15 March 1885 – 26 April 1968) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Blackburn Rovers, in the Scottish League for Vale of Leven, Falkirk and Dumbarton, and in the English Southern League for Brighton & Hove Albion.[2][3]

Life and career

[edit]

Robertson was born in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, in 1885.[1] He played juvenile football for the Bonhill Union club before signing for Vale of Leven in 1903. In the 1904–05 season, he scored in all but three of Vale's matches, and his goalscoring attracted attention from major clubs on both sides of the border, including Aston Villa and Rangers. In May 1905, he went to England to join Blackburn Rovers.[4] The additional £50 payable should Robertson play for Rovers' first team was soon forthcoming,[4] as he went on to score 22 goals from 78 Football League First Division matches over three seasons,[2] before moving on to the English Southern League with Brighton & Hove Albion. After a single season in which both he and his team struggled for form, he was one of several players released and he returned to Vale of Leven, by then a member of the Scottish League.[5]

He was appointed captain of Vale and returned to form, topping the Division Two scoring charts in 1909–10.[6] In February 1911, he was transferred to Division One club Falkirk:[6] Blackburn Rovers still held his league registration, and included it as a makeweight in their purchase of Jock Simpson.[7] Vale of Leven had hoped that Falkirk would not want the player and would immediately transfer him back to them, but that did not happen.[8] He went straight into Falkirk's team for the next match, against Clyde, and scored twice in a 4–1 win.[7] Thus he began a lengthy stay, interrupted by the First World War, in which he scored 75 goals from 160 Division One matches and was Falkirk's top scorer for each of his first four full seasons.[1]

In 1912–13, he played for the Home Scots against the Anglos in an international trial. The Glasgow Herald's reporter thought the "disappointing" match would be of little value to the selectors, in part because of a perceived lack of effort by some of the participants compared with that shown in a competitive fixture. Robertson hit the crossbar in the first half, the match finished goalless, and no call-up ensued.[1][9] That same season, he helped Falkirk reach the Cup Final, in which they faced Raith Rovers at Celtic Park. Despite the Courier's view that Robertson was "the least noticeable" of Falkirk's forwards, as [James] Logan "saw to it that the bulky centre did not get off the leash",[10] he was off it long enough to open the scoring after Jimmy Croal's shot was saved, and Tom Logan's second-half goal gave his team a 2–0 win and their first Scottish Cup.[11]

During the war, Robertson served as a sergeant in the Highland Light Infantry, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Military Medal.[12][13] He was able to play wartime football, when his military duties allowed, and turned out for teams including Dunfermline Athletic, Armadale and Vale of Leven. He played for Vale after the war, as well as for Dumbarton Harp, and had one last season in Division One with Dumbarton.[1][14]

Robertson died in London in 1968 at the age of 83.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "A whole new country". The Falkirk Historian. John Meffen. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 223. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  3. ^ John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ a b "Vale player for Blackburn Rovers". The Scottish Referee. Glasgow. 15 May 1905. p. 1.
  5. ^ Carder, Tim; Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-9521337-1-1.
  6. ^ a b "New player for Falkirk". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 17 February 1911. p. 11. Last night at Alexandria, Mr Nicol, manager of Falkirk Football Club, was successful in signing on James Robertson, the popular captain and centre-forward of the Vale of Leven football team. ... He is considered the best centre forward in Second League circles, and last year topped the Second League goal scorers' list. He has a splendid command of the ball, and is a deadly shot. He will play for Falkirk against Clyde at Falkirk on Saturday in the First League.
  7. ^ a b "James Robertson". The Scottish Referee. Glasgow. 20 February 1911. p. 1. James Robertson, Falkirk's new centre forward, comes to the Bairns in connection with Jocky Simpson's transfer to Blackburn Rovers. The Rovers, for whom Robertson played at one time, held his papers, and these have been thrown into the bargain, as the saying is, and Falkirk have thus gained an excellent man for the forward rank, and time may prove that besides replenishing their coffers handsomely through Simpson, they have also gained a most desirable player.
  8. ^ "Points from League games". Evening Telegraph. Dundee. 24 February 1911. p. 5.
  9. ^ "Trial match. Home Scots, 0; Anglo-Scots, 0". The Glasgow Herald. 19 March 1913. p. 15.
  10. ^ "How the players fared in the Scottish Cup Final". Dundee Courier. 14 April 1913. p. 6.
  11. ^ "Association Football. Falkirk, 2; Raith Rovers, 0. Scottish Cup—Final tie". The Glasgow Herald. 14 April 1913. p. 13.
  12. ^ "Well-known Scottish footballer receives French honour for gallantry". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 14 February 1918. p. 2. Mrs James Robertson, Mitchell Street, Alexandria, has received intimation that her husband, Sergeant James Robertson, Highland Light Infantry, has been awarded the Croix de Guerre (French medal) for gallantry in France. He is well known in Scottish League football, being the burly centre forward of the Falkirk team.
  13. ^ "Sergt. Jas. Robertson, M.M.". Daily Record. Glasgow. 12 December 1918. p. 10. Sergeant James Robertson, the Vale of Leven, Blackburn Rovers and Falkirk centre-forward, has added the Military Medal to the Croix de Guerre won by him some time ago. Jamie, who belongs to Alexandria, is in the H.L.I. One of the five brothers of Robertson, who joined early in the war, was killed in France.
  14. ^ "James Robertson – player profile". Dumbarton Football Club Historical Archive. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
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