Alex Craig (footballer)
.png) Craig with Ireland in 1914 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander Breckenridge Craig | ||
| Date of birth | 2 April 1886 | ||
| Place of birth | Galway, Ireland | ||
| Date of death | 16 February 1951 (aged 64) | ||
| Place of death | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Position(s) | Full-back | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Rutherglen Glencairn | |||
| 1905–1912 | Rangers | 102 | (0) |
| 1911–1912 | → Morton (loan) | 28 | (0) |
| 1912–1914 | Morton | 52 | (1) |
| 1914–1916 | Rangers | 42 | (0) |
| Johnstone | |||
| International career | |||
| 1908–1914 | Ireland[1] | 9 | (0) |
| 1915[2] | SFL XI (wartime) | 1 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Alexander Breckenridge Craig (born 2 April 1886 – 16 February 1951) was a footballer who played for Rangers, Greenock Morton and Ireland as a left back.[3]
He is one of only four players born in what is now the Republic of Ireland to play for Rangers; the others were Alex Stevenson, Jon Daly and James Lowry McAuley.
Career
[edit]Club
[edit]Galway-born Craig had moved to Scotland with his family by the time of the 1891 United Kingdom Census, residing in the Hutchesontown district of Glasgow.[4] He joined Rangers from junior side Rutherglen Glencairn in January 1905. His initial seasons at Ibrox Park coincided with a rare lean spell for the club, and he left without a single major winner's medal.[5] The closest he came was in 1905 when Rangers lost a replayed Scottish Cup final 3–1 to Third Lanark. In his last season, 1910–11, Rangers did win the league title, but Craig made just a single appearance and so was not entitled to a medal.[6]
By the time of his move to Greenock Morton, Craig was proving his versatility by slotting in regularly on the left-hand side of defence. In May 1914 he returned to Rangers, making his second debut in a Glasgow Charity Cup Final defeat by Celtic. He was a regular in the Gers side for the initial war-time campaign[5] and was still on the club's books when hostilities ended though his last appearances were made in April 1916. Still without a significant club honour, Craig finished his playing days in the Western League with Johnstone.
International
[edit]Craig's international career began as he reaped the benefits of Billy McCracken's expulsion by the Irish FA. He made his Ireland debut in a 3–1 defeat by England in February 1908, playing in each of that year's British Home Championship ties at right-back. But it was at left-back that Craig played during each of the 1914 Home Championship games as Ireland claimed the title outright for the first time.
References
[edit]- ^ Alex Craig at National-Football-Teams.com
- ^ Association Football. Belgian Refugees' Fund, The Glasgow Herald, 17 May 1915
- ^ John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine.
- ^ 1891 Scotland Census, via Ancestry (subscription required)
- ^ a b Rangers player Craig, Alec, FitbaStats
- ^ "Alexander Craig". Rangers FC History.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2010.[permanent dead link]
External links
[edit]- "Details of Rangers career". Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
- 1886 births
- 1951 deaths
- Association footballers from County Galway
- Irish association footballers (before 1923)
- Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers
- Scottish Football League players
- Rangers F.C. players
- Johnstone F.C. players
- Greenock Morton F.C. players
- Rutherglen Glencairn F.C. players
- Scottish Football League representative players
- Men's association football fullbacks
- Scottish Junior Football Association players
- Footballers from Glasgow
- People from Gorbals