Alec Boden (13 August 1925 – 24 January 2011) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played at centre-half, most notably for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. He starred for Duntocher St. Mary's, a boys' guild team, before signing for Celtic in 1943. Called up for military service in November that year, he became a PT instructor in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, where he was promoted to the rank of

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

. Boden spent a short time on loan to

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...

before returning to

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

. His league debut however, was at right-back, in the second game of the 1947–48 season, a 4–0 home victory against Queen's Park. His only other league appearance that season was at right-half, in a 3–2 home win against

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

that October. He also made two appearances at full-back in the League Cup. Boden suffered a broken knee-cap and had two pieces of cartilage removed during his playing career. He played in the club's

1951 Scottish Cup Final The 1950–51 Scottish Cup was the 66th staging of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Celtic who defeated Motherwell in the final. First round Replays Second round Replays Third round ...

victory over

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

, but missed the 1956 final due to injury. Boden represented the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional association football, football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers F.C., Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, wh ...

in September 1952. He joined

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

later in 1956, and received an English FA coaching certificate by passing the

Lilleshall Lilleshall is a village and civil parish in the county of Shropshire, England. It lies between the towns of Telford and Newport, on the A518, in the Telford and Wrekin borough and the Wrekin constituency. There is one school in the centre of ...

coaching course. Along with John Higgins, he coached the Celtic Reserves in the 1960s. Boden died on 24 January 2011, aged 85.

References

*Paul Lunney ''Celtic: A complete record 1888-1992'' ()

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boden, Alec 1925 births British Army personnel of World War II Scottish footballers Association football central defenders Celtic F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Scottish Football League players Celtic F.C. non-playing staff 2011 deaths Footballers from West Dunbartonshire Place of death missing Scottish Football League representative players British Army soldiers