Alexander Breckenridge Craig (born 2 April 1886 – 16 February 1951) was a

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 for Rangers,

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He is one of only four players born in what is now the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

to play for Rangers; the others were

Alex Stevenson Alexander Ernest Stevenson (9 August 1912 – 2 September 1985) was an Irish footballer who played for Rangers and Everton, amongst other teams. As an international, Stevenson also played for both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. ...

Jon Daly Jon Daly, sometimes credited as Jonathan C. Daly, Jon C. Daly or Jonathan Barney Daly, is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer best known for his sketch comedy work on the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show''. In 2013 he starred as H ...

and James Lowry McAuley.

Career

Club

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

-born Craig had moved to Scotland with his family by the time of the 1891 United Kingdom Census, residing in the

Hutchesontown Hutchesontown is an inner-city area in Glasgow, Scotland. Mostly residential, it is situated directly south of the River Clyde and forms part of the wider historic Gorbals district, which is covered by the Southside Central ward under Glasgow ...

district of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He joined Rangers from junior side Rutherglen Glencairn in January 1905. His initial seasons at

Ibrox Park Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . O ...

coincided with a rare lean spell for the club, and he left without a single major winner's medal.Rangers player Craig, Alec
FitbaStats The closest he came was in

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

when Rangers lost a replayed

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...

. 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. By the time of his move to

, 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 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 was a regular in the ''Gers'' side for the initial war-time campaign 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 Johnstone ( sco, Johnstoun,
gd, Baile Iain) is a town ...

International

Craig's international career began as he reaped the benefits of

Billy McCracken William Robert McCracken (29 January 1883 – 20 January 1979) was a Northern Irish footballer who played as a defender. He is famous for inventing the offside trap. He was a cousin of Robert McCracken who also had a career as a professional f ...

's expulsion by the Irish FA. He made his

debut in a 3–1 defeat by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in February 1908, playing in each of that year's

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

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

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Alex 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