Allan Leggat Craig (7 February 1904 – 1984) 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 ...

who played as a

centre half 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 ...

for

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 ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Career

Club

Craig played junior football for Saltcoats Victoria until he signed for

in 1924. He was a key part of the side that won the

Scottish league championship The Scottish League Championship (currently the Tennents League Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic rugby union league system within Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, the championship was founded in 1973 as the fi ...

in the 1931–32 season, having also played in the

1931 Scottish Cup Final The 1930–31 Scottish Cup was the 53rd staging of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Celtic who defeated Motherwell in the replayed final. Fourth round Semi-finals ---- Final Replay - ...

which Motherwell lost to

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 ...

after a replay, Craig scoring an unfortunate last-minute own goal in the first match (this was said to have resulted from a mistake in communication: a teammate shouted for 'Allan' to claim a cross ball and both he and goalkeeper Allan McClory did so, with the ball ending up in the net). He moved to Chelsea in 1933 and played for the

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...

club until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, making 211 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

International

Craig represented

three times, twice in a 1929 tour and once in 1932. He also appeared twice for the

Scottish Football League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Allan 1904 births 1984 deaths Footballers from Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Saltcoats Victoria F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players English Football League players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish Football League representative players