Andrew Black (23 September 1917 – 16 February 1989) 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 an

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. He was born in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

. Black was a prolific scorer with Heart of Midlothian before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, scoring 29 goals in 34 games in the 1936–37 season, before finishing as top scorer in the Scottish League with 40 goals in 38 appearances in the following season.(Hearts player) Andy Black
London Hearts Supporters Club, He was widely credited the following season as being the first player to score a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Rangers at Ibrox; however this had been first achieved by Willie Wilson, also of Hearts, in October 1915.Rangers 0 Hearts 4 Oct 16 1915
Black played as a guest for Chester during the latter stages of the war but the club were unsuccessful in their attempts to sign him permanently. Black transferred to Manchester City in 1946 and between then and 1950 appeared 139 times and scored 47 goals. In a match during the late 1940s at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest a ...

, the

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

goalkeeper

Sam Bartram Samuel Bartram (22 January 1914 – 17 July 1981) was an English professional footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper and holds the record for most appearances for Charlton Athletic, his only club at the professional level. Career Aft ...

sliced a clearance from the edge of his penalty area. Black, stood just inside his own half, headed the ball back over Bartram. City's pitch was 115 yards long so the ball must have travelled nearly sixty yards. He finished his career with

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

in 1953. Black won three caps for the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...

(Scotland player) Andy Black
London Hearts Supporters Club, and six wartime caps,

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around th ...

, 23 July 2020 including one game where he had to be carried off of the pitch by

Frank Swift Frank Victor Swift (26 December 1913 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City and England. After starting his career with local clubs near his home town of Blackpool, in 1932 he was signed b ...

after becoming injured. He died on 16 February 1989 in Bannockburn Hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Andy 1917 births Men's association football inside forwards Chester City F.C. wartime guest players Portsmouth F.C. wartime guest players Shawfield F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Stirling Stockport County F.C. players English Football League players York City F.C. wartime guest players Grimsby Town F.C. wartime guest players Aldershot F.C. wartime guest players Liverpool F.C. wartime guest players Crewe Alexandra F.C. wartime guest players Scotland men's wartime international footballers 1989 deaths Scottish league football top scorers