Alexander Bennett (20 September 1881 – 9 January 1940) 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 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 ...

, Rangers and the Scotland national team. A small right-winger, he was described in contemporary reports as "''...a veritable artful dodger with rare speed and command of the ball.''"

Career

Club

Born in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

, Bennett began his career at his local club Rutherglen Glencairn in 1901, at which time future

colleague

Jimmy McMenemy James McMenamin (11 October 1880 – 23 June 1965), was a Scottish footballer who most notably played for Celtic from 1902 to 1920 and later served as assistant manager in the 1930s. He has been described by the club as ''"a true Celtic legend" ...

was also with the outfit. In 1902 Bennett was selected for the Scotland Junior team for matches along with another man who would soon be a teammate at Celtic,

Davie Hamilton David Hamilton (31 January 1882 – 25 January 1950) was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside left (winger). He played for Celtic for ten years between 1902 and 1912. Career Club Born in Glasgow, Hamilton played for junior side ...

, scoring four goals in as many Junior internationals overall. Having won the

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA in 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compete ...

and

Glasgow Junior League The Glasgow Junior Football League (GJL) was a football league competition operated under the Scottish Junior Football Association between 1895 and 1927.

double with Glencairn in 1902, Bennett was persuaded by McMenemy to sign for Celtic in May 1903; Bennett became a fixture in the side which won the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

title for four consecutive years between

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 ...

and

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...

. In the latter two years of this streak Bennett also collected

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,centre-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 ...

for Celtic, but shifted positions to accommodate Jimmy Quinn which proved beneficial to both players. In May 1908, Bennett abruptly left Celtic (winners of every trophy on offer that season) to join rivals Rangers, who met a small contract release fee – £50, equivalent to under £5000 in the 2010s – to allow him to move as a free agent, making him one of very few players to have moved directly from one club to the other. He had scored the winning goal in an

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

league meeting between the sides just two weeks earlier to clinch the title for Celtic. He won a further three consecutive League Championships while at Ibrox (

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

) and remained with the club until 1918, also serving in the

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Army, the only regiment of rifles amongst the Scottish regiments of infantry. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 26th Cameronian Reg ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He played in a combined total of 351 league and cup matches for Celtic and Rangers, scoring 116 goals. After leaving Rangers, Bennett played on until his fortieth birthday, with firstly a loan to

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 ...

, Record of pre-war Scottish League Players John Litster / Scottish Football Historian magazine, October 2012 then permanent transfers to

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

and

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

. He was later manager of

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 ...

(three seasons) and

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

(two seasons), and also worked as a sports

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. He died in

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 ...

in 1940.

International

Bennett was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

eleven times for Scotland, gaining three caps while at Celtic and the remaining eight while at Rangers. He made his Scotland debut against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in March 1904 and scored his first international goal, again against Wales, four years later. He scored his second international goal in his final Scotland appearance, against

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 ...

in March 1913. He also appeared ten times in representative matches for the

. At the age of 39 he also took part in a 1921 summer tour of North America as a member of 'Third Lanark Scotland XI' (organised by

and composed of players from seven different clubs), reuniting with old teammate and rival Jimmy McMenemy; Bennett thereafter became the ''Thirds'' manager, leading their next expedition to South America in 1923.Tommy McInally: Celtic's Bad Bhoy
David Potter; Black & White Publishing, 2009;

Personal life

Bennett's younger brother

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

was also a footballer who played for Queen's Park prior to being wounded on military service in

. Their father Robert was a master

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

and amateur poet of some local esteem whose portrait is on display in a

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

museum. Alec was clearly proud to be associated with his family business: when he married in 1910 he listed that he was a 'Drapery warehouseman' by profession rather than an international footballer. His grandson

Sandy Carmichael Alexander Bennett Carmichael Order of the British Empire, MBE (2 February 1944 – 27 October 2021) was a Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland international rugby union player.Bath, p123-4Massie, p169 Rugby Union career Amateur career ...

(full name Alexander Bennett Carmichael) played international

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

for

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 ...

and the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

in the 1970s.

Honours

;Rutherglen Glencairn *

: 1901–02 *

Glasgow Junior League The Glasgow Junior Football League (GJL) was a football league competition operated under the Scottish Junior Football Association between 1895 and 1927.

: 1901–02Scottish Football Historical Archive – History of Glasgow Junior League
/ref> ;Celtic *

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

: 1904–05, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1907–08 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1906–07, 1907–08 *

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rules ...

: 1904–05, 1905–06, 1907–08 ;Rangers *Scottish League: 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13 *Scottish Cup: Finalist 1908–09 *Glasgow Cup: 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1913–14

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Alex 1881 births 1940 deaths Scottish footballers Sportspeople from Rutherglen People educated at Stonelaw High School Rutherglen Glencairn F.C. players Scotland junior international footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players Celtic F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scotland international footballers Scottish Football League representative players Dumbarton F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Scottish football managers Clydebank F.C. (1914) managers Third Lanark A.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Cameronians soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Association football forwards Footballers from South Lanarkshire