Robert McNeil (24 November 1890 – 21 February 1948) 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 Hamilton Academical and Chelsea. He was a neat outside left who dribbled well and had an accurate shot.

Career

Club

Born in

Springburn Springburn ( gd, Allt an Fhuairainn) is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its indu ...

, Glasgow, McNeil spent part of his childhood in Wishaw, Lanarkshire. After spells in the

Junior grade A junior grade is a subdivision of a military rank, lower than the corresponding rank without that qualification. In the U.S. armed forces, the Army formerly appointed warrant officers (junior grade), and the Navy's lieutenants, junior grade ar ...

where his clubs included Shettleston, he joined Hamilton Academical in December 1910McNeil, Bobby (1910)
Hamilton Academical Memory Bank and quickly established himself, playing in the

1911 Scottish Cup Final The 1910–11 Scottish Cup was the 38th staging of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Celtic who defeated Hamilton Academical 2–0 in the replayed final, after drawing 0–0. Calendar First round ...

which ''Accies'' 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. McNeil transferred to Chelsea from Hamilton Academical in April 1914. He scored on his competitive debut, and was a member of the ''Blues'' side that reached the

1915 FA Cup Final The 1915 FA Cup Final took place on 24 April 1915 and was contested by Sheffield United and Chelsea. It was the last FA Cup final to be staged before competitive football was suspended in Britain because of the First World War. The match was mov ...

. He made a total of 306 appearances for Chelsea and scored a total of 32 goals. During World War I when the English Football League was suspended but 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 ...

continued, McNeil returned north for several guest spells, including nearly three full seasons with Hamilton, shorter spells with

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 ...

and a single match for Celtic (in the 1918 Glasgow Cup final) before returning to Chelsea. He later worked as a trainer at Hamilton. Following his death from stomach cancer, he was buried at Cambusnethan Cemetery.

International

McNeil represented the Scottish Football League XI three times in his initial spell at Hamilton, and played for both sides in the

Home Scots v Anglo-Scots Home Scots v Anglo-Scots was an annual association football trial match organised by the Scottish Football Association between the 1890s and 1920s to examine the abilities of possible players for upcoming full British Home Championship internationa ...

trial matches, but never appeared for Scotland at full international level.

Personal life

His son Willie McNeil also appeared for Hamilton Academical in the late 1930s, playing in the same position.McNeil, Willie (1936)
Hamilton Academical Memory Bank

Honours

Hamilton Academical * Scottish Cup: Runners Up

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 ...

Chelsea * FA Cup: Runners Up

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

References

Scottish men's footballers Chelsea F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Glasgow United F.C. players 1948 deaths Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players English Football League players Men's association football outside forwards Footballers from Glasgow 1890 births Hamilton Academical F.C. non-playing staff People from Springburn Footballers from Wishaw Celtic F.C. wartime guest players {{Scotland-footy-forward-1890s-stub