Robert William Irvine (29 April 1900 – 1979) was an Irish

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 lea ...

. He played as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

Career

With Connah's Quay suffering severe financial difficulties, Irvine returned to Northern Ireland, signing for Derry City. He marked his

Brandywell The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium () is a municipal football stadium in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C., (temporarily) NIFL Championship team Institute, and also to NIWFA Championship ...

debut with a goal in a 1-0 Gold Cup quarter-final win over Larne on 3 September 1930. With Derry, Irvine took his caps total to 15, and in October 1932 also played twice for the Irish League, in 5-2 and 4–1 defeats by the English and Scottish Leagues respectively. During this period Irvine also briefly turned out for

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, scoring nine times in 13 games in the

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Fo ...

shortly before they were elected to

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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

in 1931.

References

External links

Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Bobby 1900 births 1979 deaths Irish association footballers (before 1923) Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Everton F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Derry City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Chester City F.C. players English Football League players Ulster Scots people Men's association football forwards Association footballers from Lisburn Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland