Robert James Kerr (29 November 1929 – 13 May 2012) 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 as an inside forward or

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 ...

in the English

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 ...

for

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and in 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 ...

for Third Lanark,

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in Scottish League Two as a member of the ...

and

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

in the 1950s.

Life and career

Kerr was born in Coatbridge in 1929. He played Junior football for

Pollok Pollok ( gd, Pollag, lit=a pool, sco, Powk) is a large housing estate on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate was built either side of World War II to house families from the overcrowded inner city. Housing 30,0 ...

before signing for "A" Division club Third Lanark. He made no first-team appearances before his career was interrupted by

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

commitments with the RAF. In the later part of 1952, he was stationed at

RAF Middleton St George RAF Middleton St George was a Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) RAF Bomber Command, Bomber Command station during World War II. It was located in County Durham, five miles east of Darlington, England. The station's mot ...

, in the north east of England, and Third Lanark allowed him to play for

of the English Third Division North when available to do so. He appeared for Darlington's reserves in the North-Eastern League, as well as in Services football, before making his senior debut in the Third Division on 20 December, replacing Ken Murray at inside left for a 3–0 defeat away to Southport. Later in the season, he had a run of games, also in place of Murray, and took his total to ten by the end of the season. He scored twice, at home to Accrington Stanley in March and Stockport County in April; on each occasion it was the only goal of the match. Kerr returned to Third Lanark for the 1953–54 season, by which time they had been relegated to the "B" Division. He made his first appearance on 16 January 1954 in a 3–0 win away to Dunfermline Athletic, replacing George Dobbie, who had been posted abroad, and kept the place for the remaining 12 league matches, during which he scored 10 goals. He was less of a regular in the 1954–55 season, at the end of which he was transfer listed at a fee of £1000.

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

of the English Third Division were interested, and were reported to have held talks with the player, but no move took place. An appeal to the Scottish League's management committee to have his fee reduced was successful, and he joined "A" Division club

. He appeared at outside right in the opening match of the season, but went on to play in only 15 top-flight matches, scoring three goals. He was released at the end of the season, and spent 1956–57 with

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

in the second tier, in which he appeared equally infrequently but with a significantly better goal return, with twelve goals from his 15 outings. He was variously described as "well built", "hefty", and "big and strong", as well as being a scorer of spectacular goals. Kerr died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 2012 at the age of 82.

Club statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Bobby 1929 births 2012 deaths Footballers from Coatbridge Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Pollok F.C. players Third Lanark A.C. players Darlington F.C. players Stirling Albion F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players