Bobby Shearer (29 December 1931 – 5 November 2006) was a Scottish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. Shearer represented

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 ...

in four full international games.

Playing career

Shearer, a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, played 423 times in all competitions for Rangers between 1955 and 1965,Rangers player Shearer, Bobby
FitbaStats including a run of 165 consecutive games. He previously played for

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

, his hometown club, and also for Highland League club

Inverness Thistle Inverness Thistle Football Club was a football club playing in the city of Inverness in northern Scotland. Formation and timeline They were members of the Highland Football League, winning the championship eight times, including its inaugur ...

while on

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 ...

in the Army in the early 1950s, at Fort George Barracks just outside

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

. His combative playing style led to him being nicknamed 'Captain Cutlass'. He made his full

debut on 15 April 1961, in the infamous 9–3 defeat against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. It was frequently joked afterwards that as an orange football had been used, Shearer and Rangers teammate

Eric Caldow Eric Caldow (14 May 1934 – 4 March 2019) was a Scottish professional association football, footballer, who played for Rangers F.C., Rangers, Stirling Albion F.C., Stirling Albion and Scotland national football team, Scotland. Caldow played as ...

had refused to kick it, while

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 ...

players

Frank Haffey Francis Haffey (born 28 November 1938) is a Scottish former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Celtic F.C., Celtic and the Scotland national football team, Scottish national team. ...

and

Billy McNeill William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lio ...

had refused to touch it. Despite this inauspicious start, Shearer won further caps against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

(twice) and

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifiers the following month, his final game being a 4–0 defeat in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

. Shearer captained Rangers to their second

domestic treble A treble in association football is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season. A ''continental treble'' involves winning the club's national league competition, main national cup competition, and main continental trophy. A ...

in 1963–64. In all, he won five league championships, three

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

s during his time at Ibrox.Hall of Fame: Bobby Shearer
Rangers FC He also deputised as goalkeeper (at least) twice, by coincidence against Hearts at

Tynecastle Park Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as a ...

on both occasions, taking over from Norrie Martin in a League Cup fixture in 1958 which Hearts won 2–1, and more impressively an 82-minute shift in place of the injured Billy Ritchie in a 3–1 Rangers victory in 1960.Wed 26 Oct 1960, Hearts 1 Rangers 3
London Hearts Supporters Club

Coaching career

After leaving Rangers, Shearer moved to

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

club Queen of the South as player-coach in the era of players such as

Allan Ball Allan Ball (26 February 1943 – 21 July 2018) was an English footballer. Born in Hetton-le-Hole in County Durham, Ball played as a goalkeeper, spending most of his professional career with Scottish club Queen of the South in Dumfries. Ball ...

Iain McChesney Iain McChesney is a former professional association footballer with Scottish Football League club Queen of the South from Dumfries. McChesney is the longest serving player in the club's history, playing with them from 1960 to 1981. McChesney ...

and Billy Collings. In January 1967, Shearer was appointed manager of ill-fated

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 ...

, who folded later that year. He moved back to his hometown club Hamilton Academical and served as their manager, amongst other tasks.

Death

He died following a short illness on 5 November 2006, aged 74.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shearer, Bobby 1931 births 2006 deaths Hamilton Academical F.C. managers Hamilton Academical F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. managers Queen of the South F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Scotland international footballers Scottish football managers Scottish footballers Third Lanark A.C. managers Burnbank Athletic F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Footballers from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Scottish Football League managers Inverness Thistle F.C. players Highland Football League players Association football defenders Place of death missing Outfield association footballers who played in goal