Christy Martin 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 le ...

who played in the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional association football, football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers F.C., Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, wh ...

with both

Bo'ness Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness ( )) is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is a place within the Falki ...

and

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

. Martin was also a dual international and played for both Ireland teams – the IFA XI and the FAI XI.

Club career

Martin first came to prominence as a goalscorer with

, scoring 34 goals during the 1924–25 season. His 29 goals during the in 1926–27 season helped Bo'ness win the

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

title and gain promotion to the First Division. The Saturday before he made his debut for the FAI XI, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

for Bo'ness against

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 ...

. Bo'ness lasted just a single season in the First Division. With Martin limited to just seven goals from 37 games, they finished 19th and were relegated back to Second Division. Martin also briefly played with

and had a spell with

Brooklyn Wanderers The Brooklyn Wanderers was a U.S. soccer team which was a founding member of the National Association Football League in the late nineteenth century. Later versions joined the original American Soccer League and the reorganized American Soccer Le ...

, playing only one game, in the American Soccer League before returning to finish career at Bo'ness.

Irish international

When Martin began his international career in 1925 there were, in effect, two Ireland teams, chosen by two rival associations. Both associations, the Northern Ireland – based

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Ac ...

and the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

– based FAI claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland and selected players from the whole island. As a result, several notable Irish players from this era, including Martin, played for both teams.

IFA XI

Martin made his one and only appearances for the IFA XI on 28 February 1925 in a 3–0 defeat against

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 ...

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...

FAI XI

Martin made his only appearance for the FAI XI on 23 April 1927 in a 2–1 defeat against Italy B at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

.Irish Free State stats
/ref> He was the first player from a

club to play for an FAI XI.

Honours

Bo'ness F.C. *

**Winners (1): 1926–27

References

External links

Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Christy Association footballers from Athlone Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Irish Free State men's international footballers Dual Irish men's international footballers American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Bo'ness F.C. players Brooklyn Wanderers (1922–1931) players Falkirk F.C. players Year of birth missing Year of death missing Scottish Football League players Men's association football wingers