Daniel "Big Dan" McNiven was a Scottish

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 ...

center forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

who led the American Soccer League in scoring in 1922-1923. McNiven began his professional career in 1921 with

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

of 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 ...

. He played only five games before leaving Scotland for the United States. Upon reaching the U.S., he signed with Bethlehem Steel of the American Soccer League. He promptly made his mark, scoring twenty-eight goals in twenty-two league games, taking the league scoring title. He also added another four goals in three league cup games. In 1923, he began the season with

New York Field Club New York F.C. (also known as the New York Field Club) was a name used by two early twentieth-century American soccer clubs. History Founded in 1916 as the New York Football Club, the team was originally a member of the semi-professional National ...

, maintaining his scoring pace with eleven goals in nineteen league games and another goal in two league cup games. However, he finished the season with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. In 1924, he moved to

Indiana Flooring Indiana Flooring were a New York City soccer team that played in the American Soccer League between 1924 and 1927. They replaced New York Field Club. Before joining the ASL, the team had played in various state leagues. Ernest Viberg, a former ...

, but his career ended seven games into the season when he was arrested on charges of bigamy and adultery. According to the charges, McNiven had married the wife of William Sheridan, the Bethlehem Steel coach in October 1923. In 1924, Sheridan's wife left the U.S. after having him served with divorce papers. At that point, he investigated her, discovering she had married McNiven a year prior and had McNiven arrested. That ended McNiven's football career.5 December 1924 ''The Globe''
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNiven, Daniel Scottish men's footballers Partick Thistle F.C. players American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Bethlehem Steel F.C. (1907–1930) players New York F.C. players New York Giants (soccer) players Indiana Flooring players Year of death missing Place of death missing Men's association football forwards Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate men's footballers 1902 births