David Hannah (24 April 1867 – 12 January 1936) was a

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 left 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 ...

for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, where he won two

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 ...

championships, later having spells at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and Woolwich Arsenal.

Career

Hannah was born in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

in Ireland but relocated to

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders P ...

in Scotland with his family during his childhood. After emerging as a teenager with Renton, he transferred to

in early 1890 alongside teammates Johnny Campbell and

John Harvey John Harvey may refer to: People Academics * John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician * John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture ...

. They became members of the all-Scottish 'team of all the talents' which won consecutive

championships in 1891–92 and 1892–93.

bought Hannah in November 1894 to boost their attacking options. He scored six goals in 17 games during a season in which the ''Reds'' were relegated to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, and three in 11 as they were promoted back to the top tier 1895–96. By the time he left Liverpool in 1897 he had played 33 league and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

games, scoring 12 goals. His teammates at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

included former Renton defender

Andrew Hannah Andrew Boyd Hannah (17 September 1864 – 29 May 1940) was a Scottish international footballer who played as a right back. He missed just two games in Everton's 1890–91 title winning season. In 1892 he became the first captain of Liverpool. ...

, and

Jimmy Hannah James Hannah (17 March 1869 – 1 December 1917) was a Scottish footballer who played for Sunderland and the Scottish national football team as a winger. Football career Hannah signed for Sunderland Albion from Third Lanark, and thereafter m ...

played alongside him in the forward line at Sunderland – neither was a direct relation, although Andrew's parents were also from County Down and the men were possibly cousins to a degree. After a short spell back in Scotland with

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, he returned to England with Second Division Woolwich Arsenal, making his debut in the 3–2 loss at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

on 6 November 1897. He stayed in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

for two seasons, speaking highly of the level of play in the south of England (which at that time was considered by some in the north as inferior to their standards) before retiring from football at the end of the 1899 season, having made 50 appearances and scoring 17 goals. He died in 1936.Memories of David Hannah
Sunderland Daily Echo, 16 January 1936, via LFC History Despite his success at club level with Sunderland, Hannah was never

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

as an international – being Irish-born he was ineligible for

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 ...

under rules of the time, and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

were possibly unaware that he could play for them, assuming that he was simply one of the many 'Anglo-Scots' who were overlooked by the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

for selection until 1896.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannah, David 1867 births 1936 deaths Irish association footballers (before 1923) Sportspeople from County Down Footballers from West Dunbartonshire Arsenal F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Renton F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Association football inside forwards People from Renton, West Dunbartonshire