Eric Barber (January 18, 1942 – August 20, 2014) was an Irish professional

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 ...

. He spent most of his career playing for Shelbourne in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

with whom he had three spells from 1958 to 1966, 1971–75 and 1978–80, managing them during the 1979–80 season.

Player

Professional

During his time with Shels, Barber scored a club record 126 league goals. He was part of Shels

FAI Youth Cup The FAI Youth Cup, also known as the FAI Umbro Youth Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organised by the FAI for youth association football clubs and teams in the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Greenmount Rangers. The competit ...

-winning side in 1959 and went on to win the

championship in 1962, and the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

in 1960 and 1963, beating

Cork Hibernians Cork Hibernians F.C. were an Irish football club based in Cork. They played in the League of Ireland between 1957 and 1976 and, from 1962, played their home games at Flower Lodge. In 1971, they were League of Ireland champions. History The ...

2–0 on both occasions. Barber scored in every round including the final in the 1960 cup win and in the 1962 cup final defeat to

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

. His goal in the 1960 final was a lob from almost forty yards. In March 1966, Barber signed for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, but never became a regular. At the end of the 1966–67 season he was offered a chance to sign for

Chicago Spurs Chicago Spurs were an American soccer team that was a charter member of the non-FIFA sanctioned National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967. The team was based in Chicago, Illinois and played their home games at the Soldier Field. When t ...

in the National Professional Soccer League. After just two days in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, Barber scored twice on his debut at

Oakland Clippers The Oakland Clippers, also named the California Clippers, were an American soccer team based out of Oakland, California. They played in the non- FIFA sanctioned National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer ...

, and went on to finish third top scorer in the NPSL. At the end of the season the franchise moved and became

Kansas City Spurs The Kansas City Spurs were an United States, American professional soccer team who played in the North American Soccer League (1968-1984), North American Soccer League, based in Kansas City, Missouri. They played their home games at Kansas City M ...

and Barber moved with them and finished second top scorer in the league that season. Barber then moved on loan to

for the 1969-70 season as the

ran into financial difficulty and scored two goals in 2–1 win against

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

in the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

. He made two appearances in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and went on to be the club's top goalscorer that season. Then Barber got the offer of moving to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to play for

Wiener Sport-Club The Wiener Sport-Club, sometimes abbreviated as WSC, was established in 1883 in Vienna, Austria and is one of the country's oldest athletics clubs. Their traditional home is in the Dornbach quarter of the city ( 17th district). History At vari ...

, but despite an impressive start with nearly a goal a game in his first eleven games, an injury and subsequent row about the treatment for it saw him eventually return to Dublin as Shels paid an IR£3,000 transfer fee for him in November 1971. He played for Shels in their FAI Cup Final defeats in 1973 and 1975, being red-carded in the replay of the 1973 decider in

Flower Lodge A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

. Barber was Shels top league scorer at the end of ten different seasons. At the end of the

2012 League of Ireland The 2012 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 28th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division featured 12 teams. Sligo Rovers were champions, winning their first top league title since 1976–77. Drogheda United finis ...

season Barber is twelfth in the all-time League of Ireland goalscoring list with 141 league goals

National team

Barber was capped twice by the

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

during his time with Shels in a

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 ...

qualifier in Spain and a friendly against Belgium.

Manager

He was Rovers' assistant manager in the 1978–79 season. He managed Shels the following season.

Honours

: 1 ** Shelbourne - 1961/62 *

: 2 ** Shelbourne - 1960, 1963

References

External links

*
NPSL/NASL stats

Sources

* ''The Hoops'' by Paul Doolan and Robert Goggins () {{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, Eric 1942 births 2014 deaths Association footballers from Dublin (city) Association football forwards Republic of Ireland international footballers Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Shelbourne F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Chicago Spurs players National Professional Soccer League (1967) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Kansas City Spurs players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Wiener Sport-Club players Shelbourne F.C. managers League of Ireland players League of Ireland XI players League of Ireland managers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Austria Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Irish expatriate sportspeople in Austria Republic of Ireland association football managers