Frederick Glover Craig (16 January 1891 – 30 August 1966) was a Scottish 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, best remembered for his two spells with

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

, for whom he made over 430 appearances in the Southern League and the

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 ...

. Craig made more appearances for the club than any other goalkeeper.

Club career

, Craig began his career in Scottish

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football, before moving to

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 ...

to join Southern League First Division club

in 1912. He made just four appearances during the 1912–13 season, in which Argyle won the Southern League First Division title. He succeeded Titch Horne as Argyle's first choice goalkeeper midway through 1914–15, but the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in August 1914 led to the cessation of competitive football in England at the end of the season, for the duration of the conflict. Craig returned to Scotland to play competitive

Scottish 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 sout ...

football during the war and turned out for several clubs (most notably

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 ...

and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

), before re-joining Plymouth Argyle in time for the beginning of the 1919–20 season. Argyle were elevated into the

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

for the 1920–21 season and Craig remained with the club until the end of the 1929–30 season, when he captained the team to the

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

championship. During his 14 seasons at

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of Football League One club Plymouth Argyle since 1901.

, Craig made 467 appearances and scored five goals. Towards the end of his Argyle career, he occasionally filled in as the team's

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

taker. Craig finished his career with a short spell at

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

club Barrow.

International career

In 1923, Craig was selected for the

Home Scots v Anglo-Scots Home Scots v Anglo-Scots was an annual association football trial match organised by the Scottish Football Association between the 1890s and 1920s to examine the abilities of possible players for upcoming full British Home Championship internationa ...

international trial match alongside Plymouth Argyle teammate Patsy Corcoran (with whom he had also played at Hamilton Academical), though neither gained a full

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Career statistics

Honours

;Plymouth Argyle * Southern League First Division: 1912–13 *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

: 1929–30

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Fred 1891 births Footballers from Larkhall Scottish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Larkhall Thistle F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players Brentford F.C. wartime guest players 1970 deaths Scottish Football League players Larkhall United F.C. players Royal Albert F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Vale of Leven F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Clydebank F.C. (1914) players Motherwell F.C. players