Graham Leggat (20 June 1934 – 29 August 2015) was a Scottish international

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 ...

Playing career

Born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Leggat started his career at his home town club as a

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He was part of the Aberdeen team that won the

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 ...

title in 1954–55 and the 1955–56 Scottish League Cup. In November 2017, he was one of four inductees into the Aberdeen Hall of Fame. He was transferred to Fulham in 1958 for £16,000 (£ today), where he formed a right flank partnership with

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 ...

captain

Johnny Haynes John Norman Haynes (17 October 1934 – 18 October 2005) was an English association footballer who played as an inside forward. He made 56 appearances for his country including 22 as captain. He was selected for three World Cup finals squads ...

. Leggat held the record for the fastest hat-trick in the English league, having scored three goals in three minutes in a 10–1 win for Fulham against

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

on 26 December 1963. This record was broken in May 2015 by

Sadio Mané Sadio Mané (born 10 April 1992) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Senegal national team. Considered one of the best players in the world and amongst the greatest African ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He wound down his career with short spells at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, 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. Sin ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

and Bromsgrove Rovers.

International

Leggat was selected in the Scotland squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, playing in the Scots' matches against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. In total he earned 18 full caps between 1956 and 1960. He also scored six goals for the

Scottish Football League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

in five appearances.

Coaching and media career

After a brief period working as a coach at Aston Villa, in 1971 Leggat emigrated to Canada and served as the first head coach of the

Toronto Metros Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

. Several years later he would become vice-president and managing director for the Edmonton Drillers from 1979 to 1980. He began a second career as an analyst on soccer telecasts for the CBC at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

and at the World Cup. He later became host of TSN's popular ''Soccer Saturday'' program as well as an on-air analyst on its soccer telecasts. He was inducted into the

Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2019, the Canada Soccer Ha ...

in 2001 as a 'builder'. Leggat died in August 2015, aged 81.

Personal life

His son, also named Graham Leggat, was executive director of the

San Francisco Film Society SFFILM, formerly known as The San Francisco Film Society, is a nonprofit arts organization located in San Francisco, California, that presents year-round programs and events in film exhibition, media education, and filmmaker services. The Execut ...

from October 2005 until his death in August 2011.Graham Leggat 1960–2011
''The Filmmaker Magazine'' 26 August 2011

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Leggat goal.''

References

;Sources *

External links

* *
Profile at Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame
at londonhearts.com Scotland section {{DEFAULTSORT:Leggat, Graham 1934 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Aberdeen Scottish men's footballers Men's association football wingers Banks O' Dee F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Scotland men's international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Scottish Football League representative players Scotland men's under-23 international footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Scottish emigrants to Canada Scottish football managers Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) coaches Scottish expatriate football managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) commentators North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches North American Soccer League (1968–1984) executives Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees Association football commentators Canadian television sportscasters Naturalized citizens of Canada