James Barnett Allison (28 June 1880 – 31 March 1907) was an Irish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

international who played twelve

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

for the Irish national team between 1899 and 1903. Born in

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7 ...

in what is now the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, he was a student of

Campbell College Campbell College located in Belfast, Northern Ireland and founded in 1894 comprises a preparatory school department (junior age) and a senior Northern Ireland 'Voluntary Grammar' school, the latter meaning, in terms of provision of education, a ...

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, and played as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. Regarded as one of the most agile centres of his generation, match reports from the period show he gained a reputation for rigorous tackling and accurate kicking, scoring a drop goal for Ireland against England at the

Athletic Ground, Richmond Built in 1886, and located in Richmond upon Thames, London, the Athletic Ground is a rugby ground, managed by Richmond Athletic Association, home to Green King IPA Championship sides Richmond and London Scottish. The first team pitch has a sta ...

in 1900.

School and club career

Educated at

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Allison was a member of the 1st XV from 1896 to 1899, and captain in the 1897–98 season. A school report for the 1896 season described him as "a first-rate kicker and tackler, with fair pace; has been invaluable to our team all through the season". During the year of his captaincy, Campbell defeated the Ulster XV in December 1897 by 36–0, and won the

Ulster Schools' Cup The Ulster Schools' Challenge Cup is an annual competition involving schools affiliated to the Ulster Rugby, Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The Schools' Cup has the distinction of being the world's second-oldest rugby competitio ...

on 17 March 1898. Selected as a schoolboy international in 1899, the school "showed its gratification by meeting him at the College gates, and he was carried shoulder high to the main entrance amid a scene of wild excitement and enthusiasm". The speed and agility of his play is suggested by an ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' report on an Ulster inter-provincial match: "Allison... dodged in and out through the Munster backs till at the crucial moment he served Barr". He played centre for Queen's College (now Queen's University Belfast) during the 1900–01 season, when Queen's were undefeated and won all 23 matches, and for the

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

from 1901 to 1903, where he studied medicine. (The 1901 Edinburgh side won the Scottish championship and fielded no less than eight Scottish internationals that year.) Allison played also played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

at Campbell, in the 1st XI from 1896 to 1899, and set a school record during the 1898 season by taking 44 wickets for 143 runs. In a victory for Campbell against Ulster CC, Allison scored 65 not out, and was awarded a bat for his "over 50" score.

International career

All of Allison's international matches came in the Home Nations Championship (now the Six Nations). He debuted against

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 ...

in the 1899 edition of the tournament, and also played against

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 ...

, with Ireland going on to win the

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

.STATSGURU / Player analysis / James Allison / Test matches
– ESPNscrum. Retrieved 9 June 2015. Of his debut against England on 4 February 1899 rugby historian

Edmund Van Esbeck Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...

wrote: "One of the newcomers for that England game was a schoolboy at Campbell College, J.B. Allison. The contributions of the old and the new proved potent enough to resist the demands that England put on it at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

, where Ireland won by a try, scored by

Louis Magee Aloysius Mary "Louis" Magee (1 May 1874 – 4 April 1945) was an Irish rugby union halfback. Magee played club rugby for Bective Rangers and London Irish and played international rugby for Ireland and was part of the British Isles team in their ...

's half-back partner G. G. Allen, and a penalty goal." At the time of his debut, Allison was the youngest centre to have appeared for Ireland, and the third-youngest overall (behind

George McAllan George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

and

Edmund Forrest Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...

). , he is the 11th-youngest Irish Test debutant. Against England in the 1900 series, Allison scored the only points of his international career, four points from a

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kicki ...

. He finished his career having played in twelve Tests, with his final international coming against Scotland in February 1903, although he continued to be named as a substitute in 1904.

Later life and death

Allison emigrated to Quebec, Canada on 4 November 1904, sailing from the port of

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

on the Allan Line ship ''Tunisian''. His hosts in Montreal were the Charles Gurd and Murphy families, to whom he was related. He worked at the Lachine offices of an engineering company, the Dominion Bridge Works, and the Chalmers-Bullock Company. He played rugby for

Montreal Football Club The Montreal Football Club was a Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec that played in the Quebec Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1915. The club was a founding member of ...

from 1905 to 1907, and played several seasons of cricket. While in Montreal, he was profiled by a sports journalist who claimed that "his tactics on the field were a revelation of swiftness, dexterity and certainty". He died of pneumonia in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

in March 1907, aged only 26 and was buried in

Mount Royal Cemetery Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Temple Emanu-El Cemetery, a Reform Judaism burial ground, is within the Mount Royal grounds. Th ...

. His death was noted by ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', which recorded him as a "well-known Canadian

er". An obituary in the ''Irish Times'' stated that "The deceased was one of the youngest three-quarters that ever played for Ireland… He was always an exceedingly clever and resourceful player, and for one of his comparatively light and diminutive stature, wonderfully plucky. His demise at the early age of twenty-six will be deeply regretted by his football colleagues, with whom he was a great favourite"."Death of an Ex-Irish International," ''Irish Times'', 2 April 1907, p.3.

References

External links

Profile
on ESPN Scrum {{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Barney 1880 births 1907 deaths Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery Deaths from pneumonia in Quebec Edinburgh University RFC players Ireland international rugby union players Irish emigrants to Canada (before 1923) Irish rugby union players People educated at Campbell College Queen's University RFC players Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Monaghan

School and club career

International career

Later life and death

See also

References

External links