John Chalmers (14 August 1884 - 5 July 1947) was a Scottish

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 in

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 ...

for

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

and Woolwich Arsenal.

Career

Chalmers was born in

Beith Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court ...

and started his career with

Rutherglen Glencairn Rutherglen Glencairn Football Club is a Scottish football (soccer), football club based in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, near Glasgow. Nicknamed ''The Glens'' and formed in 1896, they play at The Hamish B Allan Stadium (New Southcroft Park). G ...

before turning professional with

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. He moved to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

in January 1906 and made an instant impact scoring five goals in five games. He was the club's top scorer in the

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

season, though they were relegated from the First Division. In all he scored 19 goals in 40 appearances but was released in the summer of 1907. He had a spell at Southern League Bristol Rovers, before moving back north of the border to join Clyde in November 1908. In 1909–10 Chalmers was in Clyde's side that reached the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,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 ...

in the second replay. In October 1910 Chalmers was tempted south of the border again, signing for Woolwich Arsenal. Arsenal had been ailing in the First Division; they had only scored twice in their first six matches of the 1910–11 season and were languishing in seventeenth place. Chalmers made his debut against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

on 8 October 1910 and soon had an immediate impact on Arsenal's season, scoring fifteen league goals (and one in the

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 ...

, making him the club's top scorer with sixteen), as Arsenal finished a comfortable tenth. Chalmers was a first-team starter the next season, but lost his place to Alf Common, who had been moved from inside-forward to centre-forward. Chalmers was unhappy playing for Arsenal's reserves and was transferred to

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

in March 1912.

Career statistics

Source:

References

;Specific ;General * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chalmers, Jackie Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Rutherglen Men's association football forwards Rangers F.C. players Beith F.C. players Rutherglen Glencairn F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players 1884 births 1947 deaths Cambuslang Rangers F.C. players