James Kelly (15 October 1865 – 20 February 1932) was a Scottish footballer who played for Renton, Celtic and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. At Renton, his hometown club, Kelly had won the Scottish Cup twice ( 1885 and 1888), as well as a beaten finalist in 1886 and a 'World Champion' after they defeated West Bromwich Albion in an 1888 challenge match. Converted from an inside forward to a centre-half of attacking bent in what was an important evolution in tactics developed at Renton, he was the first Celtic captain, playing in their first-ever match, a 5–2 win against Rangers in May 1888 (less than two weeks after playing in Renton's World Championship game). He added to his medal collection with another Scottish Cup in 1892 alongside former Renton teammate Neil McCallum, becoming the first players to win the competition with two different clubs. Kelly also won the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct 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&nbs ...

title in 1892–93, 1893–94 and 1895–96 (and reached three other cup finals, albeit losing them all), playing a major role in the establishment of Celtic as one of the leading clubs in the country. He was capped nine times by

and scored twice.James Kelly
The Celtic Wiki He also appeared seven times for the

Scottish 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 ...

. After retiring as a player, Kelly became a director of Celtic, serving as chairman between 1909 and 1914. His descendants Bob Kelly, Michael Kelly and Kevin Kelly also became Celtic directors; a son, Frank also briefly played for the club prior to his death in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and in 1934 another Celtic player Willie Hughes married James Kelly's daughter Bridie, two years after he died.Celtic Player Weds
newspaper scan, 1934, via The Celtic Wiki

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, James 1865 births 1932 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Renton F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish Football League representative players Celtic F.C. directors and chairmen Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland Scottish people of Irish descent Footballers from Renton, West Dunbartonshire

See also

References