James McKee (alternately McKie, 18 March 1871 – 12 May 1949) 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 ...

who played as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

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 ...

and for various clubs in Scotland and England in the 1890s and 1900s.

Football career

McKee started his football career with Heart of Midlothian before moving to England to spend one season at

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the sout ...

in 1896. He then returned to Scotland to join

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...

, and later went back to England to play for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

and New Brompton. His only Scotland

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

came in Scotland's 5–2 win over

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

on 19 March 1898 when he scored two goals, with the others from fellow debutant, James Gillespie. Though largely raised in

Shotts Shotts is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The village has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertram de ...

, McKee was born in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

in Ireland which should have disqualified him (and England-born teammate

William Watson William, Willie, Bill or Billy Watson may refer to: Entertainment * William Watson (songwriter) (1794–1840), English concert hall singer and songwriter * William Watson (poet) (1858–1935), English poet * Billy Watson (actor) (1923–2022), A ...

) from being selected under the rules of the time.The 'foreigners' who played for Scotland
Scottish Sport History, 10 July 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKee, James 1871 births 1949 deaths Irish association footballers (before 1923) Scottish footballers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Footballers from North Lanarkshire Sportspeople from Shotts Sportspeople from County Down Darwen F.C. players East Stirlingshire F.C. players Scotland international footballers Association football forwards Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Southern Football League players Dykehead F.C. players