James Herriot (born 20 December 1939) is a Scottish former

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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for clubs in Scotland, England and South Africa. Herriot represented both

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and 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 ...

Career

Herriot was an apprentice bricklayer playing part-time for

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

club Douglasdale before he joined

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

in 1958. He became the ''Pars'' established number 1 when Eddie Connachan left for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in 1963. Herriot adopted the American Football technique of applying boot polish under and around his eyes to reduce the effects of glare from the sun. Herriot helped Dunfermline reach the 1965 Scottish Cup Final, which they lost 3–2 to Celtic. Herriot was transferred to

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 ...

for £18,000 in 1965. He was a fixture in the City side during the next four-and-a-half years and eventually gained international recognition. He made his

debut in October 1968, in a 1–0 defeat by

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in a friendly in Copenhagen, and played a further seven times for the national side. His last

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 just a year after his first, in a 3–2 defeat by

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in a

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

qualifier in

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. By 1970 Herriot had fallen from favour at St Andrew's and, following loan spells with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

and Aston Villa, he left for South African club

Durban City Durban City was a South African association football club based in the city of Durban. Formed in 1959 by Norman Elliott, the club was dissolved in 1988. History Durban City FC played in the newly formed whites only National Football League f ...

. He returned to Britain in 1971, joining Eddie Turnbull's developing Hibernian side. With Hibs he won his first career honour, the

1972–73 Scottish League Cup The 1972–73 Scottish League Cup was the twenty-seventh season of Scotland's second football knockout competition. The competition was won by Hibernian, who defeated Celtic in the Final. First round Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 ...

, as well as the fledgling

Drybrough Cup The Drybrough Cup was a Scottish annual football tournament. It was held from 1971 until 1974, and was revived from 1979 to 1980. It was open to the four highest-scoring teams from Division 1, and the four highest-scoring teams from Division 2. T ...

on two occasions. He left the Edinburgh side to join St Mirren in 1973, then moved to Partick Thistle in 1975. After a spell on loan with

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 H ...

in October 1975 he returned to Dunfermline Athletic in early 1976 before joining Morton permanently for the 1976–77 season. He retired from the game in the summer of 1977.

Literary alter ego

Herriot is probably best known today for giving his name to the writer

James Herriot James Alfred Wight (3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), better known by his pen name James Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and author. Born in Sunderland, Wight graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College in 1939, returning to Eng ...

, a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

vet whose real name was Alf Wight. Wight needed a pen-name to comply with professional rules banning advertising and chose Jim Herriot's name after seeing him play for Birmingham City in a televised match against Manchester United.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Herriot, Jim 1939 births Living people Footballers from North Lanarkshire Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Association football goalkeepers Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Durban City F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate soccer players in South Africa