James McKay (11 June 1918 – 14 November 1986) 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 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 ...
.
McKay joined
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
from the army in September 1944 during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
after serving in
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
with
The Cameronians
The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Army, the only regiment of rifles amongst the Scottish regiment, Scottish regiments of infantry. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 26t ...
. He made a scoring debut on 7 October as Celtic lost 3–2 to
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 ...
in the Glasgow Cup at Hampden Park. He played a total of three Regional League games for Celtic – scoring two goals – before asking to be released in March 1945. McKay later joined
Alloa Athletic
Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa
Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a ...
, and also went on to play for
Portadown
Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...
,
Cowdenbeath
Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...
and, in the 1949–50 season,
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...
.
References
1918 births
1986 deaths
Footballers from Stirling
Men's association football forwards
Scottish men's footballers
Celtic F.C. players
Alloa Athletic F.C. players
Portadown F.C. players
Cowdenbeath F.C. players
Tranmere Rovers F.C. players
Scottish Football League players
English Football League players
British Army personnel of World War II
Cameronians soldiers
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