James Connor (1 June 1909 – 8 May 1980) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the t ...

as an

outside left 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 ...

. He was born in

Renfrew Renfrew (; sco, Renfrew; gd, Rinn Friù) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former ...

, Scotland.

Club career

He made his debut for Sunderland against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

on 30 August 1930 in a 3–3 draw at

Roker Park Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated; ...

. His Sunderland career lasted from 1930 to 1939, although the later years were halted due to a severe injury in 1937, and he never fully recovered. The injury also caused him to miss the

1937 FA Cup Final The 1937 FA Cup Final was contested by Sunderland and Preston North End at Wembley. Sunderland won 3–1, with goals by Bobby Gurney, Raich Carter and Eddie Burbanks. Frank O'Donnell's strike on 44 minutes had put Preston ahead. It was the ...

and he retired in 1939. In total, he had made 254 league appearances for Sunderland, scoring 49 goals. Jimmy Connor was one of the stars of our last title winning team in 1936.

International career

Connor won his first cap 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 ...

on 18 May 1930 in a 2–0 victory over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir The Stade Yves-du-Manoir (officially Stade olympique Yves-du-Manoir, also known as the Stade olympique de Colombes, or simply Colombes to the locals) is a rugby, track and association football stadium in Colombes, near Paris, France, Paris, Fran ...

. He won 3 further caps for his country from 1930 to 1934, in total with four caps and no goals. In the two years between 1930 and 1932 when the Football League restricted non-English players from representing their country, he was the only Anglo-Scot to play a game for Scotland when the Scotland game clashed with Football League fixtures. He played in the 3-1 defeat of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

on 19 September 1931.

References

;Sources *

External links

* 1909 births 1980 deaths Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Sunderland A.F.C. players Men's association football wingers Sportspeople from Renfrew St Mirren F.C. players English Football League players Glasgow Perthshire F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scotland men's junior international footballers Footballers from Renfrewshire {{Scotland-footy-bio-stub