John Rae Aird (18 December 1926 – 14 June 2021) was a

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 for both the

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

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

national sides.

Life and career

Born in

Glencraig Glencraig is a very small former mining village in Scotland, situated in the Benarty area of Fife, between Crosshill and Lochgelly Lochgelly ( ; gd, Loch Gheallaidh, IPA: �ɫ̪ɔxˈʝaɫ̪ai is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is located betwe ...

, Fife, Aird started his professional career with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

, whom he joined from

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

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 ...

side Jeanfield Swifts in 1948. A feisty but consistent

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he earned international recognition towards the end of his seven-season spell at

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional footba ...

, making his Scotland debut against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in May 1954, at the age of 28. He was then selected in the squad for the upcoming World Cup finals and was one of only 13 players who actually travelled to Switzerland, the SFA opting not to use the full complement of 22 permitted. He played in both matches at the finals as Scotland capitulated in the first round, losing to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

(1–0) and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

(7–0). The following year, Aird left Burnley and

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to Gisborne in New Zealand. There he played for Eastern Union FC, eventually earning selection for the national side. Aird played two full internationals for New Zealand in the space of a week in 1958, both matches against Australia, with him scoring for New Zealand in a 3–2 defeat in the first game, and then scoring an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

in a 2–2 draw a week later. He then moved to Australia in 1959, playing for and latterly coaching

Sydney Hakoah Maccabi Hakoah Sydney City East FC, commonly known as Maccabi Hakoah, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club was formed in 1939 as Sydney Hakoah by members of Sydney's Jewish community. They p ...

. Aird returned briefly to Gisborne in 1960 from Sydney and played in non-competitive matches for Eastern Union. Unable to get a clearance from FIFA to transfer back to Eastern Union, Aird then took a renewed contract from Sydney Hakoah in January of 1961, in which he was offered £15/week as a part-time player, £6/week as coach, further employment opportunities, fares for his family back to Sydney, and a retainer of £5/week in the off-season. Jock Aird died in June 2021 at the age of 94.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aird, Jock 1926 births 2021 deaths 1954 FIFA World Cup players Burnley F.C. players Dual internationalists (football) Expatriate association footballers in New Zealand Association football fullbacks New Zealand association footballers New Zealand international footballers Footballers from Fife Sportspeople from Gisborne, New Zealand Scotland B international footballers Scotland international footballers Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Scottish footballers Scottish emigrants to New Zealand English Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Gisborne City AFC players Hakoah Sydney City East FC players Jeanfield Swifts F.C. players

Life and career

See also

References

External links