John Campbell Rattray (14 October 1890 – 1958) was an early twentieth-century Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

inside 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 ...

who played professionally in Scotland and the United States.

Playing career

Scotland

Rattray was born in

Lumphinnans Lumphinnans (Scottish Gaelic: Lann Fhìonain) is a small, former mining village along the B981 road, from west to east between the towns of Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly, in central Fife. Lumphinnans Primary and Community School is the local primar ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Scotland. In February 1910 he began his professional career with

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

First Division. He spent two full seasons at Falkirk before transferring to

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

in 1913, but his career was interrupted, along with so many others, by the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914. Rattray served along with other footballers in McCrae's Battalion of the Royal Scots during the war, not returning to football until January 1919 when he signed with

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

. He then moved back to Raith Rovers for three more years. In recognition of his service to the

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

club he was awarded a benefit match, which was played against a Fifeshire Select on 4 January 1921.

United States

In 1922, Rattray left Scotland to sign with the

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...

of the American Soccer League. His last game with the team came in the final of the 1924 American Cup. He was not slated to start the game, but was written in to fill in for an injured teammate. His selection paid dividends when he scored the game's only goal, giving Steel its sixth

American Cup The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...

title. At the time it was said of him: Rattray retired following the 1923–1924 season, returning to Scotland where he settled in

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 ...

Coaching career

In 1928 he went for two years to Belgium as coach for second division team TSV Lyra.

Honours

;Bethlehem Steel *

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

* American Soccer League Runners-up: 1923–24

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rattray, Jock 1890 births 1958 deaths American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Bethlehem Steel F.C. (1907–1930) players British Army personnel of World War I Dumbarton F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players People from Lumphinnans Raith Rovers F.C. players Scottish footballers Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers McCrae's Battalion Association football inside forwards Association football wing halves Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Belgium K. Lyra managers Expatriate soccer managers in the United States American Soccer League (1921–1933) coaches Footballers from Fife