John Britton Weir (20 October 1923 – 7 January 2003) was a Scottish professional

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 ...

player, most notable for scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

for

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 ...

on the final day of the 1947–48 season that prevented the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

club from being relegated.

Career

Weir signed for Hibernian in 1942, but did not play league football until the 1946–47 season due to the

Second World War 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 ...

. During the war, he had made guest appearances for Cardiff City and

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. Upon the resumption of league football in 1946, Weir enjoyed instant success, scoring four goals as Hibs won their first post-war league match 9–1 against Queen of the South.Jeffrey, pp167. He had scored 14 goals in 19 league matches (and four goals in his only

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

for a fee of £10,000. This was perhaps because Hibs had the services of most of the Famous Five, which allowed the club to sell other talented players, including Weir, Leslie Johnston and Alex Linwood. Weir was not such a great success with Blackburn, however, and was allowed to return to Scotland in 1948, signing for

for a fee of £7,000.Jock Weir
'' The Herald'', 11 January 2003. This transfer signalled a change of attitude by Celtic, who "had treated wartime football with contempt" and had passed up the opportunity to field guest players of international standing, including

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...

. Weir's arrival did not immediately arrest Celtic's decline, and the club entered the final day of the 1947–48 season with an outside chance of being relegated. This possibility was averted, however, as Celtic won their match 3–2 against

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Dens Park Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards ...

, with Weir scoring a hat-trick. Weir then went on to score two goals in the

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rules ...

final against

Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...

that year. Normally that trophy would have been held in low esteem, but a crowd of 87,000 attended, realising the potential of the Celtic support. Weir was part of the Celtic team that won the 1950–51 Scottish Cup,Former Celtic star Weir passes away
www.breakingnews.ie, 9 January 2003. beating

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

1–0 in the final. Journalist

Bob Crampsey Robert Anthony Crampsey (8 July 1930 – 27 July 2008) was a Scottish association football historian, author, broadcaster and teacher, described as a "much loved Scottish cultural institution" by ''The Times''. Early life and career Crampsey wa ...

, who stated that Weir "was very, very fast", also wrote that he was an "unlucky" player, as he missed out on the positive effect that

Jock Stein John "Jock" Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish ...

was to have on Celtic. Coincidentally, Weir later had a brief spell with

Llanelli A.F.C. Llanelli Town Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Tref Llanelli) are a semi-professional Welsh football club that plays in the Cymru South. The original club was wound up on 22 April 2013 at the High Court in London following a ...

, the Welsh club that Stein played for. Despite making 100 appearances for Celtic, Weir did not earn international honours due to stiff competition from several players, including

Lawrie Reilly Lawrance Reilly (28 October 1928 – 22 July 2013) was a Scottish footballer. He was one of the " Famous Five", the Hibernian forward line during the late 1940s and early 1950s, along with Bobby Johnstone, Gordon Smith, Eddie Turnbull, and W ...

. In his later life, Weir suffered from

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

, which family members believed was caused by his frequent heading of the ball during his football career; this was discussed during a

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

investigative television programme on the subject in 2000, also featuring another former Celtic forward

Billy McPhail William Simeon McPhail (2 February 1928 – 4 April 2003) was a Scottish football player who played for Queen's Park, Clyde and Celtic. He scored three goals in Celtic's record 7–1 victory over Rangers in the 1957 Scottish League Cup Final ...

who was suffering from a similar condition.Heading for Trouble (transcript)
'' Frontline Scotland'', 2 May 2000

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, Jock 1923 births 2003 deaths Footballers from West Lothian Men's association football wingers Scottish men's footballers Hibernian F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. wartime guest players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. wartime guest players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Llanelli Town A.F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Portadown F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players NIFL Premiership players