Joseph O'Brien (27 December 1875 – after 1906) was a Scottish professional

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 lea ...

who played as a full back in the

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for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, in the Northern League for

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, and in the Southern League for

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Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

. While a Reading player, he was selected for the Southern League representative XI.

Life and career

O'Brien was born in

Shettleston Shettleston (, ) is an area in the Glasgow#East End, east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Toponymy The origin of the name "Shettleston" is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multitude of spellings. A papal bu ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

, in 1875. He played football for Baillieston Thistle,

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

before signing for Southern League club

in 1896. He earned a "big reputation" with Reading, was selected for the Southern League representative XI to face the London Association in 1899, and signed for

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

club

in April 1900. In the absence of

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, he went straight into the team for the league match against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

on 13 April, which finished as a 3–3 draw. Hardy's return for the visit of

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

"materially strengthened" the team, according to the '' Blackburn Standard'', whose reporter thought O'Brien had been "of little use" the day before. He made two more league appearances before returning to Scotland where he spent the 1901–02 season with

, for whom he scored twice from eleven Northern League matches. For his next club,

, he played in all five

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ties and all but one Southern League fixture in 1902–03. He spent the folliwng season back with Reading, before joining another Southern League club,

, for 1904–05. He was a regular in their side, partnering Tom Robertson at full back, before returning to Swindon Town for 1905–06. This time he was less of a first-team regular, appearing in 21 Southern League matches and 14 in the United League, a secondary competition. He finished his football career in the north-west of England with Stalybridge Rovers and

Haslingden Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town (including Helmshore) had a population of 15,9 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Joe 1875 births Year of death missing Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Clitheroe F.C. players Sheffield F.C. players Reading F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. (1881) players Swindon Town F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Stalybridge Rovers F.C. players Haslingden F.C. (1891) players Southern Football League players English Football League players Southern Football League representative players People from Shettleston