John Cameron (13 April 1872 – 20 April 1935) was a Scottish footballer and manager. He played as a forward for Queen's Park, Everton and

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 was noted as an effective goal-maker and goalscorer. In 1899 he became player-manager at Tottenham Hotspur and guided them to victory in the 1901

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. As a result, they became the only club outside the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

to win the competition. In 1898 he became the first secretary of the

Association Footballers' Union The Association Footballers' Union (the AFU), formed in England in 1898, was the first attempt by football players in the United Kingdom to organize themselves into a union. The AFU was formed in response to the introduction by the Football L ...

, which was the ill-fated fore-runner of the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

. He later coached

Dresdner SC Dresdner Sportclub 1898 e.V., known simply as Dresdner SC, is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball Bund) in 1900. Th ...

and during the

First World War 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 ...

he was interned at Ruhleben, a civilian detention camp in Germany. After the war he coached

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

for one season and then became a football journalist, author and publisher. He had previously worked as a columnist for various newspapers before the war.

Early career

Born in

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

and educated at Ayr Grammar School, Cameron began his career with local club Ayr Parkhouse, before moving to Queen's Park in early 1895. He made 5

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 rul ...

appearances and scored one goal for the ''Spiders'' (who were not members of the Scottish Football League at the time). He worked in a shipping office in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and joined Everton in September 1895 as an amateur, and then turned fully professional. He switched from a centre-forward to an inside-forward while he was at Everton. He made his senior debut in a 5–0 home League win over

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in October 1895. Cameron produced some excellent displays for Everton and made 48 appearances and scored 14 goals. This record included 6 games and 2 goals in the

. Cameron had been one of the highest earning footballers of the day with Everton. He returned to Queen's Park for two short spells in the second half of the 1895–96 season, making four appearances, and also won a cap for

: alongside

Robert Smyth McColl Robert Smyth McColl (13 April 1876 – 25 November 1959) was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre forward. Playing career McColl started his career with junior club Benmore in 1892 and moved to Queen's Park in 1894. He represented ...

, he played in a 3–3 draw with

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 ...

and helped Scotland win the

1896 British Home Championship Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wil ...

. In February 1898 while contracted to play for Everton, Cameron became involved in the movement toward unionisation of footballers in defiance of both League directives and club proposals which resulted in the power of players to seek high earnings. As the League were not willing to negotiate on this point Cameron broke contract with Everton and went to play for Tottenham Hotspur in the Southern Football League, directly because that League did not support the proposal to limit earnings.

Tottenham Hotspur

In May 1898 Cameron was signed by

Frank Brettell Frank E. Brettell (1862–1936) was an English football player, manager and administrator. He played as a full-back for Everton, a club that was originally called St. Domingo's. He combined his role as player-secretary-manager with his full ...

as a player for Tottenham Hotspur. When Brettell was offered a better-paid position at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and moved there in February 1899, Cameron succeeded Brettell and became player-manager for Tottenham. He enjoyed instant success when, in his first game in charge, Tottenham became the first lower division club ever to come from behind against top flight opposition to win an FA Cup tie, Cameron himself scoring the winning goal against Sunderland. In

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

he led Tottenham to the Southern Football League title and a year later led them to victory in the

1901 FA Cup Final The 1901 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, 20 April 1901 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the 1900–01 FA Cup, the 30th edition ...

: after drawing 2–2 with Sheffield United, Tottenham eventually won the replay with Cameron scoring an equaliser in a 3–1 win. As a result, ''Spurs'' became the only club outside the English League to win the competition. Under Cameron, the club also finished as a runners-up in the Southern League in

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world' ...

and

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library syst ...

. Cameron scored 139 goals in 293 appearances, including 43 goals in 111 appearances in the Southern League. He resigned as Tottenham manager in March 1907.

Prisoner in Germany

After Tottenham Hotspur, Cameron worked briefly as a sport journalist, before going to Germany to coach

. While there the

broke out and he was subsequently interned at Ruhleben, a civilian detention camp in the

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...

district of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. The camp contained between 4,000 and 5,500 prisoners. Gradually a mini-society evolved and football became a popular activity. Cup and league competitions were organised and as many as 1,000 attended the bigger games. Cameron was prominent in organising and playing football within the camp and was secretary of the Ruhleben Football Association. During his time at the camp he was also a member of the Ruhleben Tennis Association. Cameron was one of several former professional footballers at Ruhleben. Others included former

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

internationals

Fred Pentland Frederick Beaconsfield Pentland (29 July 1883 – 16 March 1962) was an English football player and coach. Pentland played club football in the Football League for Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough, in the Southern Football League f ...

, Samuel Wolstenholme and

Steve Bloomer Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem " Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played at ...

, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

international

Edwin Dutton Edwin Dutton (8 April 1890 – 24 May 1972) was an Anglo-German footballer and coach. Dutton played as a forward for Britannia Berlin 92, BFC Preussen, Newcastle United and Germany. During the First World War he was interned at Ruhleben, a ci ...

and one of his former Tottenham players,

John Brearley John Brearley (October 1875 – 1944) was an English association football player and manager. He played as a forward for several clubs, most notably Millwall Athletic, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. He was able to play in at least five outfi ...

. On 2 May 1915 an ''England XI'' featuring Pentland, Wolstenholme, Brearley and Bloomer played a ''World XI'' captained by Cameron.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Player

Scotland *

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

: 1895–96

Player/Manager

Tottenham Hotspur *

: 1900–01 * Southern League: 1899–1900 * Western League: 1903–04 *

Sheriff of London Charity Shield The Sheriff of London Charity Shield, also known as the Dewar Shield, was a football competition played annually between the best amateur and best professional club in England, though Scottish amateur side Queens Park also took part in 1899. The ...

Sources

*''Who's Who of Everton'' (2004): Tony Matthews *

References

External links

Cameron at Ayr United
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, John 1872 births 1935 deaths Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Queen's Park F.C. players Everton F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Southern Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. managers Ayr Parkhouse F.C. players Ayr United F.C. managers World War I civilian detainees held by Germany Dresdner SC managers Scottish Football League managers Association football forwards FA Cup winning managers FA Cup Final players