John White Clelland (6 January 1863 – 7 September 1944) was a Scottish

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 le ...

who played as a

centre-half 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 ...

or half-back and made one appearance for the Scotland national team.

Career

Clelland played club football mainly for Royal Albert during his career, winning the

Lanarkshire Cup The Lanarkshire Cup was an annual competition open to football teams in the Lanarkshire area. The competition is now defunct. List of winners 1879–80 - Stonelaw 1880–81 - Thistle 1881–82 - Hamilton Academical 1882–83 - West Benhar 1883� ...

four times; his brothers also played for the club. He also played for

Cowlairs Cowlairs is an area in the Scottish city of Glasgow, part of the wider Springburn district of the city. It is situated north of the River Clyde, between central Springburn to the east and Possilpark to the west. Administratively, in the 21st ce ...

, and while there was selected for the

Glasgow FA Founded in 1883, the Glasgow Football Association, based in the city of Glasgow, Scotland and affiliated to the national Scottish Football Association, is one of the oldest such bodies in football. In the modern game its influence is limited, th ...

team (he also played for Lanarkshire). He earned his first and only cap for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 28 March 1891 in the

1890–91 British Home Championship The 1890–91 British Home Championship was an international football tournament between the British Home Nations. Despite strong showings from all four teams, England eventually won the trophy with victories in all three games including, as at th ...

against

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 ...

. The home match, which was played at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

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 ...

, finished as a 2–1 win for Scotland; he remains the only serving Royal Albert player to have been selected for international duty. He also played

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

to a high standard, and was a distance runner with

Clydesdale Harriers Clydesdale Harriers are an sport of athletics, athletics club, founded in 1885. It was Scotland's first amateur open athletics club with the object of promoting amateur athletics generally and cross country running in particular. History Foundat ...

Personal life

Clelland was born on 6 January 1863 in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

to John Clelland, a coal miner, and Margaret Clelland (). Clelland was married to Elizabeth Ann Dodds, and worked as a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

lican. He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on 7 September 1944 in

Larkhall Larkhall ( sco, Larkhauch, gd, Taigh na h-Uiseig) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, around southeast of Glasgow. It is twinned with Seclin in northern France. Larkhall sits on high ground between the River Clyde to the East and the ...

at the age of 81.

Career statistics

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clelland, John 1863 births 1944 deaths Footballers from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football central defenders Men's association football wing halves Royal Albert F.C. players Publicans Deaths from cancer in Scotland