John Dick (29 January 1876 – 14 September 1932) was a 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 ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. Born in

Eaglesham Eaglesham ( ) is a village in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, situated about south of Glasgow, southeast of Newton Mearns and south of Clarkston, and southwest of East Kilbride. The 2011 census revealed that the village had 3,114 occupants, dow ...

, Renfrewshire, Dick first played for

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

, but in 1898 he was signed by

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

side Woolwich Arsenal as one of manager

William Elcoat William Elcoat (1859–1912) was an English football manager. Elcoat was born in the small village of Elton Elton may refer to: Places England * Elton, Cambridgeshire (formerly Huntingdonshire), a village ** Elton Hall, a baronial hall * E ...

's many Scottish signings, with reserve

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

James Devlin going the other way. A strong muscular centre half (in those days the centre half played in midfield), Dick immediately made his debut for Arsenal on the first day of the season (against Luton Town on 3 September 1898), and he only missed four games of his first season. Dick was noted for his formidable

stamina Stamina may refer to: Biology and healthcare * Endurance, the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fat ...

(he was a

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runner as well and once recorded a time of six-and-a-half miles in 33 minutes, 45 seconds), and was a near ever-present in the Woolwich Arsenal side for the next six seasons; he missed only one game in 1899–1900, and although not a prolific goalscorer (he only scored thirteen times in his entire Arsenal career), he did score twice in a 12-0 demolition of Loughborough on 12 March 1900, Arsenal's record win in a competitive match. With the arrival of Percy Sands in 1903, Dick moved to right half, and continued to be an ever-present as Arsenal won promotion from the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

to the First Division in

1903–04 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

. In the meantime he had also become club captain, though by the time promotion had come round, fellow Scot Jimmy Jackson had taken over as skipper. Dick played as first-choice right half for Arsenal's first season in the top flight (and broke the 200 match barrier, one of the first Arsenal players to do so), but at the start of the

1905–06 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

season he lost his place to James Bigden, and stepped down to the reserves. During this season he played one game for Crystal Palace, on the 17 April 1906 in the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

Division Two. He continued to play sporadically for the first team for the next five years, but never regained a regular place. In all, he played 262 games for Arsenal in the League and

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 ...

, and 30 in other first-class matches. In the summer of 1912 he left Arsenal to coach abroad in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, and became known for being one of the early pioneers of football in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, where he successfully coached

DFC Prag The Deutscher Fußball-Club Prag, commonly known as DFC Prag, was a football club based in Prague. The club was founded on 25 May 1896 by a group of German Jews in Prague, which at the time of its founding was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohem ...

and Sparta Prague (at that time another Scot,

Jake Madden Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach Animals * Jake (rescue dog), a s ...

, was in charge of Sparta's city rivals Slavia). He later returned to Britain for cancer treatment and died aged 55 in London.

Honours

Player

;Airdrieonians *

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� ...

: 1897–98 ;Arsenal *

promotion:

Manager

;Sparta Prague *

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the successor states of the former Austria-Hungar ...

: Runners-up

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League ( cs, 1. fotbalová liga, sk, 1. futbalová liga) was the premier football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who formed ...

: 1931–32 **Runners-up 1929–30, 1930–31 * Středočeská župa: 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923Domestic league competition not recognized by Czech FA. ;K. Beerschot V.A.C. * Belgian First Division: 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1927–28 **Runners-up 1926–27, 1928–29

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dick, John 1876 births 1932 deaths Footballers from Renfrewshire Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Arsenal F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Association football central defenders Scottish Football League players Southern Football League players English Football League players People from Eaglesham Scottish footballers Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Czechoslovakia Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Czechoslovakia Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Belgium AC Sparta Prague managers Sportspeople from East Renfrewshire