John Martis (born 30 March 1940) is a Scottish former 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 le ...

who made nearly 500 appearances in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

and was capped once for the

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 ...

national side.

Playing career

Martis signed for

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 ...

in 1957 from local

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

side Royal Albert and became known as one of the "Ancell Babes" under the tutelage of then manager

Bobby Ancell Robert Francis Dudgeon Ancell (16 June 1911 – 5 July 1987) was a Scottish football player and manager. He played as a left back for St Mirren, Newcastle United, Dundee and Aberdeen. He won two full caps with the Scotland national footbal ...

, alongside players such as Pat Quinn and

Ian St. John John "Ian" St John (; 7 June 1938 – 1 March 2021) was a Scottish professional association football, football player, coach and broadcaster. St John played as a Forward (association football), forward for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool throughout mo ...

. A solid and uncompromising

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 ...

, he remained at Fir Park for twelve seasons before departing for a brief spell in South Africa with

Hellenic FC Hellenic FC is a South African association football club based in Cape Town. They were nicknamed ''The Greek Gods''. Established in 1958 by Greek South Africans, Hellenic campaigned in the lower amateur leagues of Cape Town. But by the 1970s the ...

. On his return to Scotland, he joined East Fife, for whom he played for six years before retiring in 1975. A youth international, he won his only full cap for Scotland against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in a

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 ...

fixture in 1960. On 2 November 2021, it was announced that Martis was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame.

References

External links

*
Motherwellnet - Player archive profile
1940 births Living people Motherwell F.C. players Hellenic F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish men's footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scotland men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football central defenders Footballers from Motherwell Royal Albert F.C. players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa {{Scotland-footy-defender-1940s-stub