John Graham (23 February 1857 – 23 February 1927) 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 le ...

of the 1880s. He was a player for

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

from 1884 until 27 March 1890 when he retired because of an injury. He was a member of 'the invincibles'.

Career

Toughened by his job as a quarryman, Graham initially played with Annbank in the Ayrshire Football Combination, and won one cap for the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the t ...

in 1884; his appearance was in Scotland'a first–ever

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 ...

match, played on 26 January 1884 at the

Ulster Cricket Ground The Ulster Cricket Ground in Ballynafeigh Park was a sports venue in Ballynafeigh, Belfast. Opened in 1879, it was the home ground of both Ulster Cricket Club and Ulster F.C. During the 1880s, it also hosted several Irish Cup finals and Ireland i ...

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 ...

– Scotland won 5–0. Graham is the only serving Annbank player to have been selected for international duty. He joined Preston North End in season 1884–85 (moving to England discounted him from further Scotland caps at that time), and played in the

1888 FA Cup Final The 1888 FA Cup Final was contested by West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End at the Kennington Oval. Preston were strong favourites for the Cup, having set a record which still stands today by beating Hyde 26–0 in the first round, and wer ...

against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

Kennington Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since it ...

on 24 March 1888. North End lost 2–1. Graham made his

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 Engla ...

debut on 8 September 1888 at wing-half for Preston against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

; Preston won 5–2. On his debut he was the oldest player in the competition, although one week later Joe Beverley of

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

took this distinction. When Graham played as a wing-half on 6 October 1888 against

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

, he was 31 years 226 days old; that made him, on that fifth weekend of League football, Preston North End's oldest player. Graham played in all of Preston's 22 League Championship matches, and also played in all five

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 ...

ties including the semi–final and the final. The 1889 FA Cup Final was played at Kennington Oval on 30 March 1889 and the opponents were

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. Preston won 3–0 to secure the

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

without losing a match. During the 1888–89 season his brother

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

also played for Preston. Graham played in 17 League matches during the 1889–90 season as he won his second Championship medal. Towards the end of that season his football career was ended when he suffered a broken collarbone in a game. Though he never got on the score sheet for North End during their League days, he did create a number of goalscoring opportunities for the likes of

John Goodall John Goodall (19 June 1863 – 20 May 1942) was a footballer who rose to fame as a centre forward for England and for Preston North End at the time of the development of the Football League, and also became Watford's first manager in 1903. He ...

and Jimmy Ross with his long throws. He died on his 70th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Johnny 1857 births 1927 deaths Footballers from South Ayrshire Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Preston North End F.C. players Association football wing halves English Football League players Place of death missing FA Cup Final players Annbank F.C. players