Peter Meehan (often misspelled "Meechan") (28 February 1872 – 26 June 1915) 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 ...

who played as a full-back. He won the English league championship in 1894–95 with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and 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 ...

championship with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in 1895–96. He also played in the

1897 FA Cup Final Events January–March * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a puniti ...

for Everton and the 1900 FA Cup Final for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, and made one appearance 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 ...

in 1896.

Football career

Meehan was born in

Broxburn, West Lothian Broxburn ( gd, Srath Bhroc, IPA: �s̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road (Great Britain), A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston, West Lothian, Living ...

, the son of a

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

miner who had migrated from

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

in Ireland. In his youth, he played amateur football for three local football clubs Broxburn Emmett (

juniors 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 ...

), Broxburn Shamrock and

Broxburn F.C. Broxburn United Football Club was a football club based at Sports Park in Broxburn, West Lothian in Scotland. The club was formed by the amalgamation of the town's two senior clubs Broxburn and Broxburn Athletic in 1912, and was a member of the ...

In December 1891, Broxburn Shamrock played the holders of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Heart of Midlothian, in a sixth round tie. Despite being the team captain, Meehan refused to play in the match, won 5–4 by Hearts, because of a dispute over the "terms" under which he would play. In early 1893 he transferred to Hibernian, missing out on the later part of Shamrock's run to the semi-finals of the

1892–93 Scottish Cup The 1892–93 Scottish Cup was the 20th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Queen's Park when they beat Celtic 2–1 in the final after a replay. Calendar First round *Match declared void ...

. In June 1893, he moved south of the border to join

for whom he made 60 appearances, scoring once, helping them to become Football League champions in 1894–95. While at Sunderland, he was the subject of a dispute in the ''

West Lothian Courier Reach plc publishes many newspapers, magazines and news websites. This list of Reach plc titles is a non-exhuastive list of these. Before 2018, Reach plc was known as Trinity Mirror plc. The list includes titles owned by the Mirror Group Newspape ...

'', when a contributor challenged his right to register to vote at Broxburn while living and working in England. In May 1895, Meehan returned to Scotland to join

, helping them take the Scottish championship in 1895–96. In his time at Celtic, he made an appearance for the

against the Irish League on 15 February 1896, followed by his sole international appearance for

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 ...

on 28 March 1896, in which he suffered an injury. His Celtic career ended on a controversial note when he and two other players – John Divers and Barney Battles – refused to play a match against Hibernian in November 1896; they refused to play because of the presence at the stadium of a reporter who had heavily criticised Celtic following a Glasgow Cup defeat against Rangers the previous week. Following this "strike", Celtic suspended the three men, with Meehan and Divers being allowed to leave the club. In January 1897, Meehan joined Everton for a £450 transfer fee that was split between Celtic and Sunderland,The Life and Times of Peter Meehan
Tony Onslow, ToffeeWeb, 4 October 2017 (Divers made the same move) and quickly helped them reach the final of the

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 ...

1897 Events January–March * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a puniti ...

, which was won 3–2 by

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. In his one and a half seasons with Everton, Meehan made a total of 28 appearances. In August 1898, Meehan moved to the south coast for a club record fee of £200, when he joined a

team that was dominating the Southern League and contained a host of international and ex-First Division players. So good were they that they easily despatched three top flight clubs, including Meehan's former Everton teammates, on their way to the 1900 FA Cup Final against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

. On the day of the game, Meehan and his Scottish colleagues were angered by the selection of an out of form English forward,

Jack Farrell John A. "Jack" Farrell (July 5, 1857 – February 9, 1914), also known as "Moose", was an American Major League Baseball player who played mainly second base in his 11 seasons. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Farrell made his major league debut ...

, over the free-scoring

Roddy McLeod Roderick McLeod (12 February 1872 – 20 December 1931) was a Scottish professional footballer who was part of the West Bromwich Albion team which won the FA Cup in 1892 and was a losing finalist in 1895. Playing career West Bromwich Albion McL ...

who had played brilliantly in the games leading up to the final. The English players wanted their forward in the team and got their way. The bitterness between the two camps showed on the field and led to a 4–0 defeat. Following the bitter dispute at Southampton, Meehan joined

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in September 1900, for whom he made six appearances in the 1900–01 season. He made his City debut in a 2–1 win against Sheffield United.Peter Meehan
Bluemoon He left

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

at the end of the season to join

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

in the Lancashire League for a season before re-joining Broxburn F.C. in March 1902. He then spent the 1903–04 season in

Scottish Division Two 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 ...

with Clyde before returning to his home town to play out his career with Broxburn Shamrock.

Life after football

In 1905, Meehan migrated to Nova Scotia in Canada, where he failed to find employment as a football coach and returned to mining. Meehan died in Port Morien in mid-1915, aged 43, with his wife, Annie Thompson, expecting their eighth child. The cause of his death was variously attributed to appendicitis or pneumonia brought about after spending a night in the snow looking for a missing relative, possibly aggravated by his work as a miner.

Honours

Sunderland *

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 ...

champions: 1894–95 Celtic *

champions: 1895–96 Everton *

finalist:

Southampton * Southern League champions: 1898–99 * FA Cup finalist:

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 ...

References

External links

Sunderland profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meehan, Peter 1872 births 1915 deaths Sportspeople from Broxburn, West Lothian Footballers from West Lothian Association football fullbacks Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Broxburn United F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Everton F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish people of Irish descent Scottish emigrants to Canada FA Cup Final players