Robert Smyth McColl (13 April 1876 – 25 November 1959) 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 forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Playing career

McColl started his career with junior club Benmore in 1892 and moved to Queen's Park in 1894. He represented the Scottish League in 1901. He later played professionally in England for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, remaining on Tyneside for three years until he came back to Glasgow in 1904 to play for

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. He returned to Queen's Park in 1907, although the restoration of his amateur status had to be decided by the board of the club beforehand. McColl finished his football career in 1912, scoring 6 goals in his penultimate game against

Port Glasgow Athletic Port-Glasgow Athletic was a football club based in Port Glasgow, Scotland. The club was formed in 1878 and originally named Broadfield before changing their name in 1881. They played in the Scottish Football League between 1893 and 1911, and were ...

, a Scottish scoring record which stands to the present day. McColl played 13 games and scored 13 goals for the Scotland national football team and he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in November 2011. He is the only player to have scored a hat-trick against each of the other home nations.

Personal life

McColl is now better known for lending his name to the newsagent chain

RS McColl RS McColl, colloquially known as McColl's, is a Scottish newsagent company named after Robert Smyth McColl, who was a professional footballer. It was founded in 1901 by McColl and his brother Tom. RS McColl is a trading name of McColl's, a s ...

, which he set up in 1901 with his brother Tom; due to this he became known as 'Toffee Bob'. He served as a

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

in the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

during the First World War. He is buried at

Cathcart Cemetery Cathcart Cemetery is a cemetery in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, which was opened in 1876 . It is named after the nearby neighbourhood of Cathcart on the southern outskirts of Glasgow, but does not actually fall within the city boundaries, instea ...

in southern Glasgow.McColl was your man for corners...
Lost Glasgow, 23 September 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022Friends of Cathcart presents Footballers of Cathcart: one of Glasgow's Footballing Graveyards
''Football Makes Glasgow'' via YouTube, 11 January 2022

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each McColl goal.''

References

External links