Alexander Higgins MM (4 November 1885 – 15 March 1939) was a Scottish footballer who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

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 ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...

, Norwich City and the Scotland national team.

Career

Higgins was described as a player who could go by players with ease, but sometimes would be selfish with the ball and would try to do more than passing a simple ball. He won a

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 ...

Championship 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 ...

with

, playing for the club between 1905 and 1919, appearing in 150 games and scoring 41 goals. He later played for hometown club

, (where he had also been prior to joining Newcastle, without playing a first team game) and was with the club when they won the 1920 Scottish Cup, but did not play in the final because his father (

Sandy Higgins Snr Alexander Higgins (7 November 1863 – 17 April 1920) was a Scottish footballer who played for Kilmarnock, Derby County, Nottingham Forest and the Scotland national team. Career Higgins was born in Kilmarnock, originally working as a coal-mine ...

, also a footballer who had played for Kilmarnock as well as Derby County and

) died on the same day – but still was awarded the medal due to the circumstances. Higgins won four caps 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 ...

, all while with Newcastle United.

Personal life

Higgins served as a corporal in the East Yorkshire Regiment and the Durham Light Infantry during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and won the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

during the course of his service.

Honours

Newcastle United *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1908–09 *

: 1909–10 Kilmarnock *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1919–20

References

* * *

External links

* 1885 births 1939 deaths Scottish men's footballers Newcastle United F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football forwards English Football League players Footballers from Kilmarnock Jarrow F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Scottish Football League players British Army personnel of World War I East Yorkshire Regiment soldiers Durham Light Infantry soldiers Recipients of the Military Medal Military personnel from East Ayrshire {{Scotland-footy-forward-1880s-stub