Stewart Kennedy (born 31 August 1949 in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

) is a Scottish former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, who played for

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

, Rangers,

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games a ...

and

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

. Kennedy played in five full international matches 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 in 1975.

Career

Kennedy joined

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

as an 18-year-old in 1967 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

Camelon Camelon (; sco, Caimlan, gd, Camlann)
is a large set ...

, before returning to junior football in 1969 with

Linlithgow Rose Linlithgow Rose Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Linlithgow, West Lothian. The team plays in the East of Scotland Football League Premier Division, the sixth tier of Scottish football, having moved from the junior leagues i ...

. Two years later he returned to the senior game, signing for

. It was from here, after another two-year stint, he was signed by Rangers for £10,000. He mainly served as back-up for their established goalkeeper

Peter McCloy Peter McCloy (born 26 November 1946) is a Scottish retired football goalkeeper who played for Motherwell and Rangers. He was a member of the team which won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1972, and was Rangers' first-choice goalkeeper for mos ...

. A number of goalkeepers came and left Rangers during McCloy's long career as number one, but Kennedy was the most successful, amassing 131 appearances and 45

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s. Standing tall and weighing , he made a major contribution to Rangers

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

league win, their first in eleven years, playing in every match. From then until 1978 Kennedy and McCloy exchanged the position, both playing regularly. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

five times by

in the 1974–75 season, his last appearance coming in a 5–1 defeat to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. Kennedy received two league championship winner's medals, in 1975 and 1978, and two for the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, in 1976 and 1978. He left Ibrox in 1980, moving to Forfar on a free transfer. He continued playing there until the age of 40, and had a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

against Rangers in 1985. He then came out of retirement to play one match for

in the 1991–92 season, when the club suffered an injury crisis.

References

External links

* * 1949 births Scottish footballers Association football goalkeepers Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Stenhousemuir F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Forfar Athletic F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Scotland international footballers Living people Scottish Junior Football Association players Footballers from Stirling Linlithgow Rose F.C. players Scotland under-23 international footballers Camelon Juniors F.C. players {{Scotland-footy-goalkeeper-stub