Thomas Cairns (30 October 1892 – 30 November 1967) 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 for

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

Peebles Rovers Peebles Rovers Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Peebles, Scottish Borders. Originally founded in 1888 as Greenside Rovers, the club changed their name to Peebles Rovers in the May of 1890. This is at odds with the official ...

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 ...

, Rangers,

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

and

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 ...

Career

Club

Born in Merryton,

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

, Cairns made his name in

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 ...

football, helping Burnbank Athletic to the

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA in 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compete ...

in 1911. He also appeared for

Larkhall Thistle Larkhall Thistle Football Club is a football club from Larkhall, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Formed in 1878, "the Jags" are Scotland's oldest continuous Junior football club and currently compete in the . The team plays in red and white str ...

before earning an opportunity in the senior leagues. His first professional club was

where he played for two seasons from 1911. He joined

in 1913 and had a short spell with

before joining Rangers in November 1913. He made his debut against

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

on 27 December 1913 and played a total of nine games in his first season as Rangers finished second to rivals

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 Division One. Cairns was a regular in the Rangers team the following season, missing just one league game. He continued to be a regular in the team for the next two seasons but it was in season 1917–18 that he won his first League title (Rangers' first for five years). Cairns was an ever-present and scored 11 goals. Cairns enjoyed further League title successes in 1919–20, 1920–21, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1924–25 and 1926–27 before joining

. His final Rangers appearance was in a 2–1 win over Queen's Park on 1 March 1927. In his time with Bradford he made 135 appearances and won a

Football League Division Three North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

winner's medal in 1929. He retired from football in 1932 and later worked as a scout for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

International

Cairns was also

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 ...

at international level, making eight Scotland appearances. He made his international debut in a

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 against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

on 26 February 1920 and he scored in a 1–1 draw. During his international career, he was never on the losing side, winning six games and drawing two. His final international appearance was on 4 April 1925 in a 2–0 win over

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 ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

. Cairns also represented the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

Personal life

Two of Cairns's brothers played football at Junior level, with Hugh winning the Scottish Junior Cup in 1908 and John claiming the same trophy as a teammate of Tommy in 1911.

References

External links

*
London Hearts profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cairns, Tommy 1892 births 1967 deaths Association football inside forwards Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Scotland wartime international footballers Bristol City F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players English Football League players Peebles Rovers F.C. players Larkhall Thistle F.C. players Burnbank Athletic F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Association football scouts Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Footballers from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire