James Robert Combe (29 January 1924 – 19 January 1991) 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 Hibernian and was player/manager of

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

for one season. He also represented

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 ...

and the

Scottish Football 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 ...

. A schoolboy internationalist, Combe joined his local club Hibernian at the age of 17 from Inveresk Athletic. He was originally an inside right but dropped back to the half back line upon the formation of the Hibs Famous Five forward line, his old position taken by

Bobby Johnstone Robert Johnstone (7 September 1929 – 22 August 2001) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Selkirk, Hibernian, Manchester City, Oldham Athletic and Witton Albion. Johnstone also represented Scotland and the Scottish League. Johnstone ...

. Despite operating largely in the shadows of the "Five", Combe enjoyed a long and successful career. He won

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

winners medals in

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

. He also won one

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

runners-up medal. Combe was also a

internationalist, earning three caps in 1948. He made his debut in a 2–0 defeat by

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 ...

and also appeared against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

that year, scoring against the latter. He was selected in Scotland's 22 man squad for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

but the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

only budgeted to take 13 players (including only one goalkeeper) to the finals in Switzerland. Combe was one of the nine who did not travel, along with the likes of

Ernie Copland Ernie Copland (14 October 1924 – December 1971) was a Scottish footballer who played for Arbroath, Dundee and Raith Rovers. He was selected for Scotland's 1954 FIFA World Cup squad, but did not travel to the finals and never actually played ...

and

Jimmy Binning James Binning (21 December 1922 – 1991) was a Scottish footballer who played for Arbroath and Dumfries side Queen of the South. Career From the season 1948–1949 until his departure, Binning scored six goals in his 84 league games for Arbro ...

. Inside forward George Hamilton was also on reserve, but travelled after

withdrew through injury. Combe retired from playing in 1957 and was appointed Hibernian's trainer. He held that role for two years before briefly becoming player-manager of

. In his later years, Combe worked as a shopkeeper in his native Leith, then in the marketing department of

Scottish Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Combe, Bobby 1924 births 1991 deaths 1954 FIFA World Cup players People from Leith Scottish footballers Scottish Football League players Scotland international footballers Hibernian F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Scottish football managers Hibernian F.C. non-playing staff Dumbarton F.C. managers Association football wing halves Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Place of death missing Footballers from Edinburgh