Donald Campbell Clark Ford (born 25 October 1944) is a Scottish former international
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 ...
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 Bo'ness United in 1964, Ford having previously played with Vale of Avon. Ford quickly made the adjustment to top flight football, playing 7 times in his first full season in
Gorgie
Gorgie ( ) is a densely populated area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located in the west of the city and borders Murrayfield, Ardmillan and Dalry.
Name
The name is thought to be Brythonic in origin. Early forms suggest it derives from ''gor g ...
, as Hearts lost the 1964–65 League title to Kilmarnock on goal average.
At this stage, Ford was still playing as an amateur, combining football with studies in chartered
accountancy
Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "langua ...
. This understandably affected his footballing development and Ford's appearances over the following seasons were sporadic. However, upon completion of his final accountancy exams in 1967, Ford signed professional terms and became an integral part of the Hearts first team. He played over 30 times in each of the following 8 seasons before eventually transferring to Falkirk in 1976 at the age of 32. A serious knee injury forced him into retirement the following year.
Ford was capped 3 times for the Scotland national team, making his debut against
in 1973. He had previously played 9 times for the Scotland national amateur team. He was selected in the squad for the 1974 FIFA World Cup in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
but did not make an appearance.
Ford's international recognition was especially notable as his career coincided with a gradual decline in Hearts' playing fortunes. Despite Ford striking up a successful front pairing with
Drew Busby
Andrew Douglas Busby (8 December 1947 – 1 July 2022) was a Scottish footballer who played for Third Lanark, Airdrieonians, Hearts, Toronto Blizzard and Morton. Busby also served Queen of the South as their player-manager.
Career
Busby st ...
, the side struggled to match the standards set in the 1950s and early 60s. His only honours were runners-up medals: for the League in 1964–65, for the 1967–68
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1970–71
Texaco Cup
The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions.
It wa ...
. Indeed, Ford was one of only two Hearts players capped in the 1970s, the other being
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 ...
Jim Cruickshank
James Fergus Cruickshank (13 April 1941 – 18 November 2010) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Heart of Midlothian through most of the 1960s and 1970s, making nearly 400 league appearances. He had brief spe ...
.
Cricket career
Ford was an all-round sportsman and, as well as playing professional football, he was also a competent
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
er. During his footballing years, he regularly played for the West Lothian County side during the summer off-season. Ford's cricket career outlasted his footballing one, and so he was able to devote more time to it in his veteran years, captaining West Lothian for 3 seasons in his mid-thirties. His undoubted cricketing highlight was selection in the first
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
Ford has remained active in the public sphere since his retirement from the sporting fields, serving on the Scottish Sports Council for a spell in the 1990s and as a local councillor in Linlithgow. He was also involved with
Radio Forth
Radio Forth is a group of two Independent Local Radio stations serving Edinburgh, Lothians and Fife. Radio Forth is owned and operated by Bauer, based at studios in Edinburgh and forms part of Bauer's Hits Radio network and Greatest Hits Radio ne ...
's local football coverage in the 1980s.
In 1991, Ford left the accountancy profession and became a professional landscape photographer, a field he continues to work in to this day.
As a proud Hearts supporter, Ford has maintained an active interest in the club since his playing retirement. He played a significant role in persuading Wallace Mercer to invest in the club in the early 1980s, at a time when it teetered on the financial precipice. Within 5 years of Mercer's involvement the club had returned to the top flight and European football. Similarly, he was a vocal advocate of the fans campaign to prevent the sale of
Tynecastle Stadium
Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as ...
to clear debts by then Hearts chairman Chris Robinson during the 2004–05 season.
Personal life
His father,
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, and brother,
Malcolm
Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to:
People
* Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters
* Clan Malcolm
* Maol Choluim de Innerpeffray, 14th-century bishop-elect of Dunkeld
Nobility
* Máe ...
, both played
first-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...
for Scotland.
See also
*
List of Scottish cricket and football players
This is a list of sportsmen who have played both first-class cricket and professional football in Scotland or England. The list includes four sportsmen who are dual internationals, having represented Scotland's national team at both sports.
List ...