George Niven (11 June 1929 – 17 July 2008) was a Scottish footballer who played during the 1950s and 1960s as a

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 ...

for Rangers and Partick Thistle.

Career

Club

Niven was signed to Rangers from

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

Coupar Angus Coupar Angus (; Gaelic: ''Cùbar Aonghais'') is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, south of Blairgowrie. The name Coupar Angus serves to differentiate the town from Cupar, Fife. The town was traditionally on the border between Angus and P ...

in 1951 by manager

Bill Struth William Struth (16 June 1875 – 21 September 1956) was a Scottish football manager. He was the second manager of Rangers Football Club, leading the club for 34 years between 1920 and 1954, as well as being the holder of a number of other posi ...

. He made his debut against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on 19 April 1952 in the final league match of the season, which finished 1–1. He spent over ten years at Ibrox and won five league championships, two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,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 ...

, four

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rul ...

s and three Charity Cups. He made 327 appearances in total for the club. In February 1962 he joined Partick Thistle. Whilst in

Maryhill Maryhill ( gd, Cnoc Màiri) is an area of the City of Glasgow in Scotland. Maryhill is a former burgh. Maryhill stretches over along Maryhill Road. The far north west of the area is served by Maryhill railway station. History Hew Hill, ...

he would make a total of 232 first class appearances and become an ever present in the ''Jags'' goal. He never missed a league match in three separate seasons: 1962–63, 1963–64 and 1967–68. He lost his place as number one when old rival from Rangers, Billy Ritchie, joined Thistle. After not featuring in the first team all season (his last game coming in a 0–0 draw at Airdrie in April 1968), he left in the summer of 1969. Niven retired from playing shortly after this.

International

Niven never played for the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...

. It is understood that he has played the most games for Rangers of any Scottish player who has not been capped by Scotland. Niven was selected twice for Scotland, but had to withdraw each time due to injury and was replaced by

Frank Haffey Francis Haffey (born 28 November 1938) is a Scottish former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Celtic F.C., Celtic and the Scotland national football team, Scottish national team. ...

. He did, however, represent 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 ...

seven times.

Death

Niven died on 17 July 2008, aged 79.Obituary
''The Scotsman'', 24 July 2008

References

External links

"George Niven: Highly regarded Rangers goalkeeper"
''The Times'', 31 July 2008
Obituary
''The Herald'', 23 July 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Niven, George 1929 births 2008 deaths Rangers F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Association football goalkeepers Scottish Football League players Scottish footballers Scottish Football League representative players Footballers from Fife People from Blairhall Coupar Angus F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players