Robert John Little (8 July 1930 – 18 January 2017) 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 ...

who played as a defender for Queen's Park, Rangers,

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

and the Scotland national team.

Football career

Little was born in Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, but grew up in Scotland in

Millport, Isle of Cumbrae Millport (Scottish Gaelic: Port a' Mhuilinn) is the only town on the island of Great Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde off the coast of mainland Britain, in the council area of North Ayrshire. The town is south of the ferry terminal that links the ...

. He started his career with Queen's Park, making 55 league appearances. He joined Rangers in 1951, and he made a total of 275 appearances, scoring once. His only ever goal for the club came in a 1–1 draw with

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

in March 1954. During his time at Ibrox he won two League championships in 1952–53 and 1955–56 (he made insufficient appearances in two other title-winning seasons) and two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

and

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

. He left Rangers at the end of the 1961–62 season, moving to Morton, where he finished his career. Little won one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the Scotland national team, against Sweden in 1953. Little also played for 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 ...

twice.SFL player John Little
London Hearts Supporters Club

Post playing career

Little went on to teach

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

at St Columba's Greenock in the late 1960s and at the Sacred Heart Secondary in Paisley in the early 1970s. He died on 18 January 2017, aged 86.

References

External links

* 1930 births 2017 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Soccer players from Calgary Queen's Park F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Canadian people of Scottish descent Scottish Football League players Sportspeople from Scottish islands Scottish Football League representative players Canadian emigrants to Scotland Footballers from North Ayrshire Place of death missing Scotland men's amateur international footballers People from Millport, Cumbrae {{Scotland-footy-defender-1930s-stub

Football career

Post playing career

See also

References

External links