Andrew Lynd Kennedy (1 September 1897 – December 1963) was an Irish

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 lea ...

Career

Born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Kennedy played as a youth for Belfast Celtic before joining

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

in 1915. He moved to England in 1920, joining

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

side Crystal Palace in 1920; he played a solitary Division Three South game for them before moving across the city to join

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 ...

as a reserve full back in August 1922. Soon after joining Arsenal, Kennedy stepped up to the first team after Arthur Hutchins was dropped, and made his debut against

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

on 2 December 1922. He impressed enough that he played all but one of the Gunners' remaining games that season, and gained international recognition, winning two caps for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in their 1923

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

campaign. After injury wrecked his 1923–24 season – Kennedy missed the start of the season, and after returning was dropped from the side after Arsenal lost 6–1 to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

– he played all but one of Arsenal's League matches the following season (as Arsenal narrowly avoided relegation). However, he did not find favour under

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English Association football, football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful manage ...

, who first switched Bob John back into defence, and then signed Horace Cope during 1925–26 as a replacement for Kennedy. However, Cope was injured before Arsenal's first

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, meaning Kennedy started the match, against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

; however, a mistake by Dan Lewis meant Arsenal lost 1–0, and Kennedy only walked away with a runners-up medal. Kennedy only played two more matches for Arsenal, both of them heavy defeats (5–1 and 4–0). Displeased with his team's defence, Chapman had a clearout at Arsenal, and Kennedy was sold to Everton in January 1928. In all, Kennedy had played 129 matches for Arsenal. Everton won the First Division championship that season but Kennedy was only a reserve player that season. After a solitary League appearance for Everton, he moved on to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

that summer, playing there for two seasons until his retirement in 1930.

Death

He died in 1963, aged 66.

Honours

Arsenal *

runner-up: 1926–27

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Andy 1897 births 1963 deaths Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Belfast Celtic F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Everton F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland NIFL Premiership players