David Reid (2 May 1896 – March 1963) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who played for Everton, captained

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

to Irish Cup success in 1929 and also managed both sides of the Irish border with Drumcondra and

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 ...

Early life

The Reid family originally came from the

Riccarton Riccarton may refer to: New Zealand * Riccarton, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch ** Riccarton (New Zealand electorate), the electorate named after it ** The location of Riccarton Race Course * a locality on the Taieri Plains in Otago Scot ...

area near

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

in Scotland, but moved to

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 ...

in 1900. David (who had a twin sister Mary) and siblings including

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Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

and

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were born in Scotland (so were not eligible to play for the Ireland national team under the rules of the time) while

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Allen (basketball) (born 1949), American basketball player and ...

and Bob were born in

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

; all the boys became footballers to some extent. Reid began his football career alongside his brothers at

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

in the late 1910s, winning two caps for the

Irish League representative team The Irish League representative team was the representative side of the Irish Football League, the national league for football in Northern Ireland from 1922 and, prior to that the league for Ireland. The Irish League was suspended from 1941–42 ...

side in 1919 and two consecutive

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

winners' medals.

Everton

In late May 1920, Everton announced the signing of 23-year-old Reid for a fee of £1,500, having impressed during a representative game between the Irish and English leagues, in which Reid scored. Reid made his debut against

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

in August 1920, going on to make 101 appearances for the Toffees, scoring 10 goals during eight seasons at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

. In February 1928, Reid returned to Northern Ireland to finish the 1927–28 season with

. Everton went onto win the English First Division that season.

Ballymena

Despite having been highly expected to complete a permanent move back to Distillery in the summer of 1928, Reid was convinced to join the new

team who had been recently formed to compete in the Irish League for the 1928–29 season. He signed for the Light Blues as club captain in June 1928 alongside his older brother John, who had also returned home from fellow Merseyside club, New Brighton. The ''Braidmen'' experienced immediate success with a shock win in the 1929

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

final against

Belfast Celtic Belfast Celtic Football Club was an Irish football club. Founded in 1891 in Belfast, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in 1949. The club left the league for political reaso ...

. The Ballymena side led by Reid proved their debut season success was no fluke with back-to-back Irish Cup final appearances in 1930 and 1931. His performances for the new side led to a return to the Irish League representative team during the 1929–30 season. During three seasons, Reid made 128 appearances and scored 12 goals at the

Ballymena Showgrounds The Ballymena Showgrounds is a football stadium in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is home to Ballymena United F.C. and Ballymena United Women F.C. It is owned by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. In addition to men's footba ...

.'Coleman, N. (2015). ''The Official History of Ballymena United FC''. Ballyhay Books.

Post Ballymena career

In August 1931, Reid took up the position of player-manager at struggling Drumcondra in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

. He returned North back to the Irish League for the 1934–35 season, having retired from playing to become manager of

, but only lasted until September 1934 before resigning his post at

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

Club honours

Distillery *

winner: 1918–19, 1919–20 Ballymena *

winner: 1928–29 *

runner-up: 1929–30, 1930–31 *

City Cup The City Cup was a rugby league competition involving Australian premiership teams. The post season tournament was a regular feature in the years 1912–1925. City Cups were also played in 1937, 1942 and 1959. The inaugural city cup was conteste ...

runner-up: 1928–29

Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, David 1896 births 1963 deaths Scottish twins Twins from Northern Ireland Scottish men's footballers Scottish football managers Everton F.C. players Drumcondra F.C. players Ballymena F.C. players Irish League representative players English Football League players Men's association football midfielders Association football managers from Northern Ireland Footballers from Kilmarnock Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland NIFL Premiership players NIFL Premiership managers Glentoran F.C. managers Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Men's association football player-managers League of Ireland players League of Ireland managers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate football managers People from Riccarton, East Ayrshire 20th-century Scottish sportsmen