James Adams (17 August 1864 – 21 April 1943) 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 lea ...

who played for Heart of Midlothian, Everton and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He started his senior career with Hearts, and won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1891 Events January * January 1 ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new African territories. * January 4 – The Earl of Zetland issues a ...

(their first major trophy and the first time the competition had been won by a team from the Scottish capital). He played in England for Everton for two seasons from 1894 to 1896, before playing one more season for Hearts in 1896–97 and finishing with a short spell at St Bernard's. Adams won three caps for

, spread across four years. In an era when representative matches between cities and regions were frequent, he was selected for Edinburgh / East of Scotland on 17 occasions. Adams once deliberately

handled the ball Handled the ball was formerly one of the methods of dismissing a batter in the sport of cricket, but was integrated into the Law on obstructing the field when the Laws of Cricket were rewritten in 2017. It dictated that either batter can be gi ...

to prevent a

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

from being scored (against East Stirlingshire during Hearts' 1891 cup run), and the outcry resulting from this incident led to the introduction of the

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

.Sat 20 Dec 1890 14:30 East Stirlingshire 1 Hearts 3
London Hearts Supporters Club. Retrieved 14 March 2022 After retiring as a player, Adams became a football

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

. He later emigrated to the United States where he worked as a

mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a worker who lays bricks to assist in brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutti ...

, and died in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in 1943.

References

External links

*
International stats
at londonhearts.com

at londonhearts.com

at londonhearts.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, James 1864 births 1943 deaths Footballers from Edinburgh Men's association football defenders Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Everton F.C. players St Bernard's F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish football referees Scottish Football League representative players Scottish emigrants to the United States