James Blair (11 May 1888 – 28 February 1964) was a Scottish international

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 ...

, probably most well known for playing in the

1925 FA Cup Final The 1925 FA Cup final was an association football match contested by Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United and Cardiff City F.C., Cardiff City on 25 April 1925 at Wembley Stadium (1923), Wembley Stadium in London, England. The final was the s ...

for Cardiff City. His sons, Doug and Jimmy Jr., were also professional footballers.

Career

Club

Blair had played for Scottish junior sides Bonnybridge Thistle and Ashfield before being signed by Clyde in 1908. He helped the club reach two Scottish Cup Finals, attracting interest from several clubs around Britain.

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

signed him in 1914 for a fee of £2,000. Unfortunately he struggled to ever make a big impact on the team due to various events. Soon after joining the club he was involved in a motorcycle crash that kept him out of the team for a long period and he had made just twenty appearances following his recovery when the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

was suspended due to the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He returned home to Scotland during the war (winning the 1917–18 Scottish Football League title with Rangers during the second of three seasons with the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

club) and Sheffield Wednesday struggled to get him to return to the club after the hostilities had ended as he was not happy with the deal being offered. He did eventually return to play for the club but, following their relegation, he left to join Cardiff City in 1920 for £3,500. He made his debut in a 4–2 win over

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

and went on to establish himself in Cardiff's first team during his six years at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a association football, football stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovatio ...

. In 1925 Blair was on the losing side in the

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 against Sheffield United following Fred Tunstall's goal. He left the club in 1926 and played for two years at Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic before retiring. He later spent time in a coaching role at Cardiff before moving into the licensing trade.

International

During the early 1920s Blair became a regular for

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 ...

and won a total of eight caps, captaining the side on three occasions, making his first appearance on 13 March 1920 against

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 ...

and his final appearance on 16 February 1924 against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Honours

;Clyde *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1909–10, 1911–12 *

Glasgow Charity Cup The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cup ...

: 1909–10 ;Rangers *

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 k ...

: 1917–18 *

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 rule ...

: 1917–18, 1918–19 *

: 1918–19 ;Cardiff City *

: finalist 1924–25 *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

: 1921–22, 1922–23
;Scotland *

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 ...

: 1922 –23

References

External links

London Hearts profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Jimmy 1888 births 1964 deaths Footballers from North Lanarkshire Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's wartime international footballers Clyde F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players English Football League players Ashfield F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Place of death missing Men's association football defenders