James Eadie Gordon (23 July 1888 – 22 November 1954) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 spent most of his career with

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

. During the

First World War 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 was a sergeant in the

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First World War, First and World War II, Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 t ...

Career

Born in

Saltcoats Saltcoats (; Scots: ''Saulcuts'') is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

, Gordon played with juvenile side Thornwood Athletic and

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

club Renfrew Victoria (being selected for the Scotland team at that level) before joining Rangers during the 1906–07 season. He stayed with the Ibrox club until 1920, playing 315

Scottish Football 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&nbs ...

games and winning five championships in the process (388 appearances including all cups of the time). Versatile enough to play in any position on the pitch, he did just that playing in goals, in defence, in midfield and up front for Rangers. His favoured role was

right-half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and this was the position he occupied most during his international career with the Scotland national team, which extended to ten

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

between 1912 and 1920. Gordon also represented 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 ...

14 times, played in four unofficial wartime internationals and took part in an unofficial Scottish tour of North America in 1921. Gordon "guested" for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and Hearts during

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 ...

and joined

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

when he finally left Rangers in 1920. After his playing retirement, he and former Rangers colleague Jimmy Galt ran a series of

billiard halls Billiard or billiards may refer to: Cue sports * A , a type of shot in cue sports ''(see below)'' * Billiards: cue sports in general; the term "billiards" by itself is also sometimes used to refer to any of the following more specifically: ** Car ...

. He was included in the Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame on 5 February 2007.

References

External links

Rangers Hall of Fame profile
* 1888 births 1954 deaths Military personnel from North Ayrshire Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's wartime international footballers Rangers F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Highland Light Infantry soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Sportspeople from Saltcoats Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Footballers from North Ayrshire Fulham F.C. wartime guest players Heart of Midlothian F.C. wartime guest players Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scotland men's junior international footballers Renfrew Victoria F.C. players {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1880s-stub

Career

See also

References

External links