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Tom Watson

Name: Thomas Houston Watson
Born: 4th October 1900*, Belfast
Died: 13 May 1978
Height:
Weight:
Position: Left-Back
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Representative Honours: Ireland: 1 Full Cap (1926), Junior Caps.
Club Honours: (with Cardiff) FA Cup Winner 1926/27; Welsh Cup Winner 1926/27; (with Linfield) Irish League Champion 1929/30; Irish Cup Winner 1929/30.
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Club Career:
Clubs
Seasons
Signed
Fee
League
FA Cup
Other
Glenarm
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Crusaders
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(Intermediate League)
Cardiff City
25/26-28/29
Aug-25
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85/0
11/0
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Linfield
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TOTALS
£-
85/0
11/0
-
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Biography:
Born and raised in north Belfast, Tom Watson found his footballing feet at Crusaders, then a force in intermediate football, in the early 1920s. The Crues had been a happy hunting ground for Cardiff in the years preceding Watson's signing in 1925, Jimmy Nelson (a Scot) and Tom Sloan having made the same move. That trio, joined by two further Irishmen, Tom Farquharson and Sam Irving, made history when the Bluebirds defeated Arsenal in the 1927 FA Cup final, so taking the Cup out of England for the first time. Two weeks after beating Arsenal they completed a unique double by winning the Welsh Cup too, Rhyl bested 2-0 in that final.

Watson was capped just once by Ireland in an Irish team, also featuring Irving and Sloan, that was defeated 4-0 by Scotland at Ibrox. He was called into a team weakened by the withdrawal of a number of players. The Irish started the match, played in heavy rain, brightly before being easily overwhelmed by a superior Scottish eleven. It was recorded that the Irish back-line bore the brunt of the Scots' attacks with "a fair measure of success", despite the scoreline.

Having displaced Scottish international captain Jimmy Blair from the left-back slot early in his Cardiff career, Watson's firstteam role was comparatively short-lived. He was blighted by cartilage problems and after undergoing surgery during the 1928/29 season was unable to regain his firstteam place. He returned to Ireland to join Linfield, again teaming up with Sloan, and the pair completed their "set" of three different cup medals when Linfield defeated Ballymena in the 1930 final.

Ireland Cap Details:
27-02-1926 Scotland A L 0-4 BC
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Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 1.

Additional details courtesy of Martin O'Connor.

Many sources list Watson's birth date as 4 October 1902. We thank his grandson David for the clarification and for further additions.

Comments

diane waston said…
This is my grandfather Tommy Watson, who was a great footballer in his day. I am very proud to be the grand-daughter of such a loving generous, well respected man. He passed away in 1978 after a short illness. In loving memory from all my family ... The Watson clan !!!
Kenneth Hurst Watson said…
This my great uncle. He was the brother to my father Joseph Frazer Hurst Watson born 22.10.08 died Jan 1956. I only met him once, for a few days at my fathers funeral but I recall him as being very happy and contented man in spite of the pain caused by his injuries. I am proud to be related to and to have known, for however short a time such a man
Anonymous said…
philip john watson, i was at wembley in 2008, as a guest of the sponsers e-on. shame we didnt win. i spoke to the manager of cardiff city after the game, and he said, tommy would be proud of the team, in the way they played. my grandfather william (billy) watson and my dad john watson
has ask me to put this up.