Name:Born: Lisburn
Height: 5.10½ ft
Weight: 12.12 st
Position: Centre-Half
Representative Honours: Ireland: 2 Amateur Caps (1951-1953); Irish League: 1 Cap (1954); Irish FA Representative.
Club Honours: (with Distillery) Irish Cup Winner 1955/56; City Cup Winner 1959/60; Gold Cup Runner-Up 1953/54; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1953/54, Runner-Up 1952/53.
Club Career:
|
Teams
|
Seasons
|
Signed
|
Fee
|
League
|
FA Cup
|
Other
|
|
Banbridge
Town
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
Distillery
|
50/51-60/61
|
-
|
-
|
*256/0
|
-
|
-
|
|
TOTALS
|
-
|
£-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
Biography:
A highly versatile player, Lisburn-lad Frankie Watters spent over a decade at Distillery, mainly featuring at centre-half. In the late-1950s, after losing his regular firstteam place, he filled in at full-back when required and on one notable occasion he was one of four goalkeepers The Whites used against Linfield. Regular 'keeper John Kennedy was injured after ten minutes and up-stepped Watters. After conceding twice he was replaced by Gerry Brennan and then Jim Emery, both of whom also conceded two goals!
A multi-honoured representative player, Watters was a relative Irish League novice when he appeared in an amateur international against the Gold Coast at The Oval. It was two years before he was again capped at amateur level, captaining the side against a touring South African team. Inter-League honours followed in 1954 when the Scottish League put in a sublime second-half performance to defeat the Irish League 5-1 at Windsor Park. That same year Watters also featured for the Irish FA in one of their regular matches against the British Army.
After dropping from the Distillery firstteam in 1957 Watters featured regularly with the Seconds, stepping back to the senior eleven when required through to 1961. Although he played 256 games for Distillery, he failed to score a single goal. He was appointed temporary firstteam coach in December 1958 before taking charge of Distillery's reserves.
Ireland Amateur Cap Details:
15-08-1951 Gold Coast.. H W 5-2
12-09-1953 England .... H W 2-1
10-10-1953 South Africa H L 2-5
Summary: 2/0. Won 1, Drew 0, Lost 1.
Irish League Representative Appearance Details:
15-09-1954 Scottish League H L 1-5
Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 1.
Irish FA Representative Appearance Details:
05-05-1954 British Army H W 1-0
Comments