Dave McMullan

Dave McMullan was one of the surprisingly few players from Northern Ireland to make an impact at Liverpool...

Name: David McMullan
Born: 1901, Belfast
Position: Half-Back/Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 3 Full Caps (1925-1927); Irish League: 3 Caps (1924-1925).
Club Honours: (with Distillery) Irish Cup Winner 1924/25; Gold Cup Winner 1924/25, Runner-Up 1923/24.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Forth River	-	-	-	(Intermediate League)
Distillery	23/24-24/25	-	-	*	*	*
Liverpool	25/26-27/28	Oct-25	-	31/ 0	4/0	-
New York Giants	28/29	Jul-28	-	8/ 1	(ASL)	-
Belfast Celtic	28/29	-	-	-	-	-
Exeter City	29/30	May-29	-	19/ 0	-	-
Distillery	-	Aug-30	-	*83/20	*	*
TOTALS	-	£-		133/20	4/0	-

* all games, both spells.

Biography:
to follow.

LFCHistory.net Profile

Ireland Cap Details:
24-10-1925 England. H D 0-0 BC
13-02-1926 Wales... H W 3-0 BC
26-02-1927 Scotland H L 0-2 BC

Summary: 3/0. Won 1, Drew 1, Lost 1.

Additional information courtesy of Martin O'Connor.

"Tucker" Croft

You have to feel for a player who scored in a win over England and earned just three caps. The reason for Tucker Croft’s all-too-brief international career seems to have been his pioneering move to American Soccer…

Name: Thomas Croft
Born: 8 April 1897, Belfast
Died: 16 December 1952, Belfast
Position: Inside-Right

Representative Honours: Ireland: 3 Full Caps / 1 Goal (1922-1924); Irish League: 4 Caps (1922-1924).
Club Honours: (with Queen’s Island) Irish League Champion 1923/24, Runner-Up 1922/23, 1924/25; Irish Cup Winner 1923/24; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1923/24; City Cup Winner 1922/23, 1923/24, Runner-Up 1929/30; IFA Intermediate Cup Winner 1920/21; (with Glentoran) Charity Cup Runner-Up 1918/19; (with Fall River) American Soccer League Champion 1924/25, 1925/26; Lewis Cup Runner-Up 1925.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Others
Dundela	13/14	-	Amateur	-	-	-
Belfast United	14/15-18/19	-	Amateur	/  1	(also Army)
Glentoran	18/19-20/21	May-19	-	* 39/ 10	-	-
Queen's Island	20/21-24/25	Nov-20	-	* / 64	-	-
Fall River Marksmen	24/25-26/27	-	-	83/ 41	(American Soccer League)
J&P Coats	26/27	-	-	13/  4	(American Soccer League)
Fall River Marksmen	27/28	-	-	3/  3	(American Soccer League)
Newark	27/28	-	-	5/  1	(American Soccer League)
New York Nationals	27/28	-	-	13/  4	(American Soccer League)
Newark	28/29	-	-	1/  0	(American Soccer League)
Queen's Island	28/29	Dec-28	-	* /  4	-	-
Glentoran	29/30	c/s-29	-	* 27/  5	-	-
Glenavon	30/31	Oct-30	Trial	-	-	-
Dundela	30/31	-	-	-	-	-
Drumcondra	31/32-32/33	-	-	/  5	/1	-
TOTALS	-	£-		/142	/1	-

* all domestic games.

Biography:
Tommy "Tucker" Croft was an integral part of the Queen’s Island team who joined, then took the Irish League by storm in the early 1920s. Although an unrelated team of the same name had won the second ever Irish Cup competition, the Queen's Island that joined the Irish League in 1921, replacing the southern Irish clubs that had resigned, was a much younger side.

From East Belfast, Croft played with a number of teams in that area, including Dundela. At the time he was still in the army and during leave he also took the opportunity to play with Belfast United. In 1918/19 he made five appearances for Glentoran and scored his first Glens goal against Cliftonville in a 3-0 Charity Cup semi-final win and played in the 1-0 Final defeat by Linfield. Having signed professional terms on 31st May 1919, Croft established himself in the firstteam for much of the 1919/20 season he bagged a hat-trick in a 7-0 City Cup win over Bohemians. After ten goals in 39 games for Glentoran, Croft signed for Queen's Island on the 6th November 1920.

Queen’s Island, bolstered by a selection of players enticed by jobs in the shipyard, including Croft, finished as runners-up in only their second season in senior football, and in their third won the Irish League and Cup double, plus the Co. Antrim Shield and City Cup. A regular among the goals, Croft managed four in a Charity Cup game against Brantwood in May 1923. The 1924/25 season saw Queen's Island finish as League runners-up, but they did retain the City Cup, by which time Croft had left these shores behind.

Described as "gritty and tenacious [he] gets through a wonderful amount of work ... knows when to hold on, to part, to break through and to shoot..." Croft won three caps for Ireland, all while with Queen's Island. He marked his only appearance in the International Championship with the winning goal against England. It was a game which adds much to his mystique, he arrived in the dressing room just twenty minutes prior to kick-off, whispering to a teammate, "I'm just after having four pints of porter." He then sustained "a rather serious injury" leaving doubts about whether he would be fit to restart after half-time. Still, he scored the winner, remarked on by teammate Jack Brown as "the best I ever saw".

In the late 1924 Croft, unknown to his club or the Irish League, made a sensational move to the "big money" American Soccer League. The deal, concluded during a visit to Scotland for an inter-league game, earned him a suspension from British football, although he was in fact contracted to Queen's Island until 20th May 1926. Between 1924 and 1926 he was with Fall River Marksmen and told the Weekly News: "I found I wasn't alone ... as far as United Kingdom footballers were concerned ... in fact, the entire team was composed English and Scottish players, one or two of whom had "jumped their contracts" with their clubs at home." He also revealed the other perks of soccer State-side, which included opportunities of a "good job" outside of playing.

Having helped Fall River to successive ASL titles in 1925 and 1926 as well as scoring in their 1925 Lewis (League) Cup Final defeat by Boston, Croft left for J&P Coats of Pawtucket. It was noted that as "one of the best forwards that ever migrated to these shores" he was badly missed by Fall River. After spells with New York Nationals and Newark his appearances were on the wane and he decided to return to Ireland. On his return from America, Croft, once regarded as one of the biggest draws in the ASL, had to appeal to the Irish FA to be allowed to resume his Irish League career. He signed professional forms with Queen's Island on the 7th December 1928 - apparently all had been forgiven!

Croft rejoined Queen's Island in what would be their final season in senior football. They were a shadow of the side he had left behind and finished bottom of the Irish League and were not re-elected. Glentoran were quick to step in to sign the cream of the Island's talent, picking up five of their former players – the pick of these was surely Croft. He had just one season at the Oval, earning praise for his performances on the left-wing, but failed to add to his medals collection, even missing that season’s Co. Antrim Shield final defeat by Linfield.

On leaving the Glens after just one season, Croft found himself without a club until he joined Glenavon on a month long trial on 18th October 1930 before he playing out the remainder of the season with Dundela. He then finished his career in Dublin with Drumcondra where he played most matches during the 1931/32 and 32/33 seasons, scoring a total of six goals, including one in a 3-1 Free State Cup win over Cork Bohemians on 27th December 1931.

Ireland Cap Details:
25-05-1922 Norway...... A L 1-2 FR
20-10-1923 England..... H W 2-1 BC 1 goal
24-09-1924 South Africa H L 1-2 FR

Summary: 3/1. Won 1, Drew 0, Lost 2.

Additions and corrections by George Glass with further thanks to Jim Murphy. Photo courtesy of Tom Croft, Tucker's grandson. Tucker is also featured in the book "Belfast: Tears & Laughter: 1957-1977" by his grandson, Alan Croft.

Harry Chatton

Name: James Harold A. Chatton
Born: 23 April 1899, Enniskillen
Height:
Weight:
Position: Right-Half / Centre-Half

Representative Honours: Ireland: 3 Full Caps (1924-1925). Irish Free State: 3 Full Caps (1931-1934).
Club Honours: (with NY Nationals) US National Cup Winner 1928; Lewis Cup Winner 1928/29; (with Shelbourne) League of Ireland Champion 1930/31; (with Cork) Irish Free State Cup Winner 1933/34.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Kirkintilloch Rob Roy	-	-	-	-	(Scottish Junior)
Dumbarton	20/21-22/23	-	-	*40/0	-	*23/5
Partick Thistle	23/24-25/26	-	-	86/2	-	-
Indiana Flooring	26/27	-	-	31/0	(ASL)	3/0
Heart of Midlothian	26/27	-27	Free	0/0	-	-
New York Nationals	27/28-29/30	-	-	114/0	(ASL)	13/2
Shelbourne	30/31-31/32	-	-	23/0	/0	-
Dumbarton	31/32-32/33	c/s-31	-	-	-	-
Cork	33/34	-	-	/0	/0	-
TOTALS	-	£-		-	-	-

*Scottish League Division One Appearances only (20/21-21/22), total games from 1922/23 possibly 23/5.

Biography:
Born in Enniskillen, Harry Chatton moved to Scotland with his family as a child. A commanding centre-half, he was playing in the Scottish League with Partick Thistle when the IFA selectors first called him up in October 1924 for a Home Nations game with England. He won two further caps for the IFA, against Scotland the following February, and again against England in October 1925.

In 1926 Chatton was one of many British players lured by the dollar of the American Soccer League. After a season with Indiana Flooring he sought to return home to sign for Hearts, but the move was blocked by FIFA after a protest from the USFA. Instead Chatton moved back across to the Atlantic, by which time Indiana had relocated to New York where they were to play as the Nationals. In three seasons with the Nationals, Chatton enjoyed successes in the the US National Cup (now the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup) and in the Lewis Cup (the ASL's league cup competition). In March 1929 he had been reported as suspended "forever" by the USFA owing to "activities in connection with the working of New York Nationals" but this appears to have been a short-lived ban.

After returning to play in Ireland with Shelbourne, Chatton was selected by the FAI for a game against Spain on 26th April 1931. That summer he returned to Scotland to play for Dumbarton and on 13th December he captained the FAI’s team in the return game against Spain. Chatton’s third and final FAI cap was won in 1934, whilst playing for Cork, in a 5-2 defeat by Holland. His first two caps had been as left-half, and the last at right-back.

Wikipedia

Ireland Cap Details:
22-10-1924 England. A L 1-3 BC
28-02-1925 Scotland H L 0-3 BC
24-10-1925 England. H D 0-0 BC

Summary: 3/0. Won 0, Drew 1, Lost 2.

Thanks to stuthejag and Roy Cathcart for the pictures.