Joe Douglas

Name: Joseph Patton Douglas
Born: Belfast
Died: May 1997
Height:
Weight:
Position: Wing-Half

Representative Honours: Ireland: 1 Full Cap (1946).
Club Honours: (with Linfield Swifts) Steel & Sons Cup Winner 1939/40; (with Belfast Celtic) Irish League Champion; Irish Cup Winner 1942/43; City Cup Winner; Gold Cup Winner; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1942/43, 1944/45; (with Ballymena) Irish Cup Runner-Up 1950/51; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1950/51.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA.Cup	Other
Linfield	39/40-40/41	-	-	-	-	-
Drumcondra	41/42	-	-	-	-	-
Belfast Celtic	42/43-48/49	-	-	-	-	-
Ballymena.United	49/50-51/52	c/s-49	-	*99/13	-	-
TOTALS	-	-		-	-	-

* all games

Biography:
Brought up in the Village area of Belfast, Joe Douglas made the obvious move of signing with boyhood heroes Linfield as a teenager. In Christmas Day 1939 he appeared for Linfield Swifts in a 2-0 Steel & Sons Cup Final win over Crusaders. Unable to make an impact at Windsor Park, he eventually turned up at Belfast Celtic where he developed into one of the best left-halves in the Irish League.

Starring in a Celtic half-back line which also included Jackie Vernon and Harry Walker, Douglas picked-up Irish League and Cup medals in a career that spanned the Second World War. Douglas was selected for Ireland's first post-war international match, a 7-2 defeat by England, but was never selected again.

Douglas remained with Belfast Celtic until the club left the Irish League in 1949, and he was a member of the squad that toured the USA that summer. Douglas joined Ballymena where he appeared in the 1951 Irish Cup Final defeat by Glentoran. The following season he played in a 3-0 defeat of Cliftonville in the Co. Antrim Shield Final replay.

Later, Douglas lived for a while in Burton-on-Trent where he worked in a brewery.

Ireland Cap Details:
28-09-1946 England. H L 2-7 BC

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

Thanks to Stephen McCormick for the Belfast Celtic picture and Ernie Dougan for the b&w picture (also featuring Ernie's uncle Ernest on the left). Additional details by George Glass.

Willie Millar

Name: William Thomas Millar
Born: 25 October 1906, Ballymena
Died: December 1986, San Diego (USA)
Height: 5.09 ft
Weight: 11.10 st
Position: Inside/Centre-Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 2 Full Caps/1 Goal (1931-1932).

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
South End Rangers		-	-	(Intermediate League)
Linfield	-	May-26	-	-	-	-
Liverpool	28/29	Aug-28	£1,500	3/ 2	-	-
Barrow	29/30-32/33	Jan-30	£300	103/66	1/2	-
Newport County	33/34	Jun-33	Free	7/ 1	-	2/1
Carlisle United	34/35	Jul-34	Free	33/ 9	-	1/ 2
Dalbeattie Star	-	c/s-35	-	-	-	-
Ballymena	35/36	Dec-35	-	4/ 1	-	-
Sligo Rovers	-	Aug-36	Free	-	-	-
Cork	-	May-37	Free	-	-	-
Drumcondra	-	Aug-38	Free	-	-	-
TOTALS	-	£1,800		150/79	1/2	3/3

Biography:
Signed originally as a wing-half by Linfield, Billy Millar was selected as an emergency centre-forward and took to the role like a duck-to-water. So impressive was his form as a speedy and agile goal-getter that he earned the Blues a substantial £1,500 fee when he moved to Liverpool in 1928. Millar's Liverpool debut, against Bury at Anfield on the opening day of the 1928/29 campaign, brought a first minute goal and another in the second half as the Reds cruised to a 3-0 win. Amazingly he played just twice more for the club - in wins over Leicester and Newcastle - before his firstteam career ended after less than two months

Early in 1930 Millar made a cut-price move to Division Three North Barrow. After a 7-0 defeat by Rotherham on his debut, he managed six goals from fifteen games in his first season as the Ziggers finished bottom of the League and were forced to apply for re-election. Things began to turn round from then on, his 25 goals seeing the club finish in the security of 16th place in 1931. The following season he managed thirty goals from thirty games (a club record in League football) and earned the first of two caps for Ireland, thus becoming the only Barrow player ever to win full international honours.

Millar marked his Ireland debut with a goal in a 4-0 win over Wales at Windsor Park in December 1931. He retained his place for the opening Home Nations match of the 1932/33 season, lining out as centre-forward against Scotland at Windsor Park. A fine all-round performance from the Scots left Millar with only a few chances, though still he was "prominent" in attack and unlucky not to score when a shot was charged down by the 'keeper. In the end the the visitors cruised to an easy 4-0 win.

From then on Millar's career began to wind down. He managed just six strikes through the entire 1932/33 season, though he featured regularly for the reserves, scoring 22 times in 19 Lancashire Combination matches. He enjoyed few firstteam chances after joining Newport County in 1933, though he once again excelled for the reserves, tallying 23 goals in his only season for the Division Three South side. A move to Carlisle United saw him feature more regularly, though often on the right-wing.

After a brief spell in Scotland, Millar returned to Ireland in 1935 joining his hometown club, Ballymena. He finished his senior career with spells with several Free State League clubs.

LFCHistory.net Profile

Ireland Cap Details:
05-12-1931 Wales... H W 4-0 BC 1 Goal
12-09-1932 Scotland H L 0-4 BC

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

Additions and corrections by 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.

Eddie Carroll

Eddie Carroll was one of many centre-forwards tried out by the Irish FA’s selection committee in the search for goals. He was given one chance only, failing to make an impact in a 3-0 defeat by Scotland...

Name: Edward Carroll
Born: Bessbrook
Died: 
Height: 
Weight: 
Position: Centre-Forward

Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: 1 Full Cap (1925); League of Ireland: 2 Caps/2 Goals (1928-1929).
Club Honours: (with Dundalk) Irish Free State League Champion 1932/33; (with Dolphin) Irish Free State League Champion 1934/35.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons		Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Bessbrook Athletic			-	-	-	-	-
Newry Town		-	-	-	-	-	-
Glenavon		21/22-24/25	-	-	-	-	-
Newry Town		23/24	-	Loan	-	-	-
Aberdeen		25/26-26/27	c/s-25	-	5/  1	-	-
Dundee United		26/27	-	£500	21/ 11	4/2	-
Dundalk		27/28-28/29	c/s-27	-	*65/ 75	-	-
Newry Town		29/30	c/s-28	-	-	-	-
Dolphin		30/31-31/32	c/s-30	-	/ 11	/2	-
Dundalk		32/33-34/35	c/s-32	-	*101/ 37	-	-
Dolphin		34/35-36/37	-	-	/ 27	-	-
Dundalk		37/38	c/s-37	-	*5/  1	-	-
Drumcondra		37/38	-	-	/  3	-	-
Bessbrook.Strollers		(player/coach)	-	-	-	-	-
TOTALS		-	£-		/166	/4	-

* all games.

Biography:
Eddie Carroll began his footballing career with hometown Junior club, Bessbrook Athletics. Later he played with Newry Town before making it to senior football with Glenavon where his "speed, dash and resource" guaranteed a continuous supply of goals and brought an international call-up in 1925 and reported interest from Cardiff City and Liverpool.

In a seventeen year senior career, Carroll is reckoned to have scored over 200 goals for his seven clubs, but undoubtedly his best times were with Dundalk where he scored 113 goals in three spells (47 League, 9 FAI Cup, 41 Shield and 16 Others) and still holds many club goalscoring records.

In 1925 Carroll joined Aberdeen. He failed to make much of an impact on the firstteam, scoring his only goal on the last of his five appearances in a 1-1 draw with Raith. He did however have much better luck in the Reserves, scoring an amazing 18 goals in a 4 game spell during the 1925/26 season and adding another six in three games at the beginning of the following campaign. Dundee United stepped in with a £500 bid and he marked his debut with a goal in a 2-1 defeat by Kilmarnock. He managed eleven goals in the 1926/27 season, including a hattrick against Hearts, one against Rangers in a 2-0 win and another in a 3-3 draw with Celtic in his final Scottish League game, though United were still relegated at the end of the season.

Carroll - "a dashing, trustful leader, with a good shooting boot" - twice represented the Free State League, scoring in a 4-3 win over the Welsh League and a 1-2 defeat by the Irish League.

More to follow.

Dundalk Who's Who

Ireland Cap Details:
28-02-1925 Scotland (h) L 0-3 BC

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

Note: Eddie Carroll was one of a large family of footballers, his brother Frank most notable among them for his career with Belfast Celtic, Manchester City (18 Football League appearances 1920/21-1923/24), Newry Town (player-manager) and Dundee United (where he played alongside Eddie).

With thanks to Jim Murphy.