Robert Skelton

Name: Robert M. Skelton
Born:
Height:
Weight:
Position: Right-Back

Representative Honours: Ireland: 6 Amateur Caps (1930-1933).

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA.Cup	Other
Cliftonville	-	-	Amateur	0/0	-	-
Queen's.Island.Olympic	28/29	-	Amateur	-	-	-
Cliftonville	-	-	Amateur	-	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		-	-	-

Biography:
A right-back who initially had to leave Cliftonville to seek firstteam football, Robert Skelton joined Queen's Island Olympic for the 1928/29 season without playing a game for the Reds. He returned to Solitude for the following season, but his progress was hampered by illness.

Once established in the Cliftonville firstteam, Skelton proved his worth and was quickly recognised as a "certainty" in the Ireland Amateur team. Unlike Ireland's senior international eleven, the amateurs could actually compete with their larger neighbours and recorded some impressive wins in his six cap international career.

PSNI

Ireland Amateur Cap Details:
20-09-1930 Scotland A L 0-2
15-11-1930 England. H W 3-1
14-11-1931 England. A L 2-3
23-01-1932 Scotland H W 4-0
28-01-1933 Scotland A L 1-5 (or 0-6)
18-02-1933 England. H W 4-3

Summary: 6/0. Won 3, Drew 0, Lost 3.

Details and picture supplied by Jim Murphy.

John Gough

Name: John Gough
Born:
Died:
Height:
Weight:
Position: Goalkeeper

Representative Honours: Ireland: 1 Full Cap (1924); Irish League: 2 Caps (1923-1924)
Club Honours: (with Queen's Island) Irish League Champion 1923/24; Irish Cup Winner 1923/24; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1923/24; City Cup Winner; (with Ballymena) Irish Cup Winner 1928/29, Runner-Up 1929/30.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Queen's Island	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ballymena	28/29-29/30	Sep-28	-	*83/0	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		-	-	-

* all games

Biography:
1924 proved the pinnacle of goalkeeper John Gough's career. With Queen's Island he collected Irish League, Irish Cup, City Cup and Co. Antrim Shield winner's medals. In that year he also represented Ireland and made his second inter-league appearance.

By the 1928/29 season Queen's Island were in a terminal decline that would see them leave senior football forever. Early in that campaign Gough had left them behind to sign for Ballymena. He played in successive Irish Cup finals for the fledgling team, a 2-1 win over Belfast Celtic in 1929 and a 4-3 defeat by Linfield the following year.

More to follow.

Ireland Cap Details:
24-09-1924 South Africa H L 1-2 FR

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

Billy McCleery

Name: William McCleery
Born: 25 January 1902, Belfast
Died:
Height:
Weight:Position: Half-Back

Representative Honours: Ireland: 10 Full Caps (1922-1932), 1 Amateur Cap (1922); Irish League: 11 Caps (1929-1935); League of Ireland: 1 Cap (1927).
Club Honours: (with Queen’s Island) Irish League Champion 1923/24; Irish Cup Winner 1923/24; City Cup Winner; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1923/24; (with Linfield) Irish League Champion 1929/30, 1931/32, 1933/34, 1934/35; Irish Cup Winner 1929/30, 1930/31, 1933/34, 1935/36, Runner-Up 1931/32; Gold Cup Winner; City Cup Winner; Charity Cup Winner; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1928/29, 1929/30, 1931/32, 1932/33, 1933/34, 1934/35.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
University	-	-	Amateur	(Belfast Minor League)
Cliftonville	-	-	Amateur	-	-	-
Queen's Island	22/23-24/25	-	-	-	-	-
Linfield	24/25	-	Guest	-	-	-
Blackburn Rovers	24/25-25/26	-	-	23/ 5	2/0	-
Shelbourne	27/28	-	-	/11	/2	-
Linfield	27/28-34/35	-	-	-	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		-	-	-

Biography:
A multi-talented sportsman, Billy McCleery played both football and cricket for Ireland. On the cricket crease he was a classy all-rounder, playing in fourteen Irish Senior Cup Finals between 1929 and 1952, winning nine.

So too on the football field was McCleery as capable in defence as attack. In his early days with Cliftonville and Queen’s Island he was an accomplished inside-forward, earning a move to Blackburn Rovers on the strength of his performances in that role. Later in his career, with Linfield and Ireland, he was part of one of the Irish game's most renowned half-back lines, alongside Jack Jones and Tommy Sloan. His Irish League career yielded over twenty major trophies, many as captain.

Capped at Amateur level and in the inexperienced Full Irish side that played Norway in 1922 while with Cliftonville, McCleery had to wait seven years for further international caps. The second match of his international return saw him line-up in an all-Linfield half-back line (with Jones and Sloan), providing the bedrock for another Linfield player, Joe Bambrick, to score a double hattrick in a famous 7-0 win over Wales. He played eleven times for the Irish League; notable results being two wins over the Scottish League, a 2-2 draw with the Football League at Windsor and a 6-1 hammering of the League of Ireland at Dalymount Park. He also turned out once for the League of Ireland in a 5-1 defeat by the Welsh League.

Malcolm Brodie records McCleery’s career thusly in his book, Linfield – 100 Years (1985):
Billy McCleery, second youngest of a family of four boys and two girls, was born in Rutland Street on the Ormeau Road and it was in the “Holy Lands” and “The Plains” area of Belfast that he learned his football with 9th Boys’ Brigade (Fitzroy Avenue Presbyterian Church), a team called University, which competed in the Minor League; small in stature his inherent ability gradually developed at Cliftonville.

After playing for Ireland against Norway in Bergen, a match watched by the King and Queen of Norway, McCleery came back to Belfast and signed for Queen’s Island at £2 per week plus the bonus of a job in Harland and Wolff. He flourished even more among the Island giants Tucker Croft, Joe Gowdy, Sammy McKeown and Charlie Cowan; he won an Irish Cup medal with them, the first of six, the others, of course, coming as a player with Linfield.

Towards the end of the season, Linfield asked permission to play the Queen’s Island left-wing of Morton and McCleery against Blackburn Rovers in a friendly at Windsor Park, a match which was to change his life. He was scintillating but McCleery drove a hard bargain and it took two meetings before he agreed to join Blackburn with £500 given to him in cash on the spot.

He enjoyed his football, played the game on his own terms and the tangle of new experiences, impressions and excitement in the big time did not affect him.

For three years the young Ulsterman maintained a first-team place but in a trial match damaged his knee in a tackle which everyone at Ewood Park thought heralded the end of his English career so he was placed on the transfer list at £500. Clubs steered clear of him .. they didn’t want a crock player, one “with a bad knee”. With no managers showing interest, McCleery, disappointed and dejected, returned to Ireland, joined Shelbourne and, within a season, all his artistry and skill had returned.

The denizens of Linfield had been watching his progress. They asked him to sign but he declined. Then Davy Emerson met him at Castle Junction one Saturday morning as McCleery, carrying his cricket bag, was en route to Woodvale (his then cricket team). He invited him to play for the Blues in a Charity Cup Final against Celtic at Cliftonville. “If you play we’ll send a subscription to Woodvale”, promised Emerson. McCleery agreed, played a big part in the 4-0 triumph and so began a nine-year spell at Windsor park where he won all the honours and Ireland caps; on one occasion he took over in goals in an emergency!

He retired in 1936 [Linfield lost 3-1 to Blackburn in his benefit match on 6th May] and on April 1, 1939, became manager of Linfield but war work prevented him continuing for long and, after a dispute over sole control of team selection, he resigned to concentrate on cricket. His association with Linfield remained until his death; he acted in many capacities but perhaps his moment of great triumph was on April 25, 1956 when he managed the Irish League team which defeated the Football League 5-2 at Windsor Park.


Ireland Cap Details:

25-05-1922 Norway.. A L 1-2 FR
19-10-1929 England. A L 0-3 BC
01-02-1930 Wales... H W 7-0 BC
20-10-1930 England. A L 1-5 BC
21-02-1931 Scotland H D 0-0 BC
22-04-1931 Wales... A L 2-3 BC
19-09-1931 Scotland A L 1-3 BC
05-12-1931 Wales... H W 4-0 BC
17-10-1932 England. A L 0-1 BC
07-12-1932 Wales... A L 1-4 BC

Summary: 10/0. Won 2, Drew 1, Lost 7.

Ireland Amateur Cap Details:
14-11-1921 England. A L 1-4

Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 1. 

Fred Roberts

Name: Frederick Charles Roberts
Born: 1905, Belfast
Height: 6.01 ft
Weight: 12.10 st
Died: 1988
Position: Centre-Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 1 Full Cap (1931), Junior.
Club Honours: (with Queen’s Island) City Cup Winner 1924/25; (with Glentoran) Irish League Champion 1930/31; Irish Cup Winner 1931/32, 1932/33; City Cup Winner 1931/32; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1931/32; Charity Cup Winner 1928/29; (with Distillery) City Cup Winner 1933/34.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA.Cup		Other
Bandon
Ravenscroft				(Combination)
Newington.Rgrs				(Intermediate League)
Belfast Celtic				-
Queen’s Island				-
Broadway Utd				(Intermediate League)
Glentoran	28/29-32/33	c/s-28		221/332	*
Distillery	33/34	c/s-33		/ 32	*
Dundela				(Intermediate League)
TOTALS

Biography:

When Fred Roberts scored 96 goals in the 1930/31 season he set a British and Irish record unlikely ever to be matched. Still, such goalscoring feats were not unusual for Roberts. In his five seasons at the Oval his goal tallies read: 66, 57, 96, 64 and 49; they included 40 hattricks and goals in the 1932 and 1933 Irish Cup successes.

It was in his record-breaking season that Roberts was awarded his only Full international recognition (he had previously won a Junior cap while with Broadway United), but he failed to impress in a scrappy 0-0 draw in blustery conditions against Scotland. Some feel that Roberts’ form should have earned him a second chance, but at the time Ireland were in a rare position of also having the options of Joe Bambrick and Jimmy Dunne for the number nine shirt.

In May 1933 Roberts was surprisingly released by Glentoran. He signed with Distillery, top-scoring with 32 goals as the Whites claimed a close-fought City Cup competition in 1933/34. Later he played with Dundela before returning to the Oval as coach of Glentoran Olympic.

Glens Internationals (Courtesy of ForzaTV)

Ireland Cap Details:
21/02/1931 Scotland H D 0-0 BC

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

Joe Gowdy

Name: Joseph Gowdy
Born: 7 December 1897, Belfast
Died:
Height:
Weight:
Position: Centre-Forward/Half-Back

Representative Honours: Ireland: 6 Full Caps (1919-1927); Irish League: 4 Caps (1919-1923).
Club Honours: (with Glentoran) Gold Cup Runner-Up 1919/20; (with Queen's Island) Irish League Champion 1923/24; Irish Cup Winner 1923/24; (with East Fife) Scottish Division Two Runner-Up 1929/30 (promoted).

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Glentoran	19/20-20/21	-	-	*35/30	-	-
Falkirk	20/21-21/22	Oct-20	-	26/ 2	7/2	15/1
Glentoran	22/23	c/s-22	n/c	*3/ 0	-	-
Queen's Island	22/23-24/25	-	loan	-	-	-
Falkirk	25/26-27/28	c/s-25	-	88/ 8	-	-
East Fife	28/29-30/31	-	-	74/ 9	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		226/49	7/2	15/1

* all games.

Biography
Joe Gowdy emerged from Junior football with a bang, scoring 23 goals in 27 games in his first season in the Irish League with Glentoran in 1919/20. He had in fact been born just a mile away from the Oval, so the Glens were the natural home for the talented goalscorer. His form in that first season, including hat-tricks in the League against Shelbourne and in the Gold Cup semi-final win over Linfield, brought both inter-League and international honours but only runners-up medals in both the League and the Gold Cup.

After seven goals in seven games at the start of the following campaign, Gowdy was transferred to Scottish Division One side, Falkirk, in October 1920; a potential deal with Everton having failed to come to fruition. He walked out on Falkirk and re-joined the Glens for the 1922/23 campaign, but played just three games before moving on to Queen's Island in what amounted to a loan deal with Falkirk. By now featuring more regularly in the half-back line, usually in the centre, Gowdy quickly settled in, and played for the Irish League at centre-half in their first ever meeting with the Welsh League - the game at Solitude ended in a 2-2 draw.

An early setback the following season saw Queen's Island fined £100 and docked two points following a registration mix-up, but the team soon found their stride, claiming a League and Cup double, plus the City Cup and Co. Antrim Shield. Gowdy was rewarded with a re-call to the Ireland team at right-half, after a near five-year absence. The following campaign brought Queen's Island another City Cup success, and runners-up spot in the League - behind Glentoran.

Gowdy re-joined Falkirk in 1925, and quickly regained his place in the Ireland team too. He took his cap total to six with appearances at right-half and centre-half. In 1930 he helped East Fife to runners-up spot in the Scottish Second Division, and promotion to the top-flight for the first time in their history. In modern football the Fifers would have been crowned champions on goal difference, but as goal average was used at the time they finished behind Leith Athletic. In their first match in Division One he set-up their only goal, in a 4-1 defeat by Motherwell. The season ended in relegation with a club-worst record of 113 goals conceded.

Falkirk Historian Article

Ireland Cap Details:
25/10/1919 England. H D 1-1 BC
15/03/1924 Wales... H L 0-1 BC
24/10/1925 England. H D 0-0 BC
27/02/1926 Scotland A L 0-4 BC
20/10/1926 England. A D 3-3 BC
26/02/1927 Scotland H L 0-2 BC

Summary: 6/0. Won 0, Drew 3, Lost 3.

WIth thanks to John Meffen (Falkirk FC Historian)

"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.