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Jack Davison

Preceded by
Succeeded by
1883-1885
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'The gamest little player we have, great speed, has a thorough knowledge of the game, a fair shot at goal, feeds the outside-right well, has great staying power, undoubtedly our most popular forward.'
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Name: Dr. John Robert Davison
Born: 25 April 1860, Hunslet, Leeds (England)
Died: 17 September 1931, Belfast
Position: Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 8 Full Caps (1882-1885).
Club Honours: (with Cliftonville) Irish Cup Winner 1882/83, Runner-Up 1880/81, 1881/82.

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Club Career:
Teams
Seasons
Signed
Fee
League
FA Cup
Other
Cliftonville
80/81-85/86
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Amateur
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TOTALS
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£-
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Biography:
Born in Atkinson St. Hunslet, Leeds Jack Davison's father, Robert, a Flax Spinner Manager moved his family to Belfast to further his career.

A founding member of Cliftonville Football Club, Davison played in the first ever Irish Cup Final - finishing on the end of a 1-0 defeat by Moyola Park in 1881. Another defeat followed in 1882 before Cliftonville won the trophy in 1883 with Davison scoring the final goal in a 5-0 win over Ulster.

Eligible to play for Ireland under the five year residence rule, Davison played in Ireland's first international match and he was awarded the captaincy in 1883. His first match leading the team ended in a 1-1 draw with Wales - the first time Ireland had avoided defeat. He remained captain for the rest of his international career, five games in all, but could not repeat that initial success. His fifth appearance for Ireland, a 5-0 defeat by Scotland in Belfast on 26th January 1884, was the first British Championship match.

Ireland Cap Details:
18-02-1882 England. H L 0-13 FR
25-02-1882 Wales... A L 1- 7 FR
24-02-1883 England. A L 0- 7 FR
17-03-1883 Wales... H D 1- 1 FR
26-01-1884 Scotland H L 0- 5 BC
09-02-1884 Wales... A L 0- 6 BC
23-02-1884 England. H L 1- 8 BC
28-02-1885 England. A L 0- 4 BC
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Summary: 8/0. Won 0, Drew 1, Lost 7.
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Additional details by George Glass.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Any contemporary source for calling him Jack, Jonny...? My usual query!

All the best,

Cris Freddi
jcd said…
Hi Cris,

Nothing contemporary. I'm deferring to IFFHS and George on this one.

J