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	-	-	??/ 2	-	-
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.