I was recently contacted by a chap about the details of a former Falkirk FC player who signed from Liverpool. It is not often we sign players from Liverpool [those poor players, playing for such a miserable team in a miserable city, I am shocked only that so few have not made the journey North].
The player in question was Robert McDougall and he had made his way to Merseyside from St Cuthbert's Wanderers as a nipper. The liverpuddlian scribes make it out as he never quite made the cut in Lancashire, however I like to think he dreamt of the Elysian Field that was Brockville Park.
Robert McDougall joined Falkirk FC in 1915 [now the more astute of you might make a connection that something else was occurring in Europe from 1914 to 1919, but that is a mere distraction]. He came nominally as a Centre-Forward [oh how little those southrons know] but Falkirk already had the mighty James Robertson, so Robert played on the wing, mostly Outside-Right, occasionally Outside-Left, and when Jimmy was off fighting [the Germans of course] now and then at Centre-Forward.
From Kirkudbright [and who would not want to get away from there] Robert was one of those many players whose career was blighted by the territorial intentions of Kaiser Wilhelm, never really getting a chance at Liverpool, the longest time he spent at a club was with Falkirk, and after the War he seemed to have wound down back in the South-East. Obviously never getting over the times he had the opportunity to pull on that hallowed Navy Blue jersey.
But he is sadly now often forgotten, he played a lot of matches for Falkirk in a time of strife, he is one of those players over whom circumstances got the better deal. He probably deserves better.
Robert McDougall
Debut
– Saturday October 16th 1915 v Raith Rovers (H) Scottish League
Positions
– Outside-Left, Outside-Right, Centre-Forward
Club
Honours – Falkirk
Infirmary Shield W
1919/20
Scottish
League Division 1 Matches /Goals [92/13]
Scottish
Cup Matches/Goals [4/-]
Scottish
Victory Cup Matches/Goals [2/-]
Minor
Cup Matches/Goals [3/3]
Total Matches/Goals [101/16]
Known
Career – St Cuthbert Wanderers, Liverpool [1913/14-1914/15],
Falkirk [1915/16],
Partick Thistle [1918/19], Falkirk
[1918/19-1920/21], Ayr
United [1921/22-1922/23], Queen of the South [1923/24-1924/25], St
Cuthbert Wanderers