Tom Watson (footballer, born 1902)

Last updated
Tom Watson
Personal information
Full nameThomas Houston Watson
Date of birth(1902-10-04)4 October 1902
Place of birth Belfast, Ireland
Date of death 1978
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
Crusaders
1925–1929 Cardiff City 85 (0)
Linfield
National team
1926 Ireland 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Thomas Houston "Tom" Watson (4 October 1902 – 1978) [1] was an Irish international footballer. A defender, he appeared for Cardiff City in the 1927 FA Cup Final. [2]

Cardiff City F.C. association football club

Cardiff City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system, as of the 2018–19 season. Founded in 1899 as Riverside A.F.C., the club changed its name to Cardiff City in 1908 and entered the Southern Football League in 1910 before joining the English Football League in 1920. The club has spent 17 seasons in the top tier of English football since, the longest period being between 1921 and 1929. The team's most recent season in the top flight is the current 2018–19 Premier League season.

1927 FA Cup Final

The 1927 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Cardiff City and Arsenal on 23 April 1927 at the original Wembley Stadium. The showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, it was the first such final to be broadcast on the radio. The victory by Cardiff marked the only occasion in the history of the tournament that the trophy had been won by a team outside England; the Cup had previously been referred to in the press as the "English Cup".

Career

Born in Belfast, Watson began his football career at Crusaders. In 1925 he joined Cardiff City where he managed to oust Scottish international Jimmy Blair from the side. Watson was plagued with injuries during his time at the club, mostly involving his cartilage. He managed to stay fit for most of the 1926-27 season as he helped Cardiff lift the FA Cup but his injuries would eventually cost him his place at the club. After just one game at the start of the 1928-29 season he underwent surgery and never managed to regain his place in the side and left, along with fellow FA Cup winner Tom Sloan, to join Linfield in 1929.

Belfast City in the United Kingdom, capital of Northern Ireland

Belfast is a port city in the United Kingdom and the capital city of Northern Ireland, on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast of Ireland. It is the largest city in Northern Ireland and second largest on the island of Ireland. It had a population of 333,871 in 2015.

Crusaders F.C. association football club

Crusaders Football Club is a professional Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1898, hails from Belfast and plays its home matches at Seaview.

Scotland Country in Europe, part of the United Kingdom

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Sharing a border with England to the southeast, Scotland is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, by the North Sea to the northeast and by the Irish Sea to the south. In addition to the mainland, situated on the northern third of the island of Great Britain, Scotland has over 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

It was at Linfield that Watson and Sloan helped the side win the Irish Cup and completed a remarkable treble of winning the major cup in three different countries after already having won the FA Cup and the Welsh Cup.

Irish Cup national football competition in Northern Ireland

The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Inaugurated in 1881, it is the fourth-oldest national cup competition in the world. Prior to the break-away from the Irish Football Association by clubs from what would become the Irish Free State in 1921, the Irish Cup was the national cup competition for the whole of Ireland. Coleraine are the current holders after beating Cliftonville 3-1 in the 2018 final.

Welsh Cup

The Welsh Football Association Cup is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions in domestic Welsh football.

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References

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  1. "Tom Watson" NIfootball.com Retrieved on 10 June 2009
  2. Shuttleworth, Peter (4 April 2008). "Cardiff in footsteps of FA Cup giants". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-04-17.