Allan Ball
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 26 February 1943 | ||
| Place of birth | Hetton-le-Hole, city of Sunderland, England | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1963–1982 | Queen of the South | 579 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Allan Ball (born 26 February 1943) is an English former footballer. Born in Hetton-le-Hole, city of Sunderland, Durham, Ball played as a goalkeeper, spending most of his professional career with Scottish club Queen of the South. Ball made 731 first team appearances for Queens, a club record, between 1963 and 1982. He also briefly played for Bishop Auckland, Stanley United and Gretna, and is now an Honorary Director with the Queen of the South.
Ball had been an inside left as a youngster. He took over the green jersey when the Durham County schools goalkeeper – future F.A. Cup winner Jimmy Montgomery – was injured during a game.
As a 15-year-old, Ball deputised four times for Harry Sharratt in Bishop Auckland's goal. He doubled his weekly income from working at South Hetton coal mine as a pit electrician by signing for Stanley United.
In 1963 Allan Ball signed for Queen of the South for £100. Ball was signed in the early hours of the morning as he came off his shift. Ball joined Queens playing staff that featured all time goals king of Queens, Jim Patterson, right winger Ernie Hannigan and fellow long servants Iain McChesney and Jim Kerr.
Goalkeeper & manager George Farm dropped himself from the team to give Allan Ball his Queens debut in a 6–3 defeat to Falkirk. Retained for the following midweek match at Celtic, he again played well despite losing.
Allan Ball made 819 Queen of the South appearances, including 507 consecutively, and was only once cautioned. That was by Tiny Wharton, on 25 December. "I'd said something about Jesus Christ," he recalls. "I was booked for blaspheming on Christmas Day."
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