Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | John Cameron | ||
Date of birth | 13 April 1872 | ||
Place of birth | Ayr, Scotland | ||
Date of death | 20 April 1935 | (aged 63)||
Place of death | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
Playing position | Forward | ||
Youth career | |||
Ayr Grammar School | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
–1895 | Ayr Parkhouse | ||
1895 | Queen's Park | 0 | (0) |
1896–1898 | Everton | 42 | (12) |
1896 | Queen's Park | 1 | (0) |
1898–1907 | Tottenham Hotspur | 111 | (43) |
National team | |||
1896 | Scotland | 1 | (0) |
Teams managed | |||
1899–1907 | Tottenham Hotspur | ||
1907–1914 | Dresdner SC | ||
1918–1919 | Ayr United | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
John Cameron (13 April 1872 in Ayr, Scotland – 20 April 1935 in Glasgow) was a Scottish footballer and manager. He played as a forward for Queen's Park, Everton and Scotland and was noted as an effective goal-maker and goalscorer. In 1899 he became player-manager at Tottenham Hotspur and guided them to victory in the 1901 FA Cup. As a result, they became the only club outside the English Football League to win the competition. In 1898 he became the first secretary of the Association Footballers' Union, which was the ill-fated fore-runner of the Professional Footballers' Association. He later coached Dresdner SC and during the First World War he was interned at Ruhleben, a civilian detention camp in Germany. After the war he coached Ayr United for one season and then became a football journalist, author and publisher. He had previously worked as a columnist for various newspapers before the war.
Cameron began his career with local club Ayr Parkhouse, before moving to Queen's Park in early 1895. He made 5 Glasgow Cup appearances and scored one goal for the Spiders and also won a cap for Scotland in 1896. Alongside Robert Smyth McColl, he played in a 3–3 draw with Ireland and helped Scotland win the British Home Championship. He later joined Everton, making his senior debut in a 5–0 home League win over Sheffield United in October 1895. Cameron produced some excellent displays for Everton and made 48 appearances and scored 14 goals. This record included 6 games and 2 goals in the FA Cup. Cameron had been one of the highest earning footballers of the day with Everton. He returned to Queen's Park for two short spells in the second half of the 1895–96 season, making four appearances. In February 1898 while Cameron was contracted to play for Everton he became involved in the movement toward unionisation of footballers in defiance of both League directives and club proposals which resulted in the power of players to seek high earnings. As the League were not willing to negotiate on this point Cameron broke contract with Everton and went to play for Tottenham Hotspur in the Southern Football League directly because that League did not support the proposal to limit earnings.