Duncan McNicol (16 January 1874 – 5 March 1949) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. Born in

Bonhill Bonhill (; ) is a town in the Vale of Leven area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It is sited on the Eastern bank of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven, on the opposite bank from the larger town of Alexandria, Scotland, Alexandria. ...

Dumbartonshire Dunbartonshire () or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Perthshire to the north, Stirling ...

, McNicol played in Scotland for local club

Vale of Leven The Vale of Leven () is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning ''fie ...

followed by

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road, A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

(very briefly), Clyde in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and St Bernard's in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, before moving south of the border to join Woolwich Arsenal in June 1899. He made his debut in a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

match against

Leicester Fosse Leicester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the city of Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English f ...

on 2 September 1899 and immediately became a first-team regular at

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

; he played 30 out of 34 league matches in 1899–1900, which included appearing in Arsenal's 12–0 defeat of

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

on 12 March 1900. He continued to feature regularly for the next two seasons, missing just five matches over the course of both 1900–01 and 1901–02. He eventually switched over to

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

so Arsenal could accommodate Jimmy Jackson at left back; however the emergence of

Archie Cross Arthur George "Archie" Cross (1880 – after 1909) was an English footballer. Cross was born in Dartford, Kent and started his career at Dartford F.C., before joining nearby Woolwich Arsenal in April 1900. A right back, he was initially the un ...

and a period of injury meant McNicol lost his place in 1902–03 and he eventually left Arsenal in October 1903. In total he played 112 matches, scoring one goal. He moved to

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and spent two seasons there as team captain before retiring prematurely in 1905 due to injury.Willie Miller's Aberdeen Dream Team

Willie Miller William Ferguson Miller MBE (born 2 May 1955) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, who made a club record 560 league appearances for Aberdeen. Sir Alex Ferguson described Miller as "the best penalty box defender in th ...

& Rob Robertson; Black & White Publishing, 2011; His elder brother John McNicol was also a footballer.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcnicol, Duncan 1874 births 1949 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Arsenal F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Footballers from Bonhill English Football League players Scottish Football League players Vale of Leven F.C. players Darwen F.C. (1870) players Clyde F.C. players St Bernard's F.C. players