Martin Davin (5 May 1905 – 9 November 1957) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 ...

who played in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

for

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

and

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club ...

, and in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for Bury,

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

and

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

Career

Davin played at Scottish junior league level for

Old Kilpatrick Old Kilpatrick (, meaning "Patrick's church"), is a village in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. The name ''Old Kilpatrick'' is said to be derived from St. Patrick ostensibly being born here. It has an estimated population of 4,820. It belonged to ...

of the

Scottish Junior League The Scottish Junior Football League (SJL) was a Scottish football competition that, through various incarnations, existed from 1892 to 1947. It was based in the west of Scotland and largely consisted of Junior clubs that were not considered good ...

Western Section and then Vale of Clyde of the

Glasgow Junior League The Glasgow Junior Football League (GJL) was a football league competition operated under the Scottish Junior Football Association between 1895 and 1927.

before, in the summer of 1926 signing with senior level club

of the

Scottish League Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

. A year later in August 1927 Davin was transferred to English League First Division club Bury for a £300 fee plus £200 performance related fee. Dumbarton had previously agreed with the Vale of Clyde club to pay them £50 of the transfer fee but this was blocked by the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

which gave rise to legal proceedings, subsequently settled by an agreement. In Davin's first two seasons with Bury he made 15 appearances scoring four goals; in the third 1929–30 season, following the team's relegation to the

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 ...

, he played in 23 matches notching four goals. In May 1930 Davin signed for First Division club

but three months into the season he was transferred to

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

club

where he played for the remainder of the 1930–31 season. Following the part-season with Hull, Davin signed with Yeovil and Petters United who had just been elected (after a season's absence) back into the Southern League. That season, 1931–32, Yeovil and Petters United were winners of the Southern League Western Division and additionally were runners-up in the supplementary league in which they competed, the Western League. During the summer of 1932 Davin, for whom Hull City had retained his Football League registration, endeavoured to get them to reduce the transfer fee they were asking for him – with partial success. In October 1932, two months after the start of the season Davin moved back to Scotland when he joined

of the

Scottish League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the o ...

for the rest of the 1932–33 season. Airdrieonians placed Davin on their open-to-transfer list at the end of the campaign and after a single season in Scotland he returned to England and signed with Third Division South team

. He played in 15 matches, scoring twice, for "The Os" during the 1933–34 season following which he played with Clapton's nursery team, Ashford, for the 1934–35 Kent League season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davin, Martin 1905 births 1957 deaths Scottish men's footballers Vale of Clyde F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Bury F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Leyton Orient F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Southern Football League players Kent Football League (1894–1959) players Men's association football inside forwards 20th-century Scottish sportsmen