Alan Cousin (7 March 1938 – 20 September 2016) 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 ...

, who played for

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

, and

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

Career

At the age of 16, Cousin played rugby in the mornings and football in the afternoons, for Alloa Y.M.C.A. He was noticed within a year of helping out the Central Scottish side and played for Scotland Under 16s, where as a centre forward, he was in the side that beat England 8–1. Scouts from various clubs sought his skills, but it was

manager

Willie Thornton William Thornton MM (3 March 1920 – 26 August 1991) was a Scottish footballer and manager. Thornton's entire senior playing career was spent with Rangers, and Thornton is considered to be one of the greatest players in the club's history. F ...

who succeeded in signing him. Cousin made his debut when first team regular George Merchant was injured and one month later, he scored his first goal for Dundee in a 5–1 friendly victory against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, who had just become the English champions. After establishing a first-team place, Cousin attended St. Andrews University to study Greek and Latin for an Arts Degree, whilst combining this with his early professional footballing career. Often his training would involve running on the St. Andrews beach later made famous in the film ''

Chariots Of Fire ''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 historical drama, historical Sports film, sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Summer ...

''. Cousin was Dundee's top goalscorer three consecutive seasons (1958 to 1960). He played in attack for Dundee alongside

Alan Gilzean Alan John Gilzean (; 22 October 1938 – 8 July 2018) was a Scottish professional footballer, active from 1955 to 1975. A striker, Gilzean played most prominently for Dundee and Tottenham Hotspur, and also appeared in 22 international games fo ...

in a team considered by

Bob Crampsey Robert Anthony Crampsey (8 July 1930 – 27 July 2008) was a Scottish football historian, author, broadcaster and teacher, described as a "much loved Scottish cultural institution" by ''The Times''. Early life and career Crampsey was born in Gl ...

to be the best produced in Scotland since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Dundee won the

Scottish League championship The Scottish League Championship is the domestic rugby union league system within Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, the championship was founded in 1973 as the first formalised national league system within any home nations country. ...

in 1962 and then reached the semi-final of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

in the following season. Cousin played in every match of the championship-winning season. Cousin was dubbed the 'King of the double shuffle' because of his ability to repeatedly outwit opposing players, by stepping over the ball. He was inducted into the Dundee F.C. Hall Of Fame in a tribute dinner in 2011, to salute his contribution to football at the club. Cousin was never booked or sent off in his career, which is truly remarkable, given the treatment meted out to strikers in those days. Cousin began a teaching course in Dundee after completing his degree, before he took up the post of Classics teacher at his old school,

Alloa Academy Alloa Academy is a six-year state school, state-funded school, serving the town of Alloa in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. The pupil intake comes from four "feeder" primary schools, Redwell, Sunnyside, St. Mungo's and Park, and varies from a midd ...

. He would take up teaching full-time after his football career, eventually becoming Deputy Rector at

Lornshill Academy Lornshill Academy is a six-year comprehensive school situated in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland. Approximately 1049 pupils are enrolled with the school. Lornshill currently employs approximately 80 teachers and around 30 support staff. Lor ...

, until he retired in 1995. Cousin died in September 2016, aged 78.

References

1938 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Alloa Scottish men's footballers Dundee F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Scottish Football League players People educated at Alloa Academy Men's association football forwards Scottish Football League representative players Scotland men's under-23 international footballers Place of death missing 20th-century Scottish sportsmen {{Scotland-footy-forward-1930s-stub