Alec Boden (13 August 1925 – 24 January 2011) 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 at centre-half, most notably for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

. He starred for Duntocher St. Mary's, a boys' guild team, before signing for Celtic in 1943. Called up for military service in November that year, he became a PT instructor in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, where he was promoted to the rank of

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

. Boden spent a short time on loan to

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...

before returning to

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

. His league debut however, was at right-back, in the second game of the 1947–48 season, a 4–0 home victory against Queen's Park. His only other league appearance that season was at right-half, in a 3–2 home win against Morton that October. He also made two appearances at full-back in the League Cup. Boden suffered a broken knee-cap and had two pieces of cartilage removed during his playing career. He played in the club's 1951 Scottish Cup Final victory over

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

, but missed the 1956 final due to injury. Boden represented the

Scottish 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 k ...

in September 1952. He joined

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is The Honest Men, fro ...

later in 1956, and received an English FA coaching certificate by passing the

Lilleshall Lilleshall is a village and civil parish in the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England. It lies between the towns of Telford and Newport, on the A518, in the Wrekin constituency. There is one school in the centre of the village. ...

coaching course. Along with John Higgins, he coached the Celtic Reserves in the 1960s. Boden died on 24 January 2011, aged 85.

References

*Paul Lunney ''Celtic: A complete record 1888-1992'' ()

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boden, Alec 1925 births British Army personnel of World War II Scottish men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Celtic F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Scottish Football League players Celtic F.C. non-playing staff 2011 deaths Footballers from West Dunbartonshire Place of death missing Scottish Football League representative players British Army soldiers 20th-century Scottish sportsmen