Arthur "Art" Farrell (February 8, 1877 – February 7, 1909) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player, author and businessman. Farrell played for St. Mary's College in the 1890s and later the

Montreal Shamrocks The Montreal Shamrocks were an amateur, later professional, and then amateur again men's ice hockey club in existence from 1886 to 1924, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They were spun off from the Montreal Shamrocks lacrosse club. Starting off ...

in the

Amateur Hockey Association of Canada The Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) was an amateur men's ice hockey league founded on 8 December 1886, in existence until 1898. It was the second ice hockey league organized in Canada, after one in Kingston, Ontario started in 1883. ...

(AHAC) and Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL). Born in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Farrell helped lead the Shamrocks to

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

victories in 1899 and 1900. He wrote the first ever book on ice hockey, '' Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game'', published in 1899 and of which only four remaining copies are known to exist in the world. He went on to write two "how-to" books on hockey: ''Ice hockey and ice polo guide'' of 1901-1904 and ''How to play Ice Hockey'', published in 1907.

Personal life

Farrell was born in

, the son of William Farrell and Mary Meagher. He was the fourth child of eight. His father was a successful businessman and Montreal

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

. After leaving hockey in 1901, Farrell went into his father's business firm and wrote books on ice hockey, revising his 1899 book for the American market. Farrell fell ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in 1906, and entered the sanatorium in

Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts () is a town in the province of Quebec, Canada, in the regional county municipality of Les Laurentides in the administrative region of Laurentides, also known as the "Laurentians" or the Laurentian Mountains (in English) ...

, where he died in 1909. He was inducted into the

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

in 1965, along with his teammate

Fred Scanlan John Frederick Scanlan (May 5, 1877 – November 11, 1950) was a Canadians, Canadian amateur ice hockey player in the era before professional ice hockey. Scanlan was a forward (ice hockey), forward who played for the Montreal Shamrocks and Win ...

, as a player. Farrell was one of the editors for the

Spalding Athletic Library Spalding Athletic Library were a series of sports and exercise books published through "American Sports Publishing Company" from 1892 to 1941. Both brands were owned and founded by American sporting goods manufacturer Spalding (company), Spalding. ...

collection which was published by American Sports Publishing Co.

Playing career

Farrell studied and played ice hockey at St. Mary's College from 1895 until 1896. While there, he met future Shamrocks' players

Harry Trihey Henry Judah "Flip" Trihey (December 25, 1877 – December 9, 1942) was a Canadians, Canadian amateur ice hockey player and executive in the era before professional ice hockey. Trihey played the Centre (ice hockey), centre forward position for the ...

and Jack Brannen. In 1897, the four joined the Montreal Shamrocks. Farrell, along with Trihey, Scanlan and Brannen would form an impressive offensive line for the Shamrocks. (In those days, four forwards played as a line, including a rover.) The Shamrocks would win their league championship and the Stanley Cup in 1899 and 1900. The group played one more season together with the Shamrocks, then all four (and in fact the entire team) left the Shamrocks and Farrell and Trihey left competitive play entirely. While still playing, Farrell served as referee in CAHL games, and he continued as a referee after he retired as a player.

Career statistics

References

* ;Notes

External links

* * * Rea
''Hockey: Canada'a Royal Winter Game''
online at Library and Archives Canada * Rea
''Spalding's Official Ice Hockey Guide''
online at archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, Arthur 1877 births 1909 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian sportswriters Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Montreal Montreal Shamrocks (non-NHA) players Stanley Cup champions Writers from Montreal 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Quebec