Charles Stanley Duncan (1889 – after 1927) was a Scottish professional

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 scored 88 goal from 266 appearances in the Scottish League and 6 goals from 22 appearances 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 ...

. He began his senior career with

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

, played for English club

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

ither side of the First World War, and returned to Scotland where he represented Rangers, Third Lanark, Clyde,

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 ...

and

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

. He was capped once for the Scottish League representative team. He played as a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

Career

Duncan was born in

Kinross Kinross (, ) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth, Scotland, Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the Counties of Scotland, historic county of Kinross-shire. History Kinro ...

. He played for

before coming to England to sign for

of the Second Division in 1913. He made his debut in the

on 22 February 1913, scoring the opening goal in a 3–1 home win against Hull City, and followed up with three more goals in the next five games, but lost his place when Billy Jones returned to fitness. Unable to establish himself in the first team, Duncan scored a remarkable 52 goals in the 1914–15 season for Birmingham's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

as they won the Birmingham & District League title. When the Football League was suspended for the duration of the First World War, Duncan returned to Scotland and signed for Clyde. He joined Rangers for the 1916–17 season, scored twice in the opening game against

and a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in the third game, against

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 finished the season as the club's top scorer, with 15 goals from 25 League games. While a Clyde player, he was selected by the Scottish League XI for a representative match against the Irish League XI. The game took place on 26 October 1921 at Clyde's home ground,

Shawfield Stadium Shawfield Stadium is a venue in the Shawfield district of the town of Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located close to the boundary with Glasgow. Originally a football ground, Shawfield was home to Clyde F.C. from 1898 to 1986. Greyho ...

, and Duncan scored the third goal of a 3–0 win.

References

1889 births Year of death missing Footballers from Perth and Kinross Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Third Lanark A.C. players Dundee F.C. players Arbroath F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Date of birth missing Place of death missing Scottish Football League representative players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen {{Scotland-footy-forward-1880s-stub