John Francis Doran MM (3 January 1896 – 7 January 1940) was a 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 played three times for the Ireland national team. In club football, he scored 46 goals from 90 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

playing for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

. He also played in the Southern League for Pontypridd,

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, Brighton & Hove Albion (before their admission to the Football League) and Mid Rhondda United, in the Free State League for Shelbourne and Fordsons, and in the

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

for Boston Town.

Life and career

Doran was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

in 1896. His family moved to England, and the young Doran was on the books of Southern League clubs New Brompton and

Pontypridd Pontypridd ( , ), Colloquialism, colloquially referred to as ''Ponty'', is a town and a Community (Wales), community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales, approximately 10 miles north west of Cardiff city centre. Geography Pontypridd comprises the ...

and

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

club Newcastle Empire before signing for

in May 1914. He scored twice in his only appearance for that club in the Southern League before enlisting in the Army in September. Doran went on to serve in the 17th Battalion of the

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...

– the so-called Footballers' Battalion – and was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

. After the war, Doran had brief spells as a guest with

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, before joining Southern League club

, under the management of his wartime commanding officer, Major Frank Buckley. By March 1920, he had scored 18 goals for Norwich, already enough to make him the club's top scorer for the season, when Charlie Webb, manager of Buckley's former club

, persuaded him to move to the south coast. In the ten remaining games, Doran scored ten goals, a total that gave him the rare achievement of being the top scorer of two clubs in the same season. The following year, when Albion and the other Southern League teams were absorbed into the new

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

, Doran's goalscoring continued. He was the club's top scorer, with 22 goals, and he began the 1921–22 season with 16 of the first 17 goals scored by the team, including two

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 ...

s and five goals in a 7–0 defeat of

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. Such goalscoring attracted attention from bigger clubs, and after finishing the season as Albion's top scorer for the third time, he signed for

of the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

. Doran made only three appearances for Manchester City, scoring once, before the club attempted to convert him to

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He then moved back to the Third Division for a few months with

. Short spells followed with Mid Rhondda United in the Southern League. In 1924 he joined Free State League club Shelbourne. He scored the third goal as Shelbourne defeated

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they play t ...

4–0 in the semifinal of the 1925 Free State Cup, and appeared on the losing side in the final. He also played for Fordsons in the Free State League before finishing his playing career with Boston Town in the

. He then returned to Ireland where he coached

Waterford United Waterford Football Club formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club was founded and elected to the league in 1930. Originally the ...

. After retiring from football, he became a publican in the north-east of England, and died in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

of the effects of

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 ...

, aged 44.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doran, Jack 1896 births 1940 deaths Military personnel from Belfast Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football forwards Irish association footballers (before 1923) Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Gillingham F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Mid Rhondda F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Cork F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players League of Ireland players Waterford F.C. managers League of Ireland managers Midland Football League players Middlesex Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Military Medal Brentford F.C. wartime guest players Newcastle United F.C. wartime guest players Boston Town F.C. (1920s) players Pontypridd F.C. players Men's association football wing halves Irish association football managers Tuberculosis deaths in England 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis