James Bonar (13 July 1862 – 1924) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 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 ...

for

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

Early career

Jim Bonar started his football career in

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

in 1883. He joined a club called

Thornliebank Thornliebank ( Scots: ''Thonliebank'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach nan Dealgan'') is a suburban area in East Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, it is located on the Auldhouse Burn about ...

who had reached the Scottish Cup final three years earlier. Jim Bonar signed for Accrington on 1 July 1884. For four seasons Accrington, like most football clubs played ''Friendly" matches and the only serious competition they took part in was the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Season 1888–1889

Accrington were one of the founder members of the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

and (as recorded by Metcalf and ENFA) like nine other clubs played the first ever League matches in the world on 8 September 1888. Jim Bonar made his League debut on 8 September 1888 at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

, the then home of Everton. Accrington lost the match 2–1. Metcalf has reproduced a press article on the match from the

Liverpool Mercury The ''Liverpool Mercury'' was an English newspaper that originated in Liverpool, England. As well as focusing on local news, the paper also reported on both national and international news allowing it to circulate in Lancashire, Wales, Isle of Ma ...

published on 10 September 1888. Bonar was mentioned as having shots on goal in both halves but without success. Jim Bonar appeared in 17 of the 22 matches played by Accrington in 1888-1889 season. As a forward he played in a forward line that scored 48 League goals and the club finished seventh in the League table Jim Bonar' only season in top-flight football was described by Metcalf as "a professional who only played one season but failed to score a single goal in 17 games."

1889–1924

Jim Bonar left Accrington in 1889. There is no record of when he stopped playing football and any other career he pursued. He died in 1924, aged 60 or 61.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonar, Jim Scottish men's footballers Accrington F.C. players Scottish Football League players Thornliebank F.C. players 1866 births 1924 deaths Men's association football forwards