James Scrymagour Crapnell (4 June 1903 – 24 December 1991) 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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He played as a

right back 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 ...

for

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club ...

and

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 ...

at club level, and represented both

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

Career

Crapnell, who was born in Paisley, began his club career in the

junior leagues The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (Junior League or JL) is a private, nonprofit educational women's volunteer organization aimed at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society. With ...

with Cambuslang Rangers. He was already 23 when he moved to Airdrie in 1926 as a replacement for Alex Dick who had been advised to stop playing,Greatest XI - 2. Right Back
Airdrieonians FC, 6 February 2016 but within three years he had become the ''Diamonds'' club captain and achieved international recognition, receiving all of his

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

while with Airdrie.

signed him in January 1933 for a fee of £2,000. He helped them reach the 1933 Scottish Cup Final, but they lost 1–0 to

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 retired in 1934 to try a career in insurance. After a brief comeback in the Motherwell

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 ...

, he retired again. Crapnell was 5 feet 5 inches tall, which was small for a defender. He had a "reputation for tenacity", however, and won nine Scotland caps between 1929 and 1933, only finishing on the losing side once and captaining the team in four of those appearances. He is the most capped player in Airdrieonians' history. Crapnell also represented the

five times (all victories) between 1929 and 1932. Crapnell became a

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, working for

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. They compete in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. According to the official club hist ...

and then

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

. He died in December 1991, aged 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crapnell, Jimmy 1903 births 1991 deaths Footballers from Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish men's footballers Scottish football managers Cambuslang Rangers F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Motherwell F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. managers St Johnstone F.C. managers Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League representative players Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Scottish Football League managers 20th-century Scottish sportsmen

Career

See also

References