James Sharp (11 October 1880 – 18 November 1949) was a Scottish international

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 ...

Career

Club

Born in

Alyth Alyth () () is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, northeast of Blairgowrie and Rattray, Blairgowrie and about northwest of Dundee. In 2022 the town had an estimated population of 3,046. First mentioned by name in a 12th-century royal char ...

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

, Sharp began his career with East Craigie and then joined

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 ...

in 1899. There he was a regular at

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in his five seasons there, where he earned a

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

runners-up medal in 1902–03. In 1904 he moved south of the border to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, who were then in the Southern League. A year later, in 1905 he was snapped up by Woolwich Arsenal of the

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and promptly became a regular in the side after making his debut against

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on 2 September 1905. He missed only three league games in his first season and reached the

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semi-finals twice in his first two seasons.

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prised him away in April 1908 for £400. In total he played 116 games for Arsenal, scoring 5 goals. His spell at Rangers only lasted nine months before he moved back to

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again, rejoining Fulham for a transfer fee of £1,000. He spent another four seasons at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

. Sharp then joined Fulham's local rivals Chelsea, leaving upon the cancellation of league football in 1915 due to

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. Sharp then returned to Scotland, joining Dundee Hibernian of the wartime Eastern League in September 1915. He left in April 1916 for military service with the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...

, but briefly returned to play for Dundee Hibs in February 1919. He moved back to Fulham in 1919, working as a trainer. However, at the age of 39 he made an unlikely comeback; after Fulham's inside left Harold Crockford missed the team bus to an away game at Bury on 17 April 1920, Sharp returned and scored in a 2–2 draw. Sharp later coached at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

and

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. He died in 1949, aged 69.

International

Sharp made his debut for

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 ...

against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

on 12 March 1904 while with Dundee. He won another three Scotland

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at Arsenal, and one more against Wales on 1 March 1909 during his Fulham spell, to bring his total to five.

References

;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, James 1880 births 1949 deaths Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Dundee F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Footballers from Perth and Kinross Men's association football fullbacks Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish Football League representative players East Craigie F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Black Watch soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Dundee United F.C. players Place of death missing

Career

Club

International

See also

References