John Fairbairn (3 March 1871 – 23 October 1966) was a Scottish

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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for Heart of Midlothian in the late 19th century. He won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1891 Events January * January 1 ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new African territories. * January 4 – The Earl of Zetland issues a ...

(their first major trophy and the first time the competition had been won by a team from the Scottish capital) and

1896 Events January * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports Wilhelm Röntgen's dis ...

(an

Edinburgh derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any association football, football match played between Football in Scotland, Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian F.C., Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian F.C., Hibernian (Hibs), the two o ...

victory over Hibernian), and was a

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

title winner in 1896–97, playing in all 18 fixtures (he made only three appearances when they were champions two seasons earlier, William Cox taking over). His last game for Hearts was in 1898 but he is reported to have signed for

Abercorn Abercorn ( Gaelic: ''Obar Chùirnidh'', Old English: ''Æbbercurnig'') is a village and civil parish in West Lothian, Scotland. Close to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, the village is around west of South Queensferry. The parish had a ...

in 1903, though no appearances were recorded for him with the Paisley club so it is likely he was registered as an experienced backup player for a potential goalkeeping emergency which did not come to pass.(Hearts player) Jock Fairbairn
London Hearts Supporters Club Fairbairn was selected for the

Scottish Football 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 ...

in 1893; an under-strength team (players from

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 ...

and

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

were excused as they met in an important league fixture on the same day) lost to the

Irish League XI The Irish League representative team was the representative side of the Irish Football League, the national league for football in Northern Ireland from 1922 and, prior to that the league for Ireland. The Irish League was suspended from 1941–42 ...

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 ...

.Ireland's Pride Triumphant.
The Scottish Referee, 1 May 1893. Scan via London Hearts Supporters Club His younger brother James, a forward, also played for Hearts for one season (scoring four times on his league debut in 1891 against Clyde and featuring alongside Jock for the East of Scotland representative team) before moving on to England with

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, where he played in the Lancashire League.Nelson v Liverpool
Burnley Express, 22 February 1893. Via Play Up Liverpool. Retrieved 14 March 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbairn, Jock 1871 births 1966 deaths Scottish men's footballers Footballers from the Scottish Borders Footballers from Leith Men's association football goalkeepers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Abercorn F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players