Peter Pursell (1 July 1894 – 14 August 1968) 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 ...

. A defender, he won one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

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 ...

in 1914. He was the younger brother of Robert Russell Pursell and the father of Robert Wilson Pursell. He began his senior career at Queens Park before joining

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 ...

in 1914. He helped the club to the league title in 1917–18 and 1918–19 before he signed with English club

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

for a £2,500 fee in August 1919. He spent five years with the Vale before joining Wigan Borough for two years. He later became

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

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 ...

side Congleton Town and then

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 ...

at Dutch club

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

Club career

Queens Park

Pursell played for Campbeltown Academicals and played for one season with Queens Park. He made his

Scottish Division One 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 k ...

debut on 16 August 1913, in a 4–0 defeat at

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

. He featured 21 times throughout the 1913–14 campaign.

Rangers

He joined

in 1914. He made 31 appearances in 1914–15, as the club finished third in Scottish Division One. He played 20 games in 1915–16, as the ''Gers'' finished second behind

Old Firm The Old Firm is a collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded i ...

rivals

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 ...

. The

Ibrox Park Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Scottish Premiership team Rangers, Ibrox is the third-largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated ca ...

club again finished third in 1916–17, before winning the league title in 1917–18, with Pursell making 24 appearances. He featured 23 times in 1918–19, as Rangers retained the league title.

Port Vale

He joined

for a £2,500 fee in August 1919. When Vale were elected to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

two months later, the club had to fork out an extra £500 to Rangers for the services of Pursell and Willie Aitken. He played 49 of the club's 51 games in 1919–20, and also helped Vale to lift the

Staffordshire Senior Cup The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup is a football cup tournament based in the county of Staffordshire in England first competed for in 1877–78 (then under Sheffield Rules. Organised by the Staffordshire Football Association, it is competed ...

and North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup. He played alongside brother Bob in 1920–21, making 34 Second Division appearances. He featured 32 times in 1921–22, though his brother was forced to retire with a broken leg. Pursell featured 42 times in 1922–23 and 25 times in 1923–24, before leaving the

Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditi ...

for Wigan Borough at the end of the campaign. Pursell played 183 matches for the Vale without finding the net.

Wigan Borough

He played 35

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

games for Wigan, helping the club to finish 11th in 1924–25 and 17th in 1925–26.

International career

Pursell received his sole

on 28 February 1914, in a

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

match 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 ...

which ended in a 0–0 draw.

Managerial career

After leaving Wigan Borough, Pursell became

of Congleton Town and also managed Dutch club

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Rangers *

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 ...

: 1917–18, 1918–19 Port Vale *

: 1920 *North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup: 1920, 1922

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pursell, Peter 1894 births 1968 deaths People from Campbeltown Footballers from Argyll and Bute Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Queen's Park F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Wigan Borough F.C. players Congleton Town F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Men's association football player-managers Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands FC Dordrecht managers 20th-century Scottish sportsmen