Thomas McAteer (30 March 1876 – 20 September 1959) was a Scottish professional

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

centre half 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 ...

in 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 ...

for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

, in the

Scottish 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 k ...

for

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 ...

, Clyde,

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 ...

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They play in the , the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. Founded in October 1882, the club joined the Scottish Foot ...

and

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 ...

, and in the English Southern League for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

Life and career

McAteer was born in Smithstone, Cumbernauld, in 1876, the son of Patrick McAteer, who had migrated to the area to work in the coal mines, and his wife, Margaret Starrs. He played

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

football for Kilsyth Wanderers and Smithston Hibernian before moving to England in 1898 to sign for

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

club

. He spent four seasons with Bolton, scoring 10 goals from 59 league appearances: they were relegated in the first, he helped them gain promotion in 1899–1900 and played regularly in the third season but lost his place in the fourth, and was released in 1902. After two seasons in the English Southern League, the first with

, during which he played only 13 league matches, and the second with

, where he was appointed captain and played in every match but one, McAteer returned to Scotland where he signed for

in May 1904. He was a regular in the

1904–05 Scottish Division One The 1904–05 Scottish Division One season was won by Celtic. Celtic and Rangers had finished the league campaign level on 41 points, and a play-off at Hampden Park (doubling up as a fixture in the minor Glasgow Football League) was arranged to ...

season as Dundee finished in mid-table, but played only four matches the following season and moved on, to

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 i ...

club

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

. He played for Clyde during the 1906–07 season before returning to Carlisle, captaining the team to the second round proper of the

1907–08 FA Cup The 1907–08 FA Cup was the 37th staging of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). Wolverhampton Wanderers won the competition for the second time, beating ...

no thanks to his missing a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in a 2–2 draw with

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. After they were eliminated from the competition in February 1908, he joined Clyde on a permanent basis. McAteer captained Clyde as they defeated both

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 ...

and

to reach the 1910 Scottish Cup Final, a match only settled after two replays when Clyde lost to his former club, Dundee. At the end of the season, the 34-year-old McAteer signed for Celtic. Never a first-team regular, McAteer still played in 24 Division One matches for his new club, and scored a late goal in the 1911 Scottish Cup Final replay against

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

to clinch a 2–0 win. His performances earned him a place in the Home Scots team that faced the Anglo-Scots in an international trial in March 1911, but no call-up ensued. In 1912, McAteer briefly played for Wishaw Thistle before returning to league football on a part-time basis with

and

. When war broke out, McAteer enlisted and served with the Cameron Highlanders; he was badly wounded in 1915. After the war he continued as a colliery surface worker. McAteer and his wife, Mary Clinton, had several children. He died in

Kilsyth Kilsyth (; ) is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in North Lanarkshire, roughly halfway between Glasgow and Stirling in Scotland. The estimated population is 10,380. The town is famous for the Battle of Kilsyth and the religi ...

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling ( ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling.Registers of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. It borders Perthshir ...

, in 1959 at the age of 83.

Honours

Bolton Wanderers *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

runner-up: 1899–1900 Clyde *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1909–10 Celtic * Scottish Cup winner: 1910–11

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAteer, Tom 1876 births 1959 deaths Sportspeople from Cumbernauld Scottish men's footballers Scottish people of Irish descent Men's association football midfielders Bolton Wanderers F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Wishaw F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Abercorn F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players English Football League players Footballers from North Lanarkshire Southern Football League players Scottish Football League players Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders soldiers British Army personnel of World War I People from Croy