Walter Arnott (12 May 1861 – 18 May 1931), sometimes known as Wattie Arnott, was a Scottish footballer who played for Queen's Park and the Scotland national team.

Football career

Born in

Pollokshields Pollokshields (, Scots language, Scots: ''Powkshiels'') is an area in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. Its modern boundaries are largely man-made, being formed by the M77 motorway to the west and northwest with the open land of Pollok Count ...

(then in

Renfrew County Renfrew County is a county and census division in the Canadian province of Ontario. It straddles the west bank of the Ottawa River. There are 17 municipalities in the county. Its county seat is Pembroke, which is geographically within the county ...

but in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

), Arnott joined Queen's Park from Pollokshields Athletic in 1882 as a replacement for Andrew Watson and remained with the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

club until 1893. However, as an amateur he was free to play for other clubs, including

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, Newcastle West End,

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...

and Corinthian. He also coached the young players at Queen's Park, initially retiring from playing in 1888 before being persuaded to return. At Queen's Park, he won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

and

Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cup ...

, typically partnered by

Andrew Holm Andrew Hair Holm (4 November 1859 – 8 January 1934) was a Scottish footballer who played for Queen's Park and Scotland. He won the Scottish Cup in 1881, 1882 and 1884 (the latter a walkover) and was selected for the Glasgow select team in ad ...

and later by Bob Smellie. He also won

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runners-up medals in

1884 Events January * January 4 – The Fabian Society is founded in London to promote gradualist social progress. * January 5 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera '' Princess Ida'', a satire on feminism, premières at the Savoy The ...

and

1885 Events January * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 17 – Mahdist ...

. He switched to St Bernard's on a permanent basis (making all but one of his

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 ...

appearances with the

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

club) following a dispute with Queen's Park regarding being overlooked for the later stages of the

1892–93 Scottish Cup The 1892–93 Scottish Cup was the 20th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Queen's Park when they beat Celtic 2–1 in the final after a replay. Calendar Teams Preliminary rounds First ...

, but did not play for

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 ...

side Linfield as reported in some sources – this player, who won an

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

medal, was Willie Arnott, brother of Wattie. Arnott was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

14 times by Scotland between 1883 and 1893. He appeared in ten consecutive matches against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, a Scottish record, although it has been noted that the results of those matches were not always in Scotland's favour, with the style of play used by Queen's Park differing from that used by the likes of Renton and

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 some defensive partnerships from the different 'schools' being ineffective.Walter Arnott
Iain Campbell Whittle, Scots Football Worldwide The SFA honoured Arnott by presenting him with a special International Cap to commemorate his achievement – this is now displayed at the

Scottish Football Museum The Scottish Football Museum is Scotland’s national museum of association football, located in Hampden Park in Glasgow. The museum was established in 1994 being first located in a small section of Glasgow’s Museum of Transport. It was reloc ...

Other sports

Arnott was also a noted

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, and tennis player. He was also an avid

yachtsman A yacht () is a sail- or motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a ...

. He was also Secretary of the Crossmyloof Curling Club from 1912 to 1931.The reference to his being the Secretary was found inscribed on the 'Walter Arnott Trophy' still being competed for annually between Crossmyloof CC and Lynn & Clarkston CC.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnott, Walter 1861 births 1931 deaths 19th-century Scottish sportsmen Footballers from Glasgow Queen's Park F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish men's footballers Notts County F.C. players St Bernard's F.C. players Pollokshields Athletic F.C. players Scottish Football League players Kilmarnock F.C. players Third Lanark A.C. players Corinthian F.C. players Queen's Park F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football fullbacks

Football career

Other sports

See also

References

External links