John Gardiner (footballer, born 1911)

John Gardiner
Personal information
Full name John Flannegan Gardiner
Date of birth (1911-12-23)23 December 1911
Place of birth Bridgeton, Scotland
Date of death 10 October 1965 (aged 53)
Place of death Glasgow, Scotland
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
Playing position Half back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1931–1937 Queen's Park 170 (0)
National team
Scotland Amateurs 3 (0)
1936 Great Britain 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

John Flannegan Gardiner[2] (23 December 1911 – 10 October 1965) was a Scottish footballer who represented Great Britain at the 1936 Summer Olympics.[3][4]

Gardiner played amateur football for Queen's Park,[5] joining from John Street School in Bridgeton. He embarked on a tour of Norway with the club in 1933.[1] During his time with Queen's Park, he represented the Scottish amateur national team in games against England, Wales and Ireland.[1]

He retired from playing due to a cruciate ligament injury.[6]

During the 1936 Olympic Games, he represented Great Britain twice, his debut came in a 2–0 victory over China and his final game against Poland in a 5–4 loss. During the game against Poland he was booed by the crowd for body charging several players and knocking over Polish left winger Hubert Gad at a time when Great Britain were losing 5–1.[7]

In the 1950s and 1960s he was general manager of the Kelvin Hall exhibition centre in Glasgow.[8][9] He died in 1965 due to lung cancer.[8] His son is Barry Gardiner, a politician.[8]

Gardiner returned to Queen's Park after his playing career and taught a young Alex Ferguson, Ferguson had complained that an opponent had bitten him during the game and Gardiner told Ferguson to "bite him back".[10] Gardiner became president of the club in the 1960s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 No. 44 J Gardiner. "Well Known Footballers". John Sinclair Ltd.
  2. ↑ 'GARDINER, Barry Strachan', Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017
  3. ↑ John Gardiner – FIFA competition record (archive)
  4. ↑ "Profile". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "QPFC.com – A Historical Queen's Park FC Website". www.qpfc.com. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  6. ↑ "Memories From Lord MacFarlane". queensparkers.wordpress.com. 1 January 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Menary, Steve (2010). GB United? : British olympic football and the end of the amateur dream. Durington: Pitch. ISBN 978-1905411924.
  8. 1 2 3 "About – Barry Gardiner MP".
  9. ↑ The Herald, 30 September 1958
  10. ↑ Kay, Oliver (22 November 2008). "Ferguson celebrates 50th anniversary". The Times  – via Highbeam (subscription required) . Retrieved 8 June 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.