Sam Shearer

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Sam Shearer
Personal information
Full name Samuel B Shearer
Date of birth (1883-12-29)29 December 1883
Place of birth Coylton, Scotland
Date of death September 1971
Place of death Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Position(s) Inside-forward
Youth career
Trabboch
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1908–1910 Southampton 17 (0)
1910–1912 Nithsdale Wanderers
1912–1913 Bradford Park Avenue 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Samuel Shearer (born 29 December 1883) was a Scottish footballer who played at inside-forward for Southampton and Bradford Park Avenue in the early 20th century.

Football career[edit]

Shearer was born in Coylton in South Ayrshire and started his football career in Scottish Junior Football with Trabboch before being invited for a trial at Southampton in the summer of 1908. He showed "considerable promise" in the trial matches and was rewarded with a professional contract.[1]

He made his debut for the "Saints" in the opening match of the 1908–09 Southern League season, a 3–1 draw at Brighton, but after four appearances, he lost his place to Frank Jordan in mid-September. Described as "naturally skillful", Shearer was able to keep the ball close to his feet and as a result incurred regular kicks and bruises to his ankles, but his individuality was never properly exploited by his team-mates.[1] For the remainder of the season, Shearer was in-and-out of the side making a total of eleven appearances, mainly at inside-left, but also at inside-right and on the left wing.[2]

In the summer of 1909, Saints signed Sam Brittleton who took over at inside-left, before losing out in turn to Bob Carter. Shearer was then third-choice for the inside-left berth, and it was only in the last month of the season that he made a sustained run in the side with five first-team appearances.[3]

He returned to Scotland in the summer of 1910 to join Nithsdale Wanderers of Dumfries, before returning to England with Bradford Park Avenue in December 1912.[1] After making only one league appearance for Bradford, Shearer retired in 1913.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 303. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  2. ^ Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. pp. 44–45. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
  3. ^ Saints – A complete record. pp. 46–47.