Jim Allen (soccer player)

Jim Allen
Personnel
Surname	James Allen
birthday	May 12, 1859
place of birth	Limavady ,  Ireland
date of death	after 1937
position	runner
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1882-1883	Limavady Wanderers
1883-1884	Alexander
1884-1894	Limavady FC
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1887	Ireland (IFA)	1 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

James "Jim" Allen (born May 12, 1859 in Limavady , † after 1937) was an Irish football player .

Career

In addition to football, Allen also played cricket and became a club representative at the Irish Football Association in 1882 when the members of the Limavady Wanderers Cricket Club set up a football division . In 1883 he joined local rival Alexander , who was also based in Limavady . After the two clubs merged a year later, he played for the resulting Limavady FC . The club was subsequently one of the strongest on the Irish island , in 1885 Allen was with the club for the first time in the final of the Irish Cup , but the game ended with a clear 3-0 defeat against Distillery FC . A year later he and his team lost again in the cup final to Distillery FC from Belfast 1-0. The club also played regularly against English teams, on January 2, 1886, a highly regarded 1-0 win against Everton FC at Anfield Road .

In February 1887 Allen played for the Irish national team , but the game against England at Bramall Lane in Sheffield was clearly lost 7-0. The press was less about the defensive - Allen had formed the runner-up with Archie Rosbotham and Billy Crone - than the offensive was identified as a weak point, an Irish press representative wrote about the striker row “… wofully weak, want of combination, lack of dash, and no passing to speak of being the characteristics of the five. ” In The Yorkshire Post's match report , Allen was one of the most conspicuous players on his team alongside team captain Johnny Gibb and defender Fred Browne . However, there was no further international match.

In the years that followed, Limavady and Allen made headlines only at the regional level. In the seasons 1887/88, 1888/89, 1889/90 he was a selection player for County Londonderry and won with Limavady in 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1893 a total of six times the title of the North West Senior Cup , was defeated in 1892 and 1894 one also only in the final of the Londonderry County's Cup competition.

On the occasion of the death report of his former teammate Orr Devine in December 1937, Allen, who was nicknamed "Bummer", was named alongside Nat Brown and HJ Philips as one of three surviving players on the Limavady team at the time.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Jim "Bummer" Allen - Profile on NIFG , accessed August 7, 2017
2. ↑ ASSOCIATION CHALLENGE CUP.-FINAL TIE. . In: Belfast News-Letter , March 23, 1885, p. 3.  (paid link)
3. ↑ THE IRISH CHALLENGE CUP . In: Irish Times , March 29, 1886, p. 7.  (paid link)
4. ↑ EVERTON V. LIMAVADY . In: Belfast News-Letter , January 4, 1886, p. 3.  (paid link)
5. ↑ THE INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL MATCHES . In: Northern Whig , February 7, 1887, p. 7.  (paid link)
6. ↑ ENGLAND v. IRELAND . In: Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer , February 7, 1887, p. 8.  (paid link)
7. ↑ MEMORIES OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. LIMAVADY FOOTBALL VETERAN DEAD . In: Derry Journal , December 24, 1937, p. 2.  (link subject to charge)