"Many years ago, I remember being told that James Kennaway, a Celtic goalkeeper, appeared in internationals for Scotland, United States and Canada. Is this true, and if so, how did he achieve this?" wonders Dave Baxter.
It's partially true, Dave. As Blair James of the Scottish Football Museum explains: "James (Joe) Kennaway was a Canadian who played for Canada against US in Brooklyn in 1926. He starred against a touring Celtic team in 1931 and was signed by them to replace the late John Thompson, tragically killed in an Old Firm match [after fracturing his skull]. Kennaway played once for Scotland against Austria in 1933 and played in the Scottish League on four occasions. But then objections were made about a Canadian playing for Scotland. There's no evidence of him representing the USA though."
Not that Kennaway's case was unusual. For country swapping was a common occurrence until the 1960s, when Fifa changed its laws to bring an end to the practice of switching allegiances. (In this article we'll be ignoring the dozens of players who played for a second country - and, in the case of former USSR and CIS internationals, a third country - after their first one(s) disintegrated.)
Some of the most famous examples include the oriundi - South Americans who grew up in and played for their native countries before being bought by Italian clubs and capped by Italy because of their dual nationality. As Brian Glanville explains: "Italy's [1934 World Cup] winning team had three essential Argentinians - Luisito Monti, the ruthless attacking centre-half who had played for Argentina in the 1930 World Cup final, Enrique Guaita, the right winger, and Raimondo Orsi on the left. 'If they can die for Italy,' Vittorio Pozzo, the coach, proclaimed somewhat disingenuously, 'they can play for Italy!' - meaning that they were subject to military call-up. But when war was declared against Abyssinia in 1935, Guaita and other oriundi were caught sneaking over the border to Switzerland. Play, yes. Die, no!"
It wasn't just Italy who took full advantage of the laws. In the 1940s, Alfredo Di Stéfano represented not only his native Argentina, but also Colombia and Spain. After making his name in Argentina, a players' strike prompted a move to Colombia's renegade Di Mayor league, which was out of Fifa's jurisdiction, meaning no transfer fees and massive salaries. Eventually the Colombian national team called him up for international duty, although his four caps were deemed unofficial because of the Colombian FA's falling-out with Fifa. From Millionarios, Di Stéfano switched to Real Madrid, where he collected five European Cups, the Intercontinental Cup and, finally, a trip to the 1962 World Cup with Spain.
Another name carved in Real folklore, Ferenc Puskas, also played for both Spain and his homeland, Hungary. At the time of the Hungarian uprising against their Soviet suppressors in 1956, Puskas and his Honved team-mates were playing a European Cup tie in Bilbao; he chose to defect - along with Sandor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor - and eventually arrived at the Bernabéu in 1958. And the late László Kubala, a Hungarian international who was voted Barcelona's greatest ever player, also pulled on the national shirts of both Czechoslovakia and Spain.
Four England players who went on to represent other countries - and there are also nine 'unofficial' instances. This excellent article describes how John (Jack) Reynolds (England and Ireland), John Hawley Edwards (England and Wales), Robert (Bobby) Ernest Evans (England and Wales), and Kenneth (Ken) Armstrong (England and New Zealand) all picked up caps for more than one nation.
Cris Freddi's The England Football Fact Book adds that there were three other close calls, including the case of Alex Donaldson. "On his way (on 21 January 1914) to an England international trial game at Sunderland, Alex Donaldson of Bolton Wanderers revealed that he was actually born in Scotland," writes Freddi. "(Charles W.) Wallace of Aston Villa had to take his place in the trial and Donaldson ended up in the Scottish side which faced England on April 4th of the same year! [winning 3-1]."
MOST VAUNTED
"Just a quick query," promises Steven Langfort. "Did celebrity medium and former Most Haunted star Derek Acorah really play for Liverpool?"
Let's leave it to the man himself, Steven. "I always wanted to be a professional footballer and at 15 I realised my dream and became an apprentice footballer with Liverpool Football Club," he revealed in an interview for It's Fate magazine. "I played many times with Liverpool's reserve team but sadly never made it to the first team. Years later a medium brought through the spirit of Bill Shankly (my 'boss' at Liverpool FC), and she told me, 'the boss says you're going to score more goals in your work now than you did at Liverpool!' (referring to my work as a medium). After Liverpool I played for Glentoran in Ireland and then moved to Australia to play professional football there [for USC Lion]. Sadly a knee injury finished off my footballing career."
WEIRD OBJECTS THROWN AT FOOTBALL MATCHES (2)
In last week's Knowledge, Brian Cowell asked what the strangest items to be thrown from the stands on to a football pitch were. And your emails have been flooding in with further examples ...
Lars Ellensohn and Andreas Schärfinger noted that, "the recent local derby between Betis and Sevilla saw fans throw a bottle of rum, a flare and a living cat on to the pitch." Hmmn, not bad, but how about this from Chris Weaver? "When Charlton were at home to Luton on January 19, 1982 at the old Valley, the game was mostly memorable (it ended 0-0) for the item lobbed out by home supporters in the first half. Without warning, the front half of a dead cat sailed over the heads of away supporters, landing a foot or so short of the touchline. A passing policeman, who the cat had narrowly missed, nudged it gingerly to one side with his foot and that was that."
Somewhat more tongue-in-cheek was Reading's PANTS protest (possibly an acronym for Players Are Not Trying Sufficiently) on December 18 1999, where an estimated 4,000 Royals supporters brought an item of underwear to wave - or hurl on to the Madejski Stadium pitch.
"Probably the most bizarre thing I ever saw happen at a game was at Chile's World Cup 2002 warm-up match against the New Zealand Football Kingz in Auckland," recalls Leila Gilchrist. "Someone actually ran on to the pitch 10 minutes before the end of the match carrying a car door! The presence of a few hundred New Zealand-resident Chileans excitedly massing by the touchline had prompted the announcer to ask fans not to invade the pitch at the end of the game. After the car-door incident he had to follow this up with a request for fans 'not to bring car parts on to the pitch'."
Dr Chris Wood in Mexico thinks he can trump that, however. "After the America-Sao Caetano Copa Libertadores quarter-final in 2004, both teams decided to ignore the ball and start whacking each other in the final minute. Cuauhtemoc Blanco, previously red-carded, sprinted back out of the tunnel to join in the fun, which upped the ante even further. While fights were breaking out all over the pitch, the crowd decided they fancied a bit of that too, and all hell broke loose on the terraces of the Azteca. Why and how I do not know, but at one point a wheelbarrow came flying over the fence to whistle past the noses of the attendant police. A wheelbarrow?"
However, our favourite tale involves the late Chic Brodie, a Knowledge favourite (who was once knocked out by a falling crossbar before his career was ended by a canine pitch intruder who shattered his kneecap). Brodie was playing for Brentford against Millwall on November 6, 1965 when - of all things - a hand grenade was thrown at him from the Lions' end. DJ and washing-up powder vendor Danny Baker recounts the tale: "Did he panic? No, he did not. He simply waved one arm, then more urgently two, towards his nearest official, a linesman. After a brief exchange, the linesman walked towards the hand grenade and, from about eight feet away, confirmed it was bona fide. The linesman then ran toward the other end of the pitch waving his flag furiously. Startled players made [a] gangway for him. Catching the referee by the arm, there is no record of what he said, but it's a fair guess to say it was along the lines of: 'I'm sorry, Mr Kirkpatrick, but the Millwall supporters have thrown a hand grenade at the Brentford 'keeper. What's the form on this?' Mr Kirkpatrick - a man of action - hastily blew his whistle and led a charge towards the tunnel."
KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
"Has there ever been a deaf professional footballer?" asked Clinton Mansell in 2004.
There has indeed, including one very big name. "Although not totally deaf, Arsenal's former record goalscorer, Cliff Bastin, was almost deaf," Andy Kelly explained. In fact, he had an inherent problem with his middle ear, part of which had to be removed. "So much so," he continues, "that he was not conscripted during the Second World War. His deafness was bad enough that during play he was unable to hear his team-mates calling him. It obviously wasn't too detrimental to his game, as he won five league titles, two FA Cups and 21 England caps."
Across north London, Alan Fisher said: "Spurs had a young defender called Bobby Scarth in the late 70s who was deaf. I remember reading that the club wanted to give him a chance so they gave him a professional contract, but he got no further than the reserves. They felt he had considerable talent but his disability hampered his chances of making it." Scarth, who is mentioned in Hunter Davies's famous book, 'The Glory Game', is now playing for Luton Deaf FC.
John McBurne pointed us in the direction of Raith old boy Phillip Hagan. "He is profoundly deaf," said John. "He signed from junior side Dundee Violet in the summer of 2004, but left Rovers (and the megalomaniac manager Claude Anelka) at the beginning of September to seek employment away from football." Several other players are believed to have been deaf, according to you lot, including Albert Quixall, Jimmy Case and Steve Foster, though we were unable to confirm or deny this. Any offers?
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