Frank Branscombe

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Frank Branscombe
Personal information
Full name Francis Archer Branscombe
Date of birth 6 May 1889
Place of birth Dennistoun, Scotland
Date of death 1942(1942-00-00) (aged 52–53)
Place of death Maryhill, Scotland
Position(s) Outside left
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Clydebank Juniors[1]
1908–1917 Partick Thistle 182 (37)
1915–1916 Vale of Leven (loan)
1916 Rangers (loan) 7 (5)
Dunkeld and Birnham
Total 189 (42)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Francis Archer Branscombe (6 May 1889 – 1942) was a Scottish footballer who played mainly as an outside left.[2] The majority of his career was spent at Partick Thistle where he played from 1908 to 1917, making 214 appearances in all competitions and scoring 50 goals;[3] he appeared in the finals of the Glasgow Cup in 1914[4] and the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup in 1916,[5] but finished on the losing side in both. He had loan spells with Vale of Leven and Rangers during World War I – in the period of around six weeks he spent at Ibrox, he managed to score in five different Scottish Football League fixtures out of the seven he played in.[6] In 1917 he left Scotland to work in the wartime munitions industry in Woolwich.[1] He later played for amateur side Dunkeld and Birnham, facing Partick Thistle in the 1923–24 Scottish Cup; the Jags won the tie 11–0.[7]

He had a trial for the Scottish League XI in 1910[2] and played in the Glasgow FA's annual challenge match against Sheffield in 1914.[8]

Branscombe was involved in a fatal accident during a match on Christmas Day 1909 when he slipped on an icy surface in a challenge for the ball with James Main of Hibernian, striking the Scotland defender in the stomach with his boot with some force. Main died from his injuries the following day.[9][10] The incident affected the form of 20-year-old Branscombe for some time.[11]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Branscombe, Frank 1908-15 & 1916-17, Partick Thistle History Archive
  2. ^ a b John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ Players B, Partick Thistle History Archive
  4. ^ Football: Glasgow Cup–Replayed Final, The Glasgow Herald, 14 October 1914
  5. ^ Football | Glasgow Charity Cup Final, Glasgow Herald, 15 May 1916
  6. ^ (Rangers player) Branscombe, Frank, FitbaStats
  7. ^ Dunkeld Outclassed at Firhill, The Dundee Courier, 14 January 1924 (via Partick Thistle History Archive)
  8. ^ Football. Sheffield, 2; Glasgow, 1., The Glasgow Herald, 27 October 1914 (via Partick Thistle History Archive)
  9. ^ "Tragic tale of Hibs' James Main, who died of Christmas Day injury". The Scotsman. 24 December 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  10. ^ "James Main 1886 - 1909". Hibernian Historical Trust. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  11. ^ 1910 – Maryhill or Partick Thistle?, Maryhill Burgh Hall, 4 May 2020
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