Ned Doig

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Scottish footballer (1866–1919)

title: "Ned Doig" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["scottish-men's-footballers", "scotland-men's-international-footballers", "arbroath-f.c.-players", "blackburn-rovers-f.c.-players", "sunderland-a.f.c.-players", "liverpool-f.c.-players", "1866-births", "1919-deaths", "men's-association-football-goalkeepers", "deaths-from-the-spanish-flu-pandemic-in-england", "english-football-league-players", "footballers-from-arbroath"] description: "Scottish footballer (1866–1919)" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Doig" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Scottish footballer (1866–1919) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox football biography"]

FieldValue
nameNed Doig
imageNed Doig.jpg
captionDoig in 1903
full_nameJohn Edward Doig
birth_date
birth_placeLetham, Angus, Scotland
death_date
death_placeLiverpool, England
height5ft 9in
positionGoalkeeper
youthyears11883–1885
youthclubs1Dunnichen FC
years11885–1889
clubs1Arbroath
years21889–1890
clubs2Blackburn Rovers
caps20
goals20
years31890–1904
clubs3Sunderland
caps3417
goals30
clubs4Liverpool
caps451
goals40
nationalyears11887–1903
nationalteam1Scotland
nationalcaps15
nationalgoals10
::

| name = Ned Doig | image = Ned Doig.jpg | upright = | caption = Doig in 1903 | alt = | full_name = John Edward Doig | birth_date = | birth_place = Letham, Angus, Scotland | death_date = | death_place = Liverpool, England | height = 5ft 9in | position = Goalkeeper | youthyears1 = 1883–1885 | youthclubs1 = Dunnichen FC | years1 = 1885–1889 | clubs1 = Arbroath | caps1 = | goals1 = | years2 = 1889–1890 | clubs2 = Blackburn Rovers | caps2 = 0 | goals2 = 0 | years3 = 1890–1904 | clubs3 = Sunderland | caps3 = 417 | goals3 = 0| years4 = 1904–1908 | clubs4 = Liverpool | caps4 = 51 | goals4 = 0 | nationalyears1 = 1887–1903 | nationalteam1 = Scotland | nationalcaps1 = 5 | nationalgoals1 = 0 John Edward Doig (29 October 1866 – 7 November 1919) was a Scottish footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. He played the peak of his career for Sunderland, in a period of time in the club's history where they were dubbed the "team of all talents". He set a 19th-century world record by not conceding any goals in 87 of his 290 top division appearances (30%).

Club career

Early career

Born in Letham, Doig began his career as an outside right with local junior club St. Helena. He moved to Arbroath F.C. in 1884 after a member of the crowd shouted "let Doig play!" prior to a reserve team kick off; Arbroath were without a goalkeeper and the young Ned Doig was in the audience. He spent two seasons in the reserves before breaking through to the first team in 1886 at the age of 19.

Sunderland

In November 1889 Doig was signed by Blackburn Rovers. After one game he had a disagreement with the Lancashire club and decided to return home. In 1890, he returned to England to play for Sunderland; however, because he had not been registered with the club for seven days, and therefore still effectively a Blackburn player, the Football League deemed him ineligible for his debut game. As Sunderland did play him, they were fined and deducted two points. Doig went on to be an ever-present in goal for the Wearsiders in the 14 seasons he spent at the club, winning four league championships in the process and making 457 appearances in major competitions.

When the Sunderland fanzine/website A Love Supreme made a list of the club's greatest ever players, chosen from seasonal statistics, Doig came out as number one. In 2017 a small left-leaning supporters group, 'Ned Doig Ultras' was founded to commemorate his life. Doig was the first ever goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet at the current Celtic Park site. On 6 October 1892 (around two months after the ground had opened), Sunderland beat Celtic 3–0, the first time a clean sheet was kept.

Late career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/John_Edward_Doig_gravestone.JPG" caption="The grave of John Edward "Ned" Doig at [[Anfield Cemetery]] in Liverpool"] ::

Doig signed for recently relegated Liverpool for a fee of £150 in 1904. In his first season with the Merseysiders, he helped the club achieve immediate promotion back to the top division. However, the next season saw his place lost to future England star Sam Hardy. He played his last game in April 1908, at the age of 41 years and 165 days, which is still a Liverpool record. He finished his career with the amateur club St. Helens Recreationals in the Lancashire league, finally retiring in 1910. He died in Liverpool on 7 November 1919 at the age of 53, a victim of the Spanish Flu epidemic.

International career

Doig achieved two full Scottish international caps in the 1880s whilst with Arbroath, and remains the club's only Scottish international. It is likely he would have been selected frequently while with Sunderland had the Scottish Football Association not operated a policy of selecting only home-based players until 1896, a situation which also affected his teammates – the club often had an all-Scottish team in that era.

After this rule was relaxed, Doig played in the first Home Scots v Anglo-Scots trial match of 1896, and subsequently was one of a group of five Anglos selected for that year's Auld Enemy fixture against England which his side won 2–1 at Celtic Park to win the British Home Championship; this was the first ever international game with a crowd of over 50,000, and also broke England's still record of twenty matches unbeaten. In the process, he also became Sunderland's first Scottish international. He gained two further official caps against the same opposition in 1899 (a defeat) and 1903 (a victory) for a total of five, and also played in the 1902 match declared unofficial due to the disaster which occurred when a wooden stand collapsed at Ibrox Park. The 16-year span of his international career set a Scottish record that lasted for 118 years, until overtaken twice in the same week by fellow goalkeepers David Marshall and Craig Gordon in November 2020;

Honours

;Sunderland

;Liverpool

;Scotland

References

References

  1. "Arbroath FC Legends". Arbroath F.C..
  2. "Remembering Ned Doig, Scotland's Prince of goalkeepers in Sunderland's 'Team of all the Talents'". The Scotsman.
  3. "HISTORY : CURIOSITIES OF WORLD FOOTBALL (1891-1900) {{!}} IFFHS".
  4. "Ned Doig profile". Doigsden.
  5. "Player profile". lfchistory.net.
  6. Butler, Bryon. (1998). "100 Seasons of League Football". Queen Anne Press.
  7. [http://www.thestatcat.co.uk/Player.aspx?PlayerID=290 Ned Doig], TheStatCat
  8. Marr, Matthew. (2023). "The Bould Bhoys! Glory to their name". Celtic Star Books.
  9. "Arbroath F.C.". [[Soccerbase]].
  10. [https://www.londonhearts.com/scotland/clubs/arbroath.html Scotland Football Records {{! Clubs played for {{! Arbroath], London Hearts Supporters Club. Retrieved 21 February 2022
  11. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KvtfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-7EMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5804%2C7446060 Football. International Trial Matches.], The Glasgow Herald, 26 March 1896
  12. [https://www.londonhearts.com/scotlandunoff/games/18960404.html Sat 4 Apr 1896 Scotland 2 England 1], London Hearts Supporters Club
  13. "On this day in Liverpool history - 4th April". ynwa.tv.
  14. "Scotland 2-1 England". [[The Football Association.
  15. [https://www.fitbastats.com/scotland/player.php?playerid=131 (Scotland player) Doig, John Edward], FitbaStats
  16. John Litster. (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine.
  17. [https://www.londonhearts.com/scotlandunoff/players/johnedwarddoig.html (Scotland player) Ned Doig], London Hearts Supporters Club
  18. [https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/international/david-marshall-speaks-his-record-breaking-scotland-career-and-those-rumours-about-re-joining-celtic-3031398?amp David Marshall speaks on his record-breaking Scotland career and those rumours about re-joining Celtic], Alan Pattullo, The Scotsman, 11 November 2020
  19. until then, another custodian [[Jim Leighton]] had come closest to beating Doig with his 91 caps in the late 20th century spread over 15 years, 11 months.[https://www.londonhearts.com/scotland/players/aaplayersbyspan.html Scotland Players by Career Span], London Hearts Supporters Club; retrieved 6 February 2021
  20. (27 October 2016). "The Sheriff Of London Charity Shield; Corinthians 0 v 3 Sunderland AFC, White Hart Lane, Tottenham – 28 February 1903". Ryehill Football.
  21. [https://www.nutmegmagazine.co.uk/issue-5/when-sunderland-met-hearts-in-the-first-ever-champions-league-match/ When Sunderland met Hearts in the first ever 'Champions League' match. Nutmeg Magazine], Nutmeg Magazine, September 2017
  22. Jonathan Wilson. (25 April 2020). "Sunderland's Victorian all-stars blazed trail for money's rule of football". The Guardian.

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scottish-men's-footballersscotland-men's-international-footballersarbroath-f.c.-playersblackburn-rovers-f.c.-playerssunderland-a.f.c.-playersliverpool-f.c.-players1866-births1919-deathsmen's-association-football-goalkeepersdeaths-from-the-spanish-flu-pandemic-in-englandenglish-football-league-playersfootballers-from-arbroath