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In the early day of Scottish football (pre-professionalism) it was common for players to not only play football but other sports such as rugby or cricket (indeed some clubs have their origins as spinoffs from these sports). My question is were there players plying their trade in multiple sports after the advent of professionalism?
 
On a related did any players go onto to do anything of note in other sports after retiring from football? Jim Souness of Hearts went on to play three internationals for the Scottish cricket team. Goalkeeper Michael Fraser who turned out for ICT & Ross County amongst others went on to play shinty for Glenurquhart after retiring from football.


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5 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

In the early day of Scottish football (pre-professionalism) it was common for players to not only play football but other sports such as rugby or cricket (indeed some clubs have their origins as spinoffs from these sports). My question is were there players plying their trade in multiple sports after the advent of professionalism?

On a related did any players go onto to do anything of note in other sports after retiring from football? Jim Souness of Hearts went on to play three internationals for the Scottish cricket team. Goalkeeper Michael Brown who turned out for ICT & Ross County amongst others went on to play shinty for Glenurquhart after retiring from football.

Do you mean Michael Fraser?

Anyway, Andy Goram played for Scotland at cricket a few times.

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Victoria Pendleton springs to mind. Champion athlete and has gone on to become a jockey. Not sure how she's done tbh.

Closer to home, Keaghan Jacobs was apparently a very good youth cricket player only to change sports and become a vital cog in the Amber machine

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ex-Celtic,Motherwell,St Johnstone & Kilmarnock player Cillian Sheridan played Gaelic football for Bailiebro Shamrock in his younger days whilst also playing association football for Belvedere FC & had an offer at one point to play pro Aussie Rules with the Brisbane Lions

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In American football, Kyler Murray, who won the Heisman trophy for best college player this year was drafted in last years baseball first round by the Oakland A's on a $4.6m contract  but has now declared for the NFL draft this year.  There's quite a few examples of players who could've played in the NFL and MLB - Tom Brady, probably the best quarterback of all time, was drafted by the Montreal Expos but he turned it down to play college football.

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In American football, Kyler Murray, who won the Heisman trophy for best college player this year was drafted in last years baseball first round by the Oakland A's on a $4.6m contract  but has now declared for the NFL draft this year.  There's quite a few examples of players who could've played in the NFL and MLB - Tom Brady, probably the best quarterback of all time, was drafted by the Montreal Expos but he turned it down to play college football.
Never knew that about Brady. Interesting to think where the Pats would be without him
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Deion Sanders was primarily an NFL player but also had a decent MLB career in the 1990s. The only player to play in the Super Bowl and the World Series according to Wikipedia.

I suppose the short NFL season helps.

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5 hours ago, resk said:

Deion Sanders was primarily an NFL player but also had a decent MLB career in the 1990s. The only player to play in the Super Bowl and the World Series according to Wikipedia.

I suppose the short NFL season helps.

I was actually watching a clip of Sanders talking about Kyler Murray the other day, I hadn't realised he'd played baseball to such a high level.  Sanders said that he was able to play both as being a defensive back is a less onerous position than quarterback, who has to be the focal point of the offense of the team, a leader. 

Michael Jordan played baseball for a few years in teh middle of his basketball career as well, although I don't think he played in the major leagues. 

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I was actually watching a clip of Sanders talking about Kyler Murray the other day, I hadn't realised he'd played baseball to such a high level.  Sanders said that he was able to play both as being a defensive back is a less onerous position than quarterback, who has to be the focal point of the offense of the team, a leader. 

Michael Jordan played baseball for a few years in teh middle of his basketball career as well, although I don't think he played in the major leagues. 

He played baseball during his first retirement in '94. Played for the AA level Birmingham Barons as an outfielder in the Southern League on a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox. Stats below:

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=jordan001mic

 

also played for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the off-season Arizona Fall League.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/01/2019 at 18:58, The Nightfly said:

Another cricketing footballer was Ex- Partick Thistle and Montrose player Harry Johnston. In the 1970s he played 2 first class matches for Scotland, as well as quite a few one-dayers.

 

 

Harry Johnston was the first name that sprang to my mind. Also, wasn't there a David Johnston who was signed with Hearts and went on to play rugby for Scotland? I also think that Chris Balderstone of Carlisle United might have played county level cricket in England. No idea if he went any further than that. Staying with cricket, didn't Ian Botham play a game or two for somebody like Scunthorpe or Southport?

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Donald Ford ex Hearts was capped 3 times for Scotland as well as a few Amateur caps when amateur internationals existed. He played cricket for West Lothian and in 1980 was selected for the first Scotland squad to compete in the Benson & Hedges Cup. After checking ESPNcricinfo he wasn’t selected for any of the 4 games though.

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Harry Johnston was the first name that sprang to my mind. Also, wasn't there a David Johnston who was signed with Hearts and went on to play rugby for Scotland? I also think that Chris Balderstone of Carlisle United might have played county level cricket in England. No idea if he went any further than that. Staying with cricket, didn't Ian Botham play a game or two for somebody like Scunthorpe or Southport?
David Johnston played one game Hearts in 1977. He was due to move to Stirling the following year but opted to move to rugby club Watsonians. Played 27 games for Scotland at centre. In his youth he played rugby for George Watsons College & captained the national schoolboys team. During this period also played football for famed boys club Hutchison Vale.

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby-union/david-johnston-on-pre-rugby-days-playing-for-hearts-1-2828006

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He wasn’t retired at the time but in 1938 Scott Symon played cricket for Scotland against Australia taking 5 for 33 in a 2 day game then 3 for 44. Later that year he won his only football cap for Scotland in a 3-1 win against Hungary. http://www.scottishsporthistory.com/sports-history-news-and-blog/cricket-and-football-double-internationals

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