I was a professional footballer and, I must add, a professional drunkard!
Dundee Evening Telegraph reported on his ‘capture’ by The Salvation Army only four days later than the War Cry on 14 January 1903 and said he had returned to his former trade as a blacksmith. It is apparent from this article that the word ‘capture’ was used here to refer to players transferring to other teams – as in the announcement elsewhere on the page of ‘Arbroath’s latest capture: Willie Stewart, the ex-Dundee man’ – so ‘capture’ is being used ironically, as if Haddow has transferred to The Salvation Army’s team! The Lancashire Evening Post also reported later that month, in its section ‘Pertaining to prominent players’, of Haddow ‘joining the ranks of The Salvation Army’. A number of other articles throw more detail on Haddow’s story. It seems that the name Haddow was well connected to The Salvation Army in the area around Whifflet. At nearby Bellshill Corps the bandmaster and songster leader were George and Samuel Haddow, who also appeared together as ‘the Haddow brothers’ in the 1920s and 1930s. I have been unable to connect these with Davie Haddow but, as he was born in Whifflet in about 1869, it is possible that the Haddow family had links to The Salvation Army prior to Davie’s ‘transfer’ in 1902. The Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser in 1905 revealed that Haddow was then a rivet maker in Coatbridge, but on 18 August 1906 the same paper reported on his return to football in goal for Albion Rovers, the team he played for prior to his ‘capture’ by The Salvation Army. He was described as ‘the once famous international goalkeeper’, which supports his description in the War Cry.
The report went on to state: ‘During the last few years Mr Haddow has been devoting his leisure hours to evangelistic work, being a very enthusiastic member of the Whifflet branch of The Salvation Army. Mr Haddow believes, and rightly too, that his good work in connection with The Salvation Army will be in no way hindered by his return to the football field and so he will once again don the jersey for the Albion Rovers and at the same time continue his gospel work.’ However, Haddow’s return to football seems to have been short-lived as none of the football stats websites includes him after 1902. I have been unable to find any further reference to Haddow playing football professionally – and indeed no reference to him at all – after 1906. Some websites give his date of death as 1955, but with no supporting evidence. Haddow played professional football at a time when, as today, the lifestyle of players appeared to be changing. In the 1880s and 1890s a number of temperance teams were playing in the Scottish leagues. They indicated their commitment to teetotalism with names such as Glasgow United Abstainers, Dunipace Temperance Association FC and United Abstainers Athletic. The 1906 article from the Advertiser about Haddow’s conversion ended with the opinion: ‘If more Christian workers would interest themselves in football it would tend to raise the sport and make better men of players and spectators alike.’ O Keep
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‘War Cry’, 10 January 1903
STEVEN IS DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL HERITAGE CENTRE Salvationist 1 January 2022
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