By Tony Attwood
We’re continuing the series on the players of the 1910/11 season as part of the “Henry Norris at the Arsenal” series. A list of all the players used in this season appears at the end of the article.
Duncan McDonald was born in Bo’ness (Borrowstounness), on the south bank of the Firth of Forth, and played as a right-sided full back, although his first ever Arsenal game was at left back!
It is reported that he started out with Bo’ness FC (which eventually merged with another local team to form Bo’ness United after the second world war) in some quarters and with Townside FC (a club of which I have no records) in others.
He joined Woolwich Arsenal FC in April 1909, one of many Scots so to do, but of course gained nothing from his registration until the start of the 1909/10 season, making his debut on 30 October 1909 against Manchester United. After that, he played regularly until the end of the season, but left soon after the start of the following season.
McDonald in fact took over from Archie Gray, but ultimately Gray came back and reclaimed his place. In the summer of 1911 McDonald transferred to West Hartlepool a club that already had achieved some fame when on 8 April 1905 they won the FA Amateur Cup beating Clapton, 3–2.
They played in the Northern League until June 1910, when, after 29 years, West Hartlepool Football Club folded. All the club’s assets and liabilities were taken over by Hartlepools United.
And now we hit our problem. McDonald transferred from Arsenal in the summer of 1911, having played his last game for Arsenal on 3 September 1910. But West Hartlepool folded in June 1910, before he got there, so he couldn’t have done.
I suspect that McDonald actually went to Hartlepools United, not West Hartlepool. A tiny detail, but still nice to be able to pick it up. If I am wrong somehow, I’m sorry. If I am right, then everyone else is wrong, then it makes a change and I rather like those moments. If you have any clarification please do let me know, with as much detail as possible.
Here are the games he played in…
| Date | Match | Result | Competition | FAC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1909 | |||||
| 30 Oct | Manchester Utd v Woolwich Arsenal | L | 1-0 | League Division One | |
| 13 Nov | Sheffield Wed v Woolwich Arsenal | D | 1-1 | League Division One | |
| 20 Nov | Woolwich Arsenal v Bristol City | D | 2-2 | League Division One | |
| 27 Nov | Bury v Woolwich Arsenal | W | 1-2 | League Division One | |
| 04 Dec | Woolwich Arsenal v Tottenham H | W | 1-0 | League Division One | |
| 11 Dec | Preston North End v Woolwich Arsenal | W | 3-4 | League Division One | |
| 18 Dec | Woolwich Arsenal v Notts County | L | 1-2 | League Division One | |
| 25 Dec | Woolwich Arsenal v Newcastle United | L | 0-3 | League Division One | |
| 27 Dec | Woolwich Arsenal v Liverpool | D | 1-1 | League Division One | |
| 1910 | |||||
| 22 Jan | Woolwich Arsenal v Middlesbrough | W | 3-0 | League Division One | |
| 29 Jan | Woolwich Arsenal v Bolton Wanderers | W | 2-0 | League Division One | |
| 05 Feb | Everton v Woolwich Arsenal | L | 5-0 | FA Cup | 2nd round |
| 12 Feb | Woolwich Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers | L | 0-1 | League Division One | |
| 26 Feb | Woolwich Arsenal v Sunderland | L | 1-2 | League Division One | |
| 02 Mar | Nottingham Forest v Woolwich Arsenal | D | 1-1 | League Division One | |
| 07 Mar | Everton v Woolwich Arsenal | L | 1-0 | League Division One | |
| 12 Mar | Woolwich Arsenal v Manchester Utd | D | 0-0 | League Division One | |
| 19 Mar | Bradford City v Woolwich Arsenal | W | 0-1 | League Division One | |
| 25 Mar | Newcastle United v Woolwich Arsenal | D | 1-1 | League Division One | |
| 26 Mar | Woolwich Arsenal v Sheffield Wed | L | 0-1 | League Division One | |
| 28 Mar | Chelsea v Woolwich Arsenal | W | 0-1 | League Division One | |
| 02 Apr | Bristol City v Woolwich Arsenal | W | 0-1 | League Division One | |
| 09 Apr | Woolwich Arsenal v Bury | D | 0-0 | League Division One | |
| 11 Apr | Woolwich Arsenal v Aston Villa | W | 1-0 | League Division One | |
| 16 Apr | Tottenham H v Woolwich Arsenal | D | 1-1 | League Division One | |
| 23 Apr | Woolwich Arsenal v Preston North End | L | 1-3 | League Division One | |
| 03 Sep | Bury v Woolwich Arsenal | D | 1-1 | League Division One | |
And that is all we have; he was on the winning side nine times with Arsenal out of 26 league and one FA Cup game.
Here is the table of players covered for this season, thus far. For McDonald, just one game in this season – but he had made his contribution in keeping the team in the league the season before.
| Player | Position | Games | Goals | Pens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edwin Bateup | Goalkeeper | 30 | ||
| George Burdett | Goalkeeper | 10 | ||
| Leslie Adair Calder | Forward | 1 | ||
| Frederick J Calvert | Forward | 1 | ||
| John Chalmers | Centre forward | 31 | 16 | |
| Alfred Common | Inside forward | 31 | 6 | |
| Andrew Ducat | Wing half | 35 | 3 | 1 |
| John Flanagan | Inside forward | 10 | 1 | |
| Archie Gray | Full back | 28 | ||
| David Greenaway | Outside right | 22 | 2 | |
| Frank Heppinstall | Outside left | 5 | ||
| Gordon Rahere Hoare | Forward | 16 | 7 | |
| Charles Henry Lewis | Forward | 36 | 2 | |
| Harry Logan | Forward | 11 | ||
| Duncan McDonald | Full back | 1 | ||
| Roddy McEachrane | Half back | 32 | ||
| Angus McKinnon | Left half | 10 | ||
| David Neave | Outside left | 16 | 3 | |
| John Charles Peart | Full back | 7 | ||
| James Alfred Quayle | Full back | 1 | ||
| Willis Rippon | Inside forward | 9 | 2 | |
| Percy Sands | Centre half | 33 | ||
| Joseph E Shaw | Full back | 37 | ||
| Matthew Shortt | Inside forward | 4 | ||
| Matthew Thomson | Half back | 17 | ||
| Thomas Winship | Outside left | 6 |
An index of all the articles in the evolving series of Henry Norris at the Arsenal appears here.
Details of all the main series of articles we have developed are here.
