James Conlin

Conlin was a "fast and tricky" player; only 5 ft 5 inches tall, he could cross balls for the centre forwards as well as score goals himself. Born in Consett, County Durham, of a Scottish steel-working father and an English mother (Luke and Mary Ann Conlin), Jimmy and his three younger siblings were raised in the Lanarkshire area east of Glasgow often referred to as Old Monkland. He began his football career playing in the Lanarkshire North Western Junior Football League with Captain Colt's Rovers. From there he moved to league rivals Airdrie St. Margarets and then on to the Glasgow Junior Football League side, Cambuslang Hibernian. From Cambuslang Hibernian he joined Falkirk sometime in 1899, making his debut in a Falkirk District Football League match away to East Stirlingshire on 30 December 1899, a game which his new team lost 6–3. In his two seasons playing at Falkirk – who were at the time playing in both the Central Football Combination and the supplemental Falkirk District Football League – Conlin scored seven goals in 17 combined league appearances, and eleven goals in 25 appearances in all competitions. On 14 March 1901, Conlin transferred from Falkirk to Albion Rovers (his hometown club, who played in the Scottish Football Combination League), at which point his career and national notoriety as a highly talented left winger began to take off. At Rovers, Conlin won the Scottish Football Combination championship in both the 1901–02 and 1902–03 seasons, and these…