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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Stirlingshire => Topic started by: MUSKETBALL on Wednesday 29 February 12 20:34 GMT (UK)
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Looking for help with proving a family tale.
I have always been lead to believe that my father Archibald Lawrie Miller and his brother Gavin Miller played football for Falkirk in the early 1930s They both came from Denny.
To date I have not been able to prove it,there must be at least one footie fanatic out there that has the answer.
Thanks in advance.
Vic
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Have you tried the Falkirk Historian?
http://falkirkfchistorian.blogspot.com/
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Could try asking on some Falkirk supporters sites
http://www.onefinfalkirk.com/
http://www.bairnstrust.com/
The SFL might have records of former players?
http://www.scottishfootballleague.com/
The club might have records of former players?
http://www.falkirkfc.co.uk
A last resort Scottish football site
http://www.pieandbovril.com/
Depending on the wording of the family tale, 'played for Falkirk' might just mean as a trialist (not named), maybe they played for the junior side but not the senior, or 'played football in Falkirk' may also apply to the other two local teams Stenhousemuir (the Warriors) or East Stirlingshire (the Shire).
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Thanks for the ideas guys ,will work my way through them in hope and expectation
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Hello Musketball,
I had a look at the following website that lists all the Falkirk players over the years. But it does not list the two players you mention. It could have been just a trial they had with Falkirk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Falkirk_F.C._players
There was an Archibald Miller who played for Heart of Midlothian on 9th November 1938. But this could be a different person entirely.
Hopefully if you send a message to some of the links that the previous correspondent gave, you might find something coming back from them.
yours,
Wilton Endeavour
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Hi Wilton.
Thanks for that,found the Falkirk players site very interesting.
Regards Musketball
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That is a very good list but be aware that it's not complete.
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I am afraid neither an Archie nor a Gavin Miller played for Falkirk FC at any point before the Second World War, they may have been on the books, but never made any appearances.
If they were footballers in the region I'm afraid what you need to do is scour the Falkirk Herald and Falkirk Mail for that decade, available in Falkirk Library, they both cover both Senior and Junior Football in the district in some depth.
Apologies
John Meffen (http://scribble.scran.ac.uk/user63063/weblog/)
Falkirk FC History (http://falkirkfchistorian.blogspot.com/)
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Hi Guys.
Thanks for all replies,I have now found I was looking at the wrong team.It seems both my Dad and Uncle played for Hearts with Uncle also playing for Dunfermline. Any info on this will be great.
Regards Vic
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Archie Miller was much the more prominent player of the brothers. He signed for Hearts from Royal Albert (a junior team) in October 1932, made his first appearance in 1935 and remained with them until 1947. He was capped once for Scotland in 1939 v Wales in November 1938, and once for the Scottish League. He also played after the war for Blackburn Rovers (6 games), Kilmarnock (22 games) and a solitary appearance for Carlisle United. I think he also made an appearance for Falkirk during the war as a guest player. He was later player/manager of Workington.
You will get his career stats on the London Hearts website at http://www.londonhearts.com/scores/players/millerarchie.html
Gavin Miller joined Hearts in December 1930 but I don't think he played for the first team, joining Dunfermline the following season. I don't have any further info on him.
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Hi Many thanks for the info,I will look into it further.
Regards Vic.