Queen of The South Player
In 1963 Allan Ball signed for Queen of the South for £100. Ball was signed in the early hours of the morning as he came off his shift. Ball joined Queens playing staff that featured all time goals king of Queens, Jim Patterson, right winger Ernie Hannigan and fellow long servants Iain McChesney and Jim Kerr.
Goalkeeper & manager George Farm dropped himself from the team to give Allan Ball his Queens debut in a 6-3 defeat to Falkirk. Retained for the following midweek match at Celtic, he again played well despite losing.
Allan Ball made 819 Queen of the South appearances, including 507 consecutively, and was only once cautioned. That was by Tiny Wharton, on December 25. "I'd said something about Jesus Christ," he recalls. "I was booked for blaspheming on Christmas Day."
Ball's performance in the 1975/76 Scottish League Cup quarter-final against Rangers at Ibrox Park helped keep Rangers to a 1-0 defeat. A 2-1 victory for Queens in the second leg at Palmerston meant extra time after an aggregate 2-2 score. Jocky Dempster was one of the Queens scorers. An extra time goal for Rangers saw them through.
In the 1975/76 Scottish Cup Ball made a penalty save with a broken ankle in the away 2-2 fourth round draw with Ayr United. He did not play in the 5-4 replay victory.
In 1980-81 with Allan Ball as goalkeeper Queens were promoted from Division Two. Also in the side were fellow long servant Iain McChesney, Crawford Boyd and Jimmy Robertson and future manager Rowan Alexander.
Allan Ball's long service as Queens last line of defence was rewarded with two testimonials, the first versus Carlisle United in 1971 and the other in 1984 against Manchester City. Danny McGrain, Davie Cooper, Gary Mackay and Rowan Alexander guested for Queens in the game against City.
Read more about this topic: Allan Ball
Famous quotes containing the words queen of, queen, south and/or player:
“In the game of “Whist for two,” usually called “Correspondence,” the lady plays what card she likes: the gentleman simply follows suit. If she leads with “Queen of Diamonds,” however, he may, if he likes, offer the “Ace of Hearts”: and, if she plays “Queen of Hearts,” and he happens to have no Heart left, he usually plays “Knave of Clubs.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“The Queen has lands and gold, Mother
The Queen has lands and gold,
While you are forced to your empty breast
A skeleton Babe to hold”
—Amelia Edwards (1831–1892)
“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The chess-board is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)