Statto,

Me again. Regarding the records you have for April 1925: was my grandfather recorded by name? The reason I ask is that I've since found a local newspaper report for April 18 which refers to "Trial" playing on the wing. Would that have been him?

Thank you,

Ian

Hello Ian. Sorry for the delay in replying to your post, but I'm just back from holiday.
Unfortunately I don't have any copies available as the book has been sold out for some time and I have no immediate plans to have it re-printed.
I've had a look through the chapter for the late 1920's and have mentioned a J.Lindsay as being in the squad at the beginning of the 1925/26 season as well as being on the list of scorers for that season with four goals.
Having subsequently consulted recently acquired records for East Fife players in 1925/26, there is no J.Lindsay, but there is a Duncan Lindsay, which is obviously your Grandfather. Was he known by another first name perhaps?
My original records which I used when putting the book together were mainly obtained from old newspaper reports and articles, so there's every possibility they had his first name initial wrong.
The only other information I can give you about Duncan Lindsay is that he signed for East Fife during the 1924/25 season and was transferred to Cowdenbeath in May 1926.
Finally, do you have any photos of Duncan in his footballing days, wearing any team jersey or in any team photo? I like to keep digital copies of any such photos for use in the articles I write for the match programme!

Thanks for that Jim. To the best of my knowledge he was always known as Duncan. I have most of the copies of the Dunfermline Journal but they only ever listed him as Lindsay: never a first name and it wasn't until he joined Cowdenbeath that he began to appear in the reported team lists. They rarely seemed to bother with team lists when reporting East Fife matches. Photos of him are quite rare (long story) but I do have team photos of him at Newcastle, Bury, Hartlepool, York (hopefully soon) and some grainy newspaper action photos from his time playing in the Cheshire League for Ashton National when he was knocking in goals for fun. I even found on eBay last week his autograph from his Hartlepool days - a treasured find. If you do ever fancy putting together an article for the programme I can fill you in with plenty of history. Feel free to email me outside of this forum if you wish.
Ian

Further to Jim's information, my records show that Duncan Lindsay played a total of 12 league games and 1 Scottish Cup tie for East Fife before signing for Cowdenbeath on the 6th May 1926. Prior to this he was on the Open to Transfer list. I only have him scoring on three occasions in the league.

Hi Statto,
I have a copy of a letter sent to my mother from the Club stating that he played 10 League games and 1 Scottish Cup match which sounds like perhaps it's not quite up-to-date. I've also seen him mentioned (in the Dunfermline Journal) as a player in the Fife Charity Cup Final in May 1925. Do you have any specific details about in which 12 League matches he played, in which ones he scored and in which positions he played? Do you know if he played at all before the Charity Cup Final? Pre-season trial matches maybe?

Hi Jim,

I've since unearthed a team photo of my grandfather when he was at Cambuslang Rangers, immediately prior to joining East Fife. I also have a decent copy of the Arbroath photo from 29 Aug 1925. Let me know if you'd like them.

Ian

In all the games I listed above your Grandfather was named in the team. However on two occasions that season (4th April at home to Armadale and 18th April at home to Arthurlie), East Fife's Outside Right was listed as "Newman". This could have been your Grandfather.