Sadly footballers are human beings too, therefore suffer from the same foibles we do. This occasionally meanders into the territory of what we call a person, and that that can differ from what the state recognises as that person's name.
Families are complicated things at the simplest of times, but when it does not work in the Nuclear fashion the state has little concept of how we feel as people. So when I am given the most scant information about a Falkirk FC player [given name and family name] that is all fine until that person's outlook changes in the Real World.
The boy that started playing with Queensferry Hibernian as William Ritchie in the mid 1880s as a man decided to be known as William Finnigan by 1891, yet retained the name Ritchie in football.
All I know is that Ritchie was his Mother's surname, that Finnigan was his Father's surname and that he was born out of wedlock in the parish of Abercorn, Linlithgowshire. Other than that I know not why he felt it necessary to change name.
Were it not for a protest from Bo'ness FC to the East of Scotland FA over this discrepancy I would have remained ignorant of William's identity.
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William Ritchie
b 3rd January 1869, Abercorn, Linlithgowshire
d
Falkirk Debut – Saturday September 10th 1892 v Clydebank (H) Scottish Federation
Positions – Goalkeeper, Right-Back, Centre-Forward
Club Honours – Falkirk District Charity Cup RU 1894/95
Known Falkirk FC Career
Scottish Cup Matches/Goals [1/-]
Scottish Federation Matches/Goals [6/-]
Midland League Matches/Goals [3/-]
Stirlingshire Cup Matches/Goals [3/-]
Falkirk & District Charity Cup Matches/Goals [2/-]
Falkirk Infirmary Shield Matches/Goals [1/-]
Other Matches/Goals [7/-]
Scottish 2nd XI Cup Matches/Goals [2/-]
Known Career – Queensferry Hibernian, Bellstane Birds [1888/89-1889/90], Falkirk [1892/93-1894/95], Camelon [1893/94], Grasshoppers [1894/95], Falkirk [1895/96].
Families are complicated things at the simplest of times, but when it does not work in the Nuclear fashion the state has little concept of how we feel as people. So when I am given the most scant information about a Falkirk FC player [given name and family name] that is all fine until that person's outlook changes in the Real World.
The boy that started playing with Queensferry Hibernian as William Ritchie in the mid 1880s as a man decided to be known as William Finnigan by 1891, yet retained the name Ritchie in football.
All I know is that Ritchie was his Mother's surname, that Finnigan was his Father's surname and that he was born out of wedlock in the parish of Abercorn, Linlithgowshire. Other than that I know not why he felt it necessary to change name.
Were it not for a protest from Bo'ness FC to the East of Scotland FA over this discrepancy I would have remained ignorant of William's identity.
William Ritchie
b 3rd January 1869, Abercorn, Linlithgowshire
d
Falkirk Debut – Saturday September 10th 1892 v Clydebank (H) Scottish Federation
Positions – Goalkeeper, Right-Back, Centre-Forward
Club Honours – Falkirk District Charity Cup RU 1894/95
Known Falkirk FC Career
Scottish Cup Matches/Goals [1/-]
Scottish Federation Matches/Goals [6/-]
Midland League Matches/Goals [3/-]
Stirlingshire Cup Matches/Goals [3/-]
Falkirk & District Charity Cup Matches/Goals [2/-]
Falkirk Infirmary Shield Matches/Goals [1/-]
Other Matches/Goals [7/-]
Scottish 2nd XI Cup Matches/Goals [2/-]
Known Career – Queensferry Hibernian, Bellstane Birds [1888/89-1889/90], Falkirk [1892/93-1894/95], Camelon [1893/94], Grasshoppers [1894/95], Falkirk [1895/96].