Alex Venters

Alexander Venters (9 June 1913 – 30 April 1959) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Cowdenbeath, Rangers and Scotland.[1]

Alex Venters
Personal information
Full name Alexander Venters[1]
Date of birth 9 June 1913
Place of birth Cowdenbeath, Scotland
Date of death 30 April 1959(1959-04-30) (aged 45)[1]
Place of death Cowdenbeath, Scotland[1]
Position(s) Inside forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
South End Rovers
0000–1930 St Andrews United
1930–1933 Cowdenbeath 96 (36)
1933–1946 Rangers 175 (89)
1946–1947 Third Lanark 8 (2)
1947–1948 Blackburn Rovers
1948 Raith Rovers 4 (0)
International career
1933–1939 Scotland 3 (0)
1935–1939 Scottish League XI 4 (1)
1940–1943 Scotland (wartime) 4 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Alex Venters, an inside forward, joined Rangers in November 1933 after his first club Cowdenbeath.[2] He spent a total of 13 years at Ibrox Park, winning three Scottish league titles (1935, 1937 and 1939), two Scottish Cups (1935, 1936) and scoring 102 goals in 201 appearances.[3] 18 of these 102 goals came against Celtic in various competitions.[4] In the last season before association football was suspended due to World War II (1939) Venters was top scorer in the Scottish First Division (35 goals).[5] Venters was also a prolific scorer during World War II; however, as these games were unofficial, his additional 53 wartime goals cannot be added to his official goalscoring record.[6]

After the war, Venters played for Third Lanark, Blackburn Rovers and ended his career with Raith Rovers.[7][8][9]

Between 1933 and 1939 he won three caps for Scotland, the first of which was against Ireland in 1933 while with Cowdenbeath. He won a further two official caps (both in matches against England) while at Rangers, in 1936 and 1939. He also played in four wartime internationals.[10]

In 1959 he died prematurely from a heart attack at the age of 45.[11]

Due to his prolific goalscoring in the 1930s and his great record in Old Firm matches he became a member of the Rangers Hall of Fame in 2006.

Personal life

Venters' father Sandy and brothers Andrew and Jock were also footballers.[12]

References
  1. "Alex Venters". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  2. Litster, John. Record of Pre-War Scottish League Players. Norwich: PM Publications.
  3. "Venters Alec Image 1 Cowdenbeath 1932". Vintage Footballers. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  4. Rangers.co.uk: History: Alex Venters Archived 20 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Top Goalscorers per division". Scottish-Football-Historical-Archive.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012.
  6. FriendsOfRangers.co.uk: Legends In Blue Archived 24 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  7. National-Football-Teams.com: Alex Venters
  8. Weltfussball.de: Alex Venters Archived 21 December 2013 at archive.today
  9. "Scottish Football Historical Archive – Scottish League appearance records – TUV". Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  10. LondonHearts.com: Alexander Venters
  11. Rangerspedia: Venters, Alex
  12. "Hometown Heroes (Local Footballers in Profile) – No. 17 – The Venters Family". Central Fife Times. Retrieved 30 December 2018.


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