Donald Shearer

Edgar Donald Reid Shearer CBE (6 June 1909 – 9 July 1999) was an amateur sportsman who played both association football and cricket at international levels.[1][2] Shearer became an OBE after World War II and a CBE in the 1970s.[3]

Donald Shearer
Personal information
Full name Edgar Donald Reid Shearer
Date of birth (1909-06-06)6 June 1909
Place of birth Hendon, England
Date of death 9 July 1999(1999-07-09) (aged 90)
Place of death Sudbury, England
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Casuals
Corinthian
Derry City
International career
England amateur
1936 Great Britain 1 (1)
Cricket information
BattingRight-handed
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 14
Runs scored 628
Batting average 24.15
100s/50s 0/4
Top score 72
Catches/stumpings 12/–
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Shearer was born in England in 1909, but spent most of his life in Ireland.[2] After being an excellent sportsperson in his youth, he left school to work in a textile factory.[2] He initially played rugby for the City of Derry Rugby Football Club before he took up football, after her was noticed for his kicking ability.[2]

Football career

In 1929, Shearer joined Casuals before joining Corinthian a year later.[2][4] In the early 1930s, he also played for Derry City.[2] He played in the 1935–36 final of the FA Amateur Cup for Casuals, scoring one goal in the replay of the final, with Casuals winning their one and only cup.[2] During his playing career for Corinthians and Casuals, he played in 50 matches, scoring 38 goals.[2] In the 1936–37 season for Derry, Shearer scored 78 goals including three hat-tricks.[2]

Shearer earned seven amateur international caps for England,[5] and represented Great Britain at the 1936 Summer Olympics.[6][7] He played in Great Britain's match against Poland, scoring a goal.[8]

He was made several offers to turn professional, including from Arsenal, but he declined,[3] before he retired from football in 1939.[2]

Cricket career

In the 1929 cricket season in Ireland, Shearer scored 2,000 runs.[2] Shearer played 13 first-class matches for Ireland between 1933 and 1952.[9] In 1932, he became the first cricketer to score a century in the final of the North West Senior Cup, when he made 110 runs.[3] A year later, he made his highest score in the competition, with 233 runs in a semi-final match.[3]

During Australia's tour of England and Ireland in 1938,[10] Shearer played in Ireland's match at College Park, Dublin in September of that year.[3] In the second innings of the match, he scored 56 runs, with no other member of the Ireland team reaching double figures.[11]

In 1948, Shearer founded the Leprechauns Cricket Club, and is the only cricketer to be an Honorary Life Member of the club.[5] In 1951, he played for the Gentlemen of Ireland in a non first-class match were he became the first Irish batter to score a century at Lord's.[12]

Later life

During World War II, Shearer he served in North Africa and was the commander of the garrison in Tobruk, Libya.[2] In the 1946 New Year Honours, he was awarded with an OBE.[13] He later became the managing director of a textile company in Belfast, before becoming a director of Sir Alfred McAlpine & Son.[2] He was also the chair of the Northern Ireland Sports Council and the president of the Irish and Northern Cricket Unions.[2] In 1974, he was appointed CBE.[14]

He died in July 1999,[15] at the age of 90, and his obituary was published in Wisden.[16]

References

  1. Butler, William (30 October 2016). The Irish amateur military tradition in the British Army, 1854–1992. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526108470 via Google Books.
  2. "Donald Shearer". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  3. "Edgar Donald Reid Shearer". Cricket Europe. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  4. "Corinthian Casuals F.C. - Player profiles". Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  5. "Place in cricket history is assured for gifted Shearer". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  6. Donald ShearerFIFA competition record (archived)
  7. "Edgar Shearer Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". 18 April 2020. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
  8. "Football, Men – Quarter-Finals, Match #3". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  9. "The Home of CricketArchive". cricketarchive.com.
  10. "Australia in British Isles 1938". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  11. "Ireland v Australians in 1938". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  12. "Donald Shearer". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  13. United Kingdom list (1): "No. 37407". The London Gazette. 28 December 1945. pp. 1–132.
  14. "THE BELFAST GAZETTE, 26TH JANUARY, 1979" (PDF). The Gazette. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  15. "EDR Shearer - a sporting legend". Cricket Europe. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  16. "Obituaries in 1999". Wisden. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
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