| John Hammill |
 John Hammill was born on Tuesday, 8th January, 1924, in Irvine, North Ayrshire. The midfielder signed for Donald Turner's Thistle in September, 1941, having most recently been with Kello Rovers. Aged 17, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 13th September, 1941, in a 3-2 defeat at home to Queen's Park in the Southern League. John scored his first goal for Thistle on Saturday, 29th August, 1942, in a 3-2 win away to Queen's Park in the Southern League. He scored the last of his 14 goals on Monday, 2nd April, 1945, in a 4-1 defeat at home to Rangers in the Southern League. That turned out to be his last game for the club, having appeared as a Jag on 80 occasions. John's club-list included Irvine Meadow XI, Dreghorn, Kello Rovers, Partick Thistle, Motherwell, Arbroath, Newport County, Llanelli, Kilmarnock, Coleraine, Newton Stewart and Tarff Rovers. John died on Thursday, 18th March, 1999, in Irvine, North Ayrshire, aged 75. |
 John was a right half who had a rich and varied footballing career and seemed to enjoy moving around, experiencing football in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. He got his start in the juniors at the exceptionally young age of 15, and had played with 3 clubs (Irvine Meadow XI, Dreghorn & Kello Rovers) before signing with Thistle in September, 1941. He got his first taste of senior football in a 3-2 Southern League defeat at home to Queen's Park, but had to wait more than 3 months before he got another game. He never looked back from there, and appeared in 17 competitive games before the season was out. Although he became a bit of a journeyman, he was a settled player at Firhill, steadily clocking up 80 appearances (all competitive) over the course of 4 full seasons with the club. Undoubtedly, his great personal highlight as a Jag came on 15th April, 1944, as Thistle defeated Third Lanark by 4 goals to 2 in the Glasgow Charity Cup. Playing centre forward on the day, John bagged himself an amazing hat-trick. 5,000 paid £381 and saw Thistle take a 2-goal lead (Hammill, 8 and 12) but Thirds rallied and played some of their best football in months to make it 2-1 at h-t. A penalty (47) tied it up then a Shankly penalty (57) made it 3-2. Hammill got his hat-trick (86) with an amazing backwards header. Both teams hit woodwork. Including… our John. Should have been a haul of four! John wasn't included in any of the Summer Cup games in the great glory run of 1945, and this was a signal that his time at Firhill had come to an end. He switched to Motherwell for 1945-46 and played with them as they finished 5th in the Southern League Division A. As his game time reduced at Fir Park, he sought pastures new, and landed at Arbroath in September, 1946. Several seasons of adventure followed at Newport County, Llanelli, Kilmarnock, Coleraine, Newton Stewart and Tarff Rovers. |
| (WS/JK/AFK) |
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