Robert "Bob" Campbell
There is no-one in Scottish, indeed British football, who did more to forge not just his local game but the wider, modern, arguably global one for so little recognition presently than Robert "Bob" Campbell.
He was a Perthshire man throughout his life, born in 1872 in Killen in Breadalbane. His mother was local from Drumcharry above Kenmore, his father then a policeman originally from Duthill in Inverness-shire, who moved within the county with the job, eventually being posted to Perth itself, there leaving the force to become an Insurance Agent and then a hotelier.
Thus it was that Campbell grew up in Perth, on leaving school became an Apprentice Law Clerk and joined recently-formed, local St. Johnstone, turning out for the first team as a defender. The club at the time was amateur, playing at a level no higher than The Perthshire Cup, with a first Scottish Cup appearance in 18886, and continued to do so as Bob briefly moved to Edinburgh to complete qualification as a solicitor. However, he returned in 1901, went into practice and at not quite thirty turned his hand to football administration, from which point his achievements both for club and country can simply be listed with particular emphasis on 1927 to 1933, when through largely his efforts a rift between Scottish junior and British, senior football, the "Intermediate Dispute", was resolved, as were the American Soccer Wars, Scottish international football was instigated, he himself going to Canada, British, perhaps World international football preserved, and St. Johnstone became first a professional club and then a top-flight one with a ground to match.
- St. Johnstone director, club President and from 1910 limited company Chairman until his death
- 1911 St. Johnstone join League Division II
- Perthshire representative from 1911 to the SFA
- SFA Vice-President for 4 years and then from 1927 President till 1933
- Instigator of St. Johnstone's 1924 move to Muirton Park
- 1924 St. Johnstone promoted to First Division
- Instigator in 1927 of Scottish International football with tours to Canada (SFA 1927) and then Continental Europe (1929)
- Chairman of selectors of the 1928 Wembley Wizards
- 1930 St. Johnstone relegated
- 1930 The Campbell Cup, Alberta, Canada
- Settlement of the 1925-31 Intermediate Dispute
- 1932 Settlement of English clubs' non- release from January 1931 of non-English, international players
- 1932 St. Johnstone re-promoted
Soon after returning to Perth in 1901 Bob Campbell would in 1903 marry. His bride was local girl, Henrietta Hampton, with whom he would have seven children, two boys and five girls. And the family would settle into a house, named for the village, in which his mother had been born, that would remain home for a quarter of a century, indeed until his passing in 1938 at the age of just sixty-five, with an argument to be made that he had in part worked himself for sport, club and country to an early grave. He would be buried in Perth's Wellshills Cemetery, there to joined by Henrietta in 1965 and several of his children.
Birth Locator:
Residence Locations:
1891 - 3, North Methven St., Perth
1901 - Edinburgh
1903 - 77, Victoria Place, Victoria Street, Perth
1911-38 - "Drumcharry", 167, Glasgow Road, Perth
Death Locator:
1938 - "Drumcharry", 167, Glasgow Road, Perth
Grave Locator:
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