Bobby Clark (footballer, born 1945)

Not to be confused with Bobby Clarke (footballer).

Robert Brown Clark (born 26 September 1945) is a Scottish football player and coach. Clark, who played as a goalkeeper, spent most of his playing career with Aberdeen. He also played for Queen's Park, Washington Whips, San Antonio Thunder and Clyde. Clark played 17 times for Scotland and represented the Scottish League. He later became a coach, mainly working in New Zealand and the United States.

Bobby Clark

Clark with Scotland in 1968
Personal information
Full name	Robert Brown Clark
Date of birth	(1945-09-26) 26 September 1945 (age 79)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1962–1965	Queen's Park	84	(0)
1965–1982	Aberdeen	424	(0)
1967	→ Washington Whips (loan)	12	(0)
1976	→ San Antonio Thunder (loan)	19	(0)
1983	Clyde	4	(0)
Total		543	(0)
International career
1966–1968	Scotland U23[2]	3	(0)
1967–1973	Scotland	17	(0)
1971	Scottish League XI[3]	1	(0)
1976–1977	Scotland U21[4][5]	3	(0)
Managerial career
1984–1985	Highlanders
1985–1993	Dartmouth College
1994–1996	New Zealand
1996–2000	Stanford University
2001–2017	University of Notre Dame
Medal record Men's football Representing  New Zealand (as manager) OFC Nations Cup 1996 OFC U-23 Championship[6] 1996
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Clark started his senior career in Scotland's second tier with Queen's Park F.C.^[7][8] then in 1965 signed for top division Aberdeen F.C., with whom he won the 1970 Scottish Cup, the 1976 League Cup and the 1980 Premier League Championship.^[8] During his time with the Dons, Clark played some games as a defender, including against Rangers at Ibrox Park, after losing his place in goal to Ernie McGarr.^[9] With 594 competitive appearances for Aberdeen between 1965 and 1980, he is ranked third in the club's all-time list.

Clark graduated from Jordanhill College in Glasgow, Scotland in 1967 with a degree in Physical Education. He was named first team all-star goalkeeper in the 1967 United Soccer Association playing for the Washington Whips and making the USA All Star Team.^[10] He also spent the summer of 1976, on loan, in the NASL, playing for the San Antonio Thunder.

A fan of Scottish First Division side Clyde, Clark came out of retirement in 1983 to help Clyde when they had a goalkeeping injury crisis. His father, Tom, was once the chairman of Clyde.^[8] In autumn 1984 he once more came out of retirement to keep goal for Forres Mechanics in a 1–0 victory over Buckie Thistle in the Highland League Cup Final held at Elgin.

Clark set the British top-flight record for not conceding a goal in consecutive, all-competition matches (at 1,155 minutes) in the 1970–71 season,^[8] until Edwin van der Sar set a new mark on 8 February 2009.^[11] He also briefly held the world record, until Bulgarian goalkeeper Stoyan Yordanov set a new record of 1202 minutes in May 1971.^[12] Fraser Forster broke the Scottish league record in 2014 and was congratulated by Clark after the match in which it was surpassed.^[13] He still holds the Aberdeen club record, although this was threatened by the form of Scott Brown in early 2015.^[9]

He earned 17 caps for the Scotland national team, and was Scotland's backup goalkeeper at the 1978 FIFA World Cup.^[8]

Managerial career

Clark coached Highlanders F.C., Bulawayo (1983–84), Dartmouth College (1985–93), the New Zealand national football team (1994–96),^[14] Stanford University (1996–2000) and the University of Notre Dame men's soccer team (2001–2017), winning the national title in 2013 with the Irish.^[9][15][8]

In November 2018, Clark was one of four inductees into the Aberdeen Hall of Fame.^[16]

Personal life

His son Jamie has played in Major League Soccer and is the head coach of the Washington Huskies men's soccer team. His son Tommy, a paediatrician, is the founder and executive director of the HIV prevention organisation Grassroot Soccer. His daughter, Jennifer Clark, is also a football coach and is the head women's coach at Claremont-McKenna in California.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^{[17][18][19][20]}

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Queens' Park	1962–63	Scottish Division Two	18	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	21	0
	1963–64		31	0	2	0	6	0	0	0	39	0
	1964–65		35	0	6	0	6	0	0	0	47	0
	Total		84	0	11	0	12	0	0	0	107	0
Aberdeen	1965–66	Scottish Division One	33	0	5	0	2	0	0	0	40	0
	1966–67		34	0	6	0	10	0	0	0	50	0
	1967–68		33	0	3	0	6	0	4	0	46	0
	1968–69		14	0	0	0	6	0	4	0	24	0
	1969–70		14	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	18	0
	1970–71		34	0	4	0	6	0	2	0	46	0
	1971–72		22	0	1	0	6	0	3	0	32	0
	1972–73		33	0	4	0	11	0	1	0	49	0
	1973–74		34	0	1	0	10	0	4	0	49	0
	1974–75		33	0	4	0	4	0	0	0	41	0
	1975–76	Scottish Premier Division	20	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	26	0
	1976–77		27	0	3	0	8	0	0	0	38	0
	1977–78		36	0	6	0	6	0	2	0	50	0
	1978–79		23	0	4	0	3	0	1	0	31	0
	1979–80		34	0	4	0	11	0	2	0	51	0
	1980–81		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1981–82		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		424	0	49	0	95	0	23	0	591	0
Washington Whips (loan)	1967	United Soccer Association	12	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	13	0
San Antonio Thunder (loan)	1976	North American Soccer League	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	0
Clyde	1982–83	Scottish First Division	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Career total			543	0	61	0	107	0	23	0	734	0

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[21]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Scotland	1967	1	0
	1968	1	0
	1969	—
	1970	1	0
	1971	7	0
	1972	6	0
	1973	1	0
Total		17	0

Honours

Player

Aberdeen^[22]

• Scottish Premier Division: 1979–80
• Scottish Cup: 1969–70; runner-up 1966–67, 1977–78
• Scottish League Cup: 1976–77; runner-up 1978–79, 1979–80
• Drybrough Cup: 1971–72, 1980–81^[23]

Washington Whips

• USA Championship runner-up: 1967
• USA Eastern Division: 1967

Forres Mechanics

• Highland League Cup: 1984–85^[22]

Scotland

• British Home Championship: 1971–72 (shared)^[24]

Individual

• Aberdeen Player of the Year: 1966–67^[25]
• Press and Journal Sports Personality of the Year: 1977–78^[26]
• Aberdeen FC Hall of Fame: Inducted, 2018

Manager

Dartmouth Big Green

• Ivy League Tournament: 1988, 1990, 1992^[27]

Stanford Cardinal

• NCAA Tournament Championship runner-up: 1998^[28]
• MPSF Mountain Division Championship: 1997^[29]

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

• NCAA Tournament Championship: 2013^[28]
• Conference Championship: 2003, 2012^[28]
• Conference Regular Season Title: 2004, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014^[28]

Individual

• USC College Coach of the Year: 2013^[28]
• MPSF Mountain Division Coach of the Year: 1996, 1997^[29]
• NSCAA Far West Region Coach of the Year: 1997^[29]
• NCAA Region I Coach of the Year: Twice with Dartmouth^[29]
• Jim McCullen Trophy: 1995^[29]

See also

• List of footballers in Scotland by number of league appearances (500+)

References

1. "AFC Heritage Trust Bobby Clark".
2. "Scotland U23 player Bobby Clark". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
3. "SFL player Bobby Clark". Londonhearts.com. London Hearts Supporters' Club. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
4. At the time, three overage players were permitted for Scotland under-21s, and Clark was selected on this basis.
5. "Scotland U21 player Bobby Clark". fitbastats.com. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
6. "New Zealand U-23 International Matches". RSSSF. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
   "Australia Under 23 National Team "Olyroos" - 1996 Match". Oz Football. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
7. Players: Clark, Robert Brown Archived 11 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine, QPFC.com
8. Bobby Clark: Profile of a Dons great, Aberdeen FC, 11 September 2018
9. "Interview: Bobby Clark, king of the clean sheet". The Scotsman. 17 January 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
10. "The Year in American Soccer - 1967". Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
11. Lewis, Simon (10 February 2009). "Bobby Clark adds praise from afar after Edwin van der Sar smashes his record". The Times. UK. Retrieved 26 April 2010.^{[dead link‍]}
12. "World Record of the national championships (1888/89-2010)". IFFHS. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
13. "Fraser Forster: Celtic clean sheet record a team effort". BBC Sport. 22 February 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
14. "National Coaches". NZ Football. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
15. "Bobby Clark Announces Retirement After 17 Seasons As Notre Dame Men's Soccer Coach". University of Notre Dame Athletics.
16. "AFC Hall of Fame 2018". Aberdeen F.C. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
17. "QPFC.com - A Historical Queen's Park FC Website". www.qpfc.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
18. "Aberdeen Football Club Heritage Trust - Player Profile". afcheritage.org. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
19. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "San Antonio Thunder (1976)". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
20. "Fixtures 1982 - 1983 | Match | Clyde Football Club". Official Clyde Football Club Website. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
21. Bobby Clark at the Scottish Football Association
22. "FORMER PLAYERS Q&A BOBBY CLARK". AFC. 13 October 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
23. Dandy Dons have struck it rich, Sunday Mail, 8 August 1971, via The Celtic Wiki
    Cowan is Dons' new Stevie wonder, The Glasgow Herald, 4 August 1980
24. "Bobby Clark". Scottish FA. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
25. "BOBBY CLARK | REDMATCHDAY INTERVIEW". AFC. 11 September 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
26. "Yesterday TV Viewers". Evening Express. 3 February 1978. Retrieved 7 May 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
27. "Bobby Clark". Dartmouth Sports. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
    "Men's Soccer Ivy Champions & NCAA Tournament Teams". DartmouthSports. 26 July 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
28. "BOBBY CLARK ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AFTER 17 SEASONS AS NOTRE DAME". UND. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
29. "Player Bio: Bobby Clark". Go Stanford. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2021.

External links

• Bobby Clark – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Profile at Notre Dame
• Bobby Clark at the Scottish Football Association
• Dark Blue Dons profile at AFC Heritage Trust