Can anyone please help me trace information on a former footballer (soccer) called W.Robertson who played for Sheffield United between 1889 to 1891. He was known as 'Dundee Robertson' as that is understood where he hailed from - he was defiantly from Scotland but his first name and other information isn't known about him.
However he played an influential part in the clubs' history, believably he was the first player to sign for the club. The club was formed on 22 March 1889 and many of the new players came from Scotland as United were a professional club and football clubs north of the boarder were either semi or amateur.
He was the first player to score for the club (a friendly against Nottingham Rangers on 7 September 1889) and the first to score a hat-trick as well as the first player to be sent-off for the club.
The Who's Who of Sheffield United (published in 2008) says that very little is known about him despite playing 38 times for United - only 11 in the FA Cup as they wasn't a Football League club until 1892.
In its last paragraph it says; 'As the 1890-91 season progressed, he steadily played fewer games and at the end, he left and the contemporary local newspapers never reported why or whether he would play for another team! At some time however, he certainly went to Canada as there was a report in September 1908 that he was coaching in Haileybury, a remote part of Ontario.'
From my records he would have still been with United during the 1891 census, his last known game for the Blades was in the Midland Counties League - a semi-professional league away from the Football League. He played at #4 (defender) in a 3-1 loss at Burslem Port Vale on Monday, 13th April 1891.