| C | Player Pics | A-Z of Players |
Personal
Fullname: Alexander Collins
aka: Alec Collins, Alex Collins, Abe Collins
Born: March 1867
Died: 12 July 1937
Birthplace: Bowhillan, Burt, Donegal
Signed: 1888
Left: 23 Feb 1889 (loan to Clydesdale Harriers)
Position: Right-back, Defender
Debut (major competition): Celtic 9-2 Clyde, Scottish Cup, 8 Dec 1888
Internationals: n/a
Biog
Alec Collins (or Abe) was a right-back in the very earliest days of Celtic. He had the honour of being the first Donegal born man to pull on a Celtic jersey, a fertile ground over the years for Celtic players.
The Bhoys were the defender’s first club and as the league wasn’t to start for another few years, then most matches in those early days were friendlies or invitational matches. Record keeping wasn’t what it is today, so it’s very likely that he played for Celtic in other various other friendly or local matches too.
His first matches were a 6-0 victory in a friendly v Airdrie (11 Aug 1888) followed by a 4-3 loss to Third Lanark.
The first big game was the Exhibition Cup final (6 Sep 1888) at the Exhibition Grounds, Kelvinside, Celtic’s first ever cup final. A shock result as reports stated that it was expected that Celtic composed of Edinburgh Hibernian and Renton players would be ‘invincible’, far from it and a major lesson learnt. Celtic’s first competitive match defeat, but something to learn from.
He made his senior competition debut in a 9-2 Scottish Cup victory at home to Clyde on 8th December 1888.
A week after that Scottish Cup debut he made another first team appearance in the cup – a 2-1 win at East Stirling – but was not to play first team football for the Celts again in the Scottish Cup.
A tough life to remain in the team he was quoted in an interview on Jan 1937 stating:
“I worked at Hyde Park locomotive shop from six in the morning until 5.30 at night, trained two nights a week. Absence from a practise meant no game on a Saturday”.
From records, he became an Iron Grinder, and married in 1908.
He passed away in July 1937 in Glasgow after a long life.
Post-Note
In respect to Alec Collins, the Celtic Graves Society group held a remembrance for him in December 2017, and was attended by a number of his descendants and Celtic supporters.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1888-89 | – | 2 | – | – | 2 |
| Goals | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Confirmed games that Alec Collins played for Celtic. (Courtesy of Pat Woods)
| Date | Opposition | Result | Score | Competition | Goalkeeper | Full backs | Half backs | Forwards | |||||||||
| 1 | Saturday August 11th 1888 | Airdrie | W | 6-0 | Practice Match | Dunning | McKeown | Collins | Wm Maley | Kelly | McLaren | McCallum | Coleman | Groves | Pat Coogan | O’Connor | |
| 2 | Wednesday 22nd August 1888 | 3rd Lanark RV | L | 3-4 | Friendly | Dunning | Collins | McKeown | Gallagher | Kelly | McLaren | McCallum | Coogan | Groves | O’Connor | Tom Maley | |
| 3 | Thursday September 6th 1888 | Cowlairs | L | 0-2 | Exhibition Cup Final | Dunning | Collins | McKeown | Gallagher | Kelly | McLaren | McCallum | Coleman | Groves | Mick Dunbar | O’Connor | |
| 4 | Saturday September 8th 1888 | Dumbarton Athletic | W | 3-0 | Friendly | Tobin | Collins | McKeown | Gallagher | Kelly | McLaren | McCallum | Coleman | Groves | Mick Dunbar | O’Connor | |
| 6 | Monday October 5th 1888 | Dundee Harp | W | 7-1 | Autumn Holiday Match | Dunning | Gallagher | McKeown | Collins | Kelly | McLaren | Connor | Montgomery | Groves | McCallum | Coleman | |
| 5 | Saturday October 27th | Rangers | W | 6-1 | Glasgow Cup (3) | Dunning | Collins | McKeown | Gallagher | Kelly | McLaren | McCallum | Coleman | Groves | Mick Dunbar | O’Connor | |
| 8 | Saturday December 8th 1888 | Clyde | W | 9-2 | Scottish Cup (5) | Dunning | Collins | McKeown | Gallagher | Kelly | McLaren | McCallum | Dunbar | Groves | Coleman | Tom Maley | |
| 7 | Saturday December 15th 1888 | East Stirling | W | 2-1 | Scottish Cup (6) | Dunning | Collins | McKeown | Gallagher | Kelly | Tom Dunbar | McCallum | Mick Dunbar | Groves | Coleman | Tom Maley | |
| 9 | Tuesday December 25th 1888 | St Margarets (Guest Team) | L | 1-2 | Friendly | Tobin | Collins | McKeown | Gasgan | McLaren | Gormley | McCallum | Smith | Groves | Coleman | McGuiness | |
| 10 | Saturday January 19th 1889 | Morton | W | 5-4 | Friendly | Kelly | Dowling | McKeown | Wm Maley | McGuire | Collins | McGhee | Dunbar | Graham | Tom Maley | Coleman | |
| 12 | Saturday March 9th 1889 | Hibernian | W | 5-4 | Hibernian Club benefit | Kelly | Tom Dunbar | Quigley | Collins | Kelly | Gallagher | Dowds | Coleman | Tom Maley | McCallum | Mick Dunbar | |
| 11 | Saturday March 16th 1889 | Northern | W | 4-1 | North Eastern Cup Semi Final | Kelly | Collins | McKeown | Gallagher | Kelly | McLaren | McCallum | Mick Dunbar | Groves | Coleman | Tom Maley | |
| 13 | Friday August 9th 1889 | Glasgow Select | W | 5-1 | Benburb Club benefit | McLaughlan | Reynolds | Collins | Dowds | Kelly | McLaren | Cunningham | Coleman | Groves | McGhee | Morrison | |
Pictures
Links
Celtic Graves Society commemoration. 2nd December 2017.
