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Personal
Fullname: Thomas Dunbar
aka: Tom Dunbar
Born: 18 August 1868
Died: 28 April 1908
Birthplace: Busby, East Renfrewshire
Signed: 1890 (from Busby Cartvale); July 1892 (from Rangers)
Left: 7 Nov 1891 (to Rangers); 3 Aug 1897 (reinstated as amateur)
Debut: Rangers 1-2 Celtic, League, 2 May 1891
Position: Right-Back
Internationals: Scotland / Scottish League
International Caps: 0 / 1
Biog
Defender Thomas Dunbar is one of the few players to have the record of having played for both Celtic and Rangers, although in the early days it wasn’t unknown. Notably he was also a Roman Catholic who played for Rangers.
The younger brother of Michael ‘Mick’ Dunbar, who was also a Celtic player and later board member, Tom Dunbar was to enjoy two spells at Parkhead in the early seasons of the club’s history.
He initially signed for the Bhoys from Busby Cartvale in 1890 and his debut came v Rangers in a 2-1 league victory on 2nd May 1891. He had previously been at Rutherglen and Hibernian.
He had actually played little for Celtic in his first stint, and so likely to win more first team exposure, he joined Rangers in November 1891 but returned to the Bhoys by July the following year. It didn’t work out at Rangers for him as Rangers finished fifth in the league with Dumbarton winning the title ahead of Celtic, and Tom Dunbar was to miss out on Celtic’s run to winning the Scottish Cup in 1892 (the first Scottish Cup title for Celtic).
It should be noted that at this time the Celtic and Rangers rivalry was of a much more amicable nature and that Rangers were still some years off from cementing their hardline ‘No Catholic‘ sectarian signing policy.
His second spell was fruitful, and he was a near ever-present in the 1892/93 season as Celtic won the league title for the first time and was a regular for the first half of the 1893/94 season as Celtic retained the title.
He was to still play a number of games thereafter, probably the most notable being in a 4-2 victory over Rangers in September 1895, a very valuable four-pointer match as Celtic were to win the league title by 4pts over Rangers that season. That likely rubbed it in for them, and could it have in some ways fuelled the heavy rivalry? Possibly but there have been many other factors too over the years.
Celtic actually lost the following two games 5-0 and 3-0 to Hearts and St Bernards, so changes were needed to halt this, and it was to pay off for the whole season. Celtic only lost one other league game that season.
Tom Dunbar wasn’t to feature again for Celtic in the league until the next season in a short spell with 2 wins and 2 draws. A 3-0 win over Third Lanark was his final appearance for Celtic, which was a fine way to sign off with both a victory & clean-sheet for this defender.
As a measure of the recognition of his talent, he was capped for the Scottish League v the Irish League in Feb 1895 in a 4-1 victory.
As a Celt, Tom Dunbar was primarily a reserve but he was a very able and reliable deputy who was frequently called to stand in for the likes of the popular Dan Doyle. He enjoyed a relatively long Celtic career and made 60 league & Scottish Cup appearances and scored 4 goals before leaving in 1897. He also made a number of other appearances across the other tournaments dotted around in those earlier years.
He returned home to play for Busby Cartvale in 1898.
He married a niece of Celtic’s John Glass, a significant Celtic Director and Chairman ‘to whom the Club owes its existence‘, and later ran the Ritz Bar at Glasgow’s Charing Cross, a pub which stayed in the family for 70 years.
He sadly passed away prematurely at the age of just 39 in 1908.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1890-91 & 1892-97 | 51 | 9 | N/A | N/A | 60 |
| Goals: | 3 | 1 | – | – | 4 |