Pearson David Image 1 Greenock Morton 1900

Description

Partick, Glasgow born outside right David Pearson began his football career with Jordanhill Juniors, and played for Linthouse in 1896-97, appearing in 6 matches against Partick Thistle alone in various competitions before signing for Thistle in the summer of 1897, making his Thistle debut in a 5-1 friendly defeat at home to Rangers that September. He made 3 appearances for The Jags that September but by the middle of November, Pearson was back in the Second Division with Linthouse, where he would settle as an almost wholly ever-present for the next two and a half seasons. He moved on to Greenock Morton in May 1900,

Pearson played at Cappielow for two seasons, featuring over 30 times in competitive action with a highly consistent goals tally of 2 in every 3 matches. Morton held his registration papers for another four seasons, but his footballing activity from there isn’t entirely clear. He was working as an engineer away from the football and living in Govan. Peasron, with his brother William (who was a carpenter) set sail for North America, original destination Tacoma, Washington in 1908, before crossing over to Canada. He would feature in the first ever professional soccer match in Canada in 1910!

Pearson played as a right winger for the Vancouver Callies, a team predominantly consisting of Scottish ex-pats, and named after their local businessman supporter, John Callister, who’d settled in the area after arriving from the Isle of Man in 1885.  Organised soccer was played in British Columbia as early as 1908, when the Pacific Coast Association Football League was formed. That league featured teams from Vancouver, Nanaimo, Victoria, Ladysmith, and Seattle, Washington. Two years later, Con Jones presided over a new (short-lived) professional League in 1910. The first-ever professional match in Canada was played between two Vancouver clubs, the Rovers and the Callies. It took place on the 25th March, 1910, at Recreation Park in Vancouver, beneath the awe-inspiring North Shore Mountains. However, the age old conflict of amateurism vs. professionalism delivered a still birth; these were the only two clubs to compete in the League, playing a ‘series’ of 4 games against each other! Pearson also played for Vancouver Celtic but was killed in an accident in Canada aged 35 in July 1912.