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Personal
Fullname: Donald Cameron Weir
aka: Donald Weir
Born: 28 December 1928 [*see notes]
Died: 18 September 1959
Birthplace: Chryston, North Lanarkshire
Signed: 2 November 1948
Left: May 1952 (free); 5 July 1952 (Portadown); Coatbridge Burgh Police FC (1954)
Position: Inside-forward
Debut: Celtic 1-2 Third Lanark, League, 16 Apr 1949
Internationals: none
Biog
Inside-forward Donald Weir signed from Kilwinning Rangers in November 1948, into a new season in which Celtic were looking to revitalise the club after coming perilously close to relegation the season before.
He made his Celtic debut in a 2-1 home league defeat to Third Lanark on April 16th 1949. Although mostly a reserve Donald did have the pleasure of scoring a great goal against Rangers on September 23rd 1950 as the Bhoys beat their rivals 3-2. That was a rare game for Donald Weir at inside right. Donald scored the opening goal in that match with a diving header after some mazy dribbling and inter-passing between Tully, McPhail, Peacock and Weir; a match report described it as “a perfect goal“.
Must add that this was a barren time to play at Celtic, post-WW2 was possibly the worst period in the club’s history in terms of results and performances, and the coaching environment left a lot to be desired.
He did play in one of the matches in the Scottish Cup run in 1950/51 as Celtic finally won a major trophy for the first time since 1938. He scored in a 4-0 win over Duns in a second round match but sadly didn’t play in any other senior matches that season. He only played one match for Celtic the next season, in a 3-1 defeat to Hearts in the league.
He was released in May 1952 after seven appearances and two goals for the Hoops.
He then had a spell in Ireland with Portadown and then to St Patricks (for the start of the 1953/54 season). Donald Weir went on to score for St Patricks a spectacular overhead goal (described in the Irish Independent as a “over-the-shoulder effort with his back to goal”) in the Dublin City Cup Final in September 1953 helping them net the title. He netted 4 goals from August to November – two in the Shield and one each in the semi-final and final of the Dublin City Cup.
He returned to Scotland, and then went on to play for Forfar.
Tragically he died young aged just 30 in September 1959. Donald Weir was killed in the Auchengeich pit disaster. He was employed as a roadsman there. Jimmy McGrory & Jock Stein attended his funeral, and made charitable donations to assist all those affected.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1948-52 | 6 | 1 | – | – | 7 |
| Goals | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Cup
Pictures
Notes
- Picture & details of time at St Pats thanks to @historystpats detail & pic: https://twitter.com/HistoryStPats/status/1543988119267074056?t=BvncVzzzwNM8nzf-YUkhAw&s=03)
- He was born in Chryston (North Lanarkshire) on 28 Dec 1928 and NOT in 1930 as some other sources have claimed (confirmed via research by @boolavogue).
- There are many great links between @stpatsfc and @CelticFC , not least the famous UCL qualifier in 1998. But there aren’t many who’ve played for both clubs – the obvious one being Paul Byrne (Celtic 1993-95, Pat’s 2000-01). Donald Weir, from East Cadder in Scotland, had signed for Celtic in 1948 and featured mainly with the reserves. He played 7 times for the first team from 1949-1952, scoring twice, including one famous goal against Rangers. He moved shortly after to Portadown in the Irish League and from there to St Pat’s for the start of the 1953/54 season. Weir’s stay at the Saints was brief, although he impressed in several displays. An inside-forward, he netted 4 goals from August to November – two in the Shield and one each in the semi-final and final of the Dublin City Cup, helping Pat’s to victory in the competition.He returned to Scotland to play with Forfar but a few short years after, aged just 30, was killed in a mining accident at the Auchengeich Colliery.
His name on the memorial for the disaster:
The Auchengeich mining disaster
Published: 17:32
Updated: 17:46 Thursday 24 September 2009
https://www.cumbernauld-news.co.uk/news/the-auchengeich-mining-disaster-1-354544
This story was published in the News & Chronicle on the 50th anniversary of the Auchengeich Mining Disaster.
IT was the sight of ambulances and rescue vehicles speeding in the direction of Auchengeich Colliery that first alerted many people to a tragedy unfolding deep underground.
News 50 years ago travelled a lot slower than it does now. Hardly anyone in mining communities had phones. The first some families heard that their menfolk were in danger would have come from a frantic knocking at the door as neighbours rushed from house to house, raising the alarm.
On that awful Friday morning, September 18, 1959, 47 men lost their lives leaving scores of children fatherless.
Auchengeich Colliery was at Bridgend, Moodiesburn, but the disaster scarred communities over a wide area.
Condorrat was one of the worst affected, with six families in mourning.
While mining families have always lived with the threat of tragedy, the loss of so many men in an underground fire gives Auchengeich a special place in the annals of the Scottish coalfield.
The loss is still deeply felt by many in the former mining communities of North Lanarkshire and Strathkelvin.
The Kilsyth Chronicle of September 25, told the full harrowing story.
It revealed that the death toll could have been twice as high. The men who died were the second contingent to have made the half-mile journey to the coalface on a bogie train.
They were blanketed in smoke which was billowing from a blazing ventilation fan which had short-circuited.
The Chronicle said: “They were met by a deputy, who conducted them to a short connecting road between the main air intake and return airway, and the party passed to safety through the two doors which seal off the return from the intake airway.
“All made their way back to the surface via the down fresh air shaft.”
However, the bogie train had in the meantime returned to the bottom of the shaft, where another 48 mienrs clambered aboard.
“They were lowered down the mine, but on reaching the terminal were met by smoke and fumes. They signalled to the engineman in the haulage house to pull the train back.
“When it had reached the brow of the mine, and only about 300 yards from safety, the train stopped.
“One of the men on the train made his way through the smoke and reached safety, but the others were trapped. The haulage man also struggled through the smoke and got to the surface.”
One of these men died shortly after getting out of the pit.
By this time a fleet of ambulances was bringing doctors and nurses to the pithead and a mine rescue team was dispatched from Coatbridge.
That night local clergy dispensed what spiritual comfort they could among the shivering throng of relatives. The Salvation Army offered other sustenance – food to any who wanted it.
A poem in a later edition of the Chronicle tells how “weeping wives and mothers” came to wait and pray for “husbands sons and brothers.”
One can only imagine the sense of hopelessness that swept through the crowd, by now numbering 1200, when National Coal Board chairman Ronald Parker announced the mine must be flooded to put out the fire.
“The thickening smoke issuing from the pit made the danger very ominous, and the rescuers had to be withdrawn,” said the Chronicle.
“The position was rendered hopeless, and it was found necessary to start flooding the pit to quell the outbreak. It was Monday night before it was risked allowing the rescuers to descend the pit again.
“During the night they found 43 of the men still in the bogies and another two behind the bogies, and further search had to be made for the last victim.”
The paper went on to name the Condorrat men who died. John Mulholland, 50, John Muir, 38, Patrick Harvey, 39, Thomas Stokes, 32, Alex Lang, 35, and Alexander Beattie, 26, who had only been married the previous July.
“All the Condorrat victims except Beattie leave families,” reported the Kilsyth Chronicle.
The tragedy also touched Kilsyth itself. Donald Weir, 30, lived with his wife May at St Andrew’s Place. A talented footballer, he had played for Kilsyth Rangers and went on to enjoy spells with Celtic and Forfar. His son Paul turned two just two days after his father’s death.
The bereaved families might have drawn some comfort from the rescue workers’ assurances that the men’s suffering would have been brief. They said all died of carbon monoxide poisoning within seconds of the train being stopped.
Miners’ union leader Abe Moffat appealed for the crowd to go home but was shouted down by a few whose sense of hopelessness found expression in heckling.
The Chronicle concluded its report by giving details of the funerals, four of which it said would take place at Holy Cross Church in Croy.
