Skip to main content

A Family Affair

List of brothers to appear for (Northern) Ireland:
Players
Clubs
Career
Caps
Same Match
Hamilton
Dublin Association
1885
(1)
85 Wal
Dublin Association
1885
(1)
Baxter
Distillery
1887
(1)
Cliftonville
1887
(1)
Crone
Distillery
1882-90
(12)
89 Sco 90 Wal
Distillery
1889-90
(4)
Gillespie
Hertford
1886-87
(6)
West Down
1889
(1)
Torrans
Linfield
1889-01
(26)
93 Sco
Linfield
1893
(1)
Gordon
Linfield
1891-93
(7)
Linfield
1894-95
(2)
} 95 Eng
Linfield
1895-96
(3)
McClatchey
Distillery
1886
(3)
Distillery
1895
(1)
Sherrard
Limavady
1885-88
(3)
Cliftonville
1895
(3)
Pyper
Cliftonville
1897-1900
(7)
97 Wal Sco 00 Eng
Cliftonville
1897-02
(9)
McKee
Cliftonville
1895
(3)
Cliftonville, Belfast Celtic
1906-14
(5)
Campbell
Cliftonville
1896
(1)
Cliftonville
1898-04
(14)
Burnison
Distillery
1901
(2)
Distillery
1908-13
(8)
Scott
Linfield, Everton, Leeds C.
1903-13
(25)
Liverpool, Belfast Celtic
1920-35
(31)
Jones
Linfield, Hibernian, Glenavon
1930-38
(23)
34 Eng Wal
Distillery, Blackpool
1934
(2)
Blanchflower
Barnsley, Aston Villa, Tottenham
1950-63
(56)
all 12
Manchester Utd
1954-58
(12)
Crossan
Blackburn Rovers
1950-55
(3)
Sparta Rotterdam, Sunderland, Manchester City, Middlesbrough
1960-68
(24)
Irvine
Linfield, Stoke City
1962-65
(8)
63 Pol Spa 65 Wal
Burnley, Preston, Brighton
1963-72
(23)
Hunter
Coleraine
1962-64
(2)
Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town
1970-80
(53)
Whitley
Manchester City, Sunderland
1997-05
(20)
98 Spa
Manchester City
1998
(1)
Evans
Manchester United
2006-date
10 Mon
Manchester Utd,
Hull City, Blackburn Rovers
2009-date
McLaughlin
Preston, Fleetwood
2011-date
14 Uru
Liverpool
2014-date

Notes:
Played together
  • The Hamilton brothers, William Drummond and Willoughby James were the first brothers to play for Ireland when they both played in the forward line against Wales on the 11th April 1885.
  • William and Robert Crone played together against Scotland 9/3/1889 and against Wales 8/2/1890.
  • Sam and Robert Torrans played for Ireland vs Scotland on 25/3/1893.
  • Tom and Hugh Gordon played for Ireland vs England on 9/3/1895. Willie Gordon had already played for Ireland 7 times from 1891-1893 and the Gordons were therefore the first and only set of three brothers to play for Ireland, though not together in one match.
  • John and James Pyper, both Presbyterian Ministers, played together for Ireland on three occasions vs Wales 6/3/1897, Scotland 27/3/1897 and England 17/3/1900.
  • Jack and Sam Jones played in the half-back line vs England 20/10/1933 and Vs Wales
    4/11/1933.

  • Jackie Blanchflower played twelve times for Ireland (1954-1958). On every occasion he played his elder brother Danny also played. On one of these occasions vs Wales in Belfast 20/4/1955 Wales fielded two sets of brothers John and Mel Charles and Ivor and Len Allchurch.
  • Jim Whitley played vs Spain in Santander on 3/4/1998, while his brother Jeff came on as a sub in the 90th minute.
  • Jonny and Corry Evans played their first Northern Ireland match together against Montenegro on 11/8/2010 when Corry came on as a half-time sub. This was Jonny's 21st cap and Corry's 5th.
  • Conor and Ryan McLaughlin both came on as a sub in a 1-0 friendly defeat in Uruguay on 30/5/2014. It was Ryan's debut and Conor's second cap.
  • When the Evans brothers started and the McLaughlin brothers came on as substitutes in a friendly against Costa Rica on 3/06/2018 it was the first time that two sets of brothers appeared on the pitch at the same time for Northern Ireland.
Goalscoring Brothers
  • Joe Sherrard vs Wales 12/03/1887 and Willie Sherrard vs Wales 16/03/1895 were the first brothers to score goals for Ireland.
  • John Pyper vs Wales 06/03/1897 and James Pyper vs Scotland 27/03/1897 were the first brothers to score goals for Ireland in the same season. James also scored a goal v England on 05/03/1898.
List of father-son internationals for (Northern) Ireland:
Other (Northern) Ireland international relatives:
By George Glass.


(Northern) Ireland Brotherly XXII
Billy & Elisha Scott; Billy & Bob Crone, Danny & Jackie Blanchflower, Jack & Sam Jones, Jonny & Corry Evans, Rab & Sam Torrans; Jack & James Campbell, Jeff & Jim Whitley, Eddie & Johnny Crossan; William & Willoughby Hamilton; Joe & Willie Sherrard
(Northern) Ireland Father-Son XI
Vic Hunter (father); Matt Wilson (f), Jim Feeney (f); Bob Wilson (son), Barry Hunter (s), Ray Ferris (s); Warren Feeney Sr (f&s), Warren Feeney Jr (s), Fay Coyle (f), Liam Coyle (s), Jim Ferris (f)

Comments