Rutherford: Edward (Eddie)

WW2 Guest: 1942-1943 (Leeds United War-time Guest Player Details)

Winger

Born: Govan, Glasgow: 08-02-1921

Debut: v Gateshead (h): 19-09-1942

5’9” 10st 8lb (1946)

Rutherford started his career at Govan High School and then Battlefield Recreation before going on to Mossvale YMCA and it was from there that Rangers signed him in August 1941 at the age of twenty. He was then a commercial traveller for a firm of chemists, but he was not at Ibrox for long before he was called up to the R.A.F. He was posted to the North of England in the Second World War and there played for Leeds United, Lincoln City and Bradford City as a guest. He did play extensively for Leeds during the 1942-43 Football League Northern Section season, scoring twice in eight appearances, in the First Championship and four in twelve games in the Second. He made his debut at Outside Right on 19th September 1942 in the First Championship in a 1-2 defeat by Gateshead at Elland Road and kept his position in the next game and scored in a 5-3 win at St James’ Park over Newcastle United. He missed the next game at home to Newcastle but played the next three games which saw him get his second goal for the club in a 6-0 home win over Doncaster Rovers and a 2-2 away draw in the reverse fixture at Doncaster, but there was a 1-2 home defeat by Sunderland in the third game. He then played three consecutive games in the last four games of the season, all at Outside Right as United drew 1-1 at Elland Road with Halifax Town and then capitulated 1-5 in the reverse fixture at The Shay before suffering another loss, this time by 1-4 to Huddersfield Town at Leeds Road, before missing the final home game in the reverse fixture at Elland Road on Xmas Day. He was back for the Boxing Day game and scored the United goal in a 1-2 loss to Barnsley at Oakwell which marked the start of the Second Championship. He did not play in the reverse fixture at Elland Road but he was back, once more at Outside Right for nine consecutive games, which saw United lose 2-4 at Elland Road and 1-4 at Leeds Road to Huddersfield Town in the first two. He was switched to Outside Left for the next six games as there was an horrific 0-9 pounding from Newcastle United at St James’ Park before United won the return fixture at Elland Road by 7-2. The next two games were not as volatile as United lost the Away fixture with Bradford Park Avenue by 1-2 and drew the reverse fixture at Elland Road 2-2, with Rutherford getting his second goal of the campaign. They did, however, lose both games with Bradford City, 0-1 at Valley Parade and 1-5 at Elland Road with Rutherford getting the Leeds goal, but he was back at Outside Right for the 3-2 win over Middlesbrough at Elland Road. He missed the reverse fixture at Ayresome Park but was at Outside Right in the 1-3 loss to Newcastle United at Elland Road and then was at Outside Left at Gallowgate for the reverse fixture in his final game for Leeds and scored in a 5-4 win. He was posted nearer to Lincoln City and it was there that he played in the final four fixtures of the 1943-44 season, still in the North Section but in the Lincoln region, making his debut for the Imps on 25th March 1944in a 3-0 home win over Mansfield Town. He scored twice in five games. He continued to play for them in the First Championship of the 1944-45 season and stayed until he played his final game in a 0-3 defeat by Doncaster Rovers at Sincil Bank on 23rd December 1944. He scored twice in eleven games that season to bring his tally to four goals in sixteen appearances for the Sincil Bank club. He then moved on to Valley Parade and played three games for the Bradford club in the 1944-45 Football League Northern Section, without scoring. He returned to Ibrox after the Second World War ended and made his debut for them on 19th October 1946 in the League Cup in a 1-0 win over Queen's Park at Ibrox. He won the first of his seven medals as Rangers beat Aberdeen 4-0 to win the new League Cup at Hampden in 1947. That medal, like three of his four cup-winning medals, was won in his natural position of outside right, but with Willie Waddell, Scotland's regular number seven already in place as Rangers' first-choice Outside Right, Rutherford successfully made the change to playing outside left, where he spent much of his Rangers career. He enjoyed success at Ibrox and was part of the Rangers team that won the first-ever treble of the Scottish League title, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup in 1949. Rutherford won two Scottish League Champions’ Medals, three Scottish Cup-winners’ medals, two Scottish League Cup-winners’ medals and medals for winning two Glasgow Cups and a Charity Cup. He scored nineteen goals in ninety-five Scottish League games, four in seventeen Scottish Cup games, five in twenty-seven Scottish League Cup games and three goals in eight Glasgow Cup ties, a total of thirty-one in one hundred and forty-seven games while with Rangers. Considering that almost half of his ten years had been lost to the war his time at Rangers was fruitful in his collection of medals and the number of games he achieved playing other than his natural position. He also was up against it when trying to gain representative honours as he was in competition with such Scottish legends as Willie Waddell, Gordon Smith and Billy Liddell for the wing spots in that time. He did manage one Scottish cap when he replaced Gordon Smith, who was moved to centre forward, for a 3-0 loss to France at the Stade Colombes in Paris on 23rd May 1948, during a continental tour. He did also gain Inter-League recognition on 27th September 1950 in a 4-0 win over the Irish League at Windsor Park, Belfast, in which he scored the fourth Scottish goal. He remained at the club until November 1951, when, aged thirty and under pressure from the young South African import Johnny Hubbard for the number eleven shirt, he was transferred to Hearts in exchange for Colin Liddell. He made his debut at Tynecastle in a 4-3 home win over Queen of the South on 10th November 1951 and remained with Hearts for four years, but his appearances were interrupted by a string of injuries, and he was restricted to scoring eleven goals in thirty-eight League games and four in twelve in Cup games. However, as one of the senior professionals at the club, he played his part in the development of the great young players such as Dave Mackay, Alex Young and Ian Crawford who were to be a big part in the Tynecastle club's golden era from 1955 on. He played his final game for Hearts on 3rd November 1954 in a 4-2 win over Leeds United at Tynecastle before moving to Raith Rovers in January 1955 for £500 but only played four League games before joining to Hamilton Academical in June 1955 during the close season. He scored six goals in twenty-one League games before he retired due to injury at the end of the 1955-56 season. On his retirement from football, he opened a newsagent's shop on Stonelaw Rd near the Overtoun Park in Rutherglen. He died on 29th June 2007 at the age of eighty-six.