Full name Adam Smith Blacklaw Name Adam Blacklaw Role Football player | Height 1.83 m Playing position Position Goalkeeper | |
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Date of birth (1937-09-02)2 September 1937 Date of death 28 February 2010(2010-02-28) (aged 72) Died March 1, 2010, Barnoldswick, United Kingdom | ||
Place of death Barnoldswick, England Place of birth Aberdeen, Scotland | ||
Adam Smith Blacklaw (2 September 1937 – 28 February 2010) was a Scottish professional football player who played as a goalkeeper.
Blacklaw joined the Burnley ground staff as a schoolboy apprentice in 1954, directly from Frederick Street School in Aberdeen, earning a professional contract in October of that year. He made his first-team debut on 22 December 1956 and spent over ten seasons with the Clarets. He took over as regular goalkeeper when Colin McDonald suffered a broken leg in March 1959. During his time at Burnley, Blacklaw earned a League championship medal in season 1959–60 and an FA Cup runners-up medal in 1962.
He joined Blackburn Rovers for £15,000 at the start of the 1967–68 season and stayed for three years before finishing his career with short spells at Blackpool in season 1970–71 and moving into the non-league game with Great Harwood in season 1971–72. He later had a spell as manager of Clitheroe.
Blacklaw represented Scotland at schoolboy level 3 times, at Under–23 level and also at full international level. He made his debut in a 4–3 defeat by Norway on 4 June 1963 and gained a further two caps. Scotland defeated Spain nine days later, on 13 June 1963 with a 6–2 victory in Madrid and Blacklaw's final appearance for Scotland was on 7 December 1965 in Naples, where they lost 3–0 to Italy. Blacklaw's first two international matches, against Norway and Spain respectively, were friendlies and his third and final cap against Italy was a FIFA World Cup qualifying match.
Blacklaw died on 28 February 2010. For their fixture away to Arsenal on 6 March 2010, the Burnley players wore black armbands in memory of him.