Alex Fraser (Scottish footballer)
{{Short description|Scottish footballer (1882–1950)}}
{{distinguish|Alec Fraser (footballer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name= Alex Fraser
| image=
| fullname= Alexander Currie Fraser[https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/record-results?search_type=people&dl_cat=statutory&dl_rec=statutory-births&surname=Fraser&surname_so=syn&forename=Alexander&forename_so=syn&from_year=1882&to_year=1882&county=DUNBARTON&record_type=stat_births Statutory registers - Births - Search results], ScotlandsPeople
| height=
| position= Defender
| birth_date= 14 June 1882
| birth_place= Dumbarton, Scotland[https://playupliverpool.com/1940/12/21/alex-fraser-playupliverpool-com/ Alex Fraser], Play Up Liverpool
| death_date= {{death date and age|df=y|1950|01|25|1882|06|14}}
| death_place= Roodepoort, South Africa
| youthyears1=
| youthclubs1=
| years1=
| clubs1= Clydebank Juniors
| caps1= | goals1=
| years2= 1902–1906
| clubs2= Rangers
| caps2= 43 | goals2= 1
| totalcaps= | totalgoals =
}}
Alexander Currie Fraser (14 June 1882 – 25 January 1950) was a Scottish footballer who played mainly as a defender and featured for Rangers between 1902 and 1906.{{cite magazine|title=A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players|author=John Litster|magazine=Scottish Football Historian magazine|date=October 2012}}[http://www.fitbastats.com/rangers/player.php?playerid=1869 (Rangers player) Fraser, Alex], FitbaStats
Career
A short time after joining Rangers from Clydebank Juniors,[http://sfha.org.uk/historiesfinaldraft.pdf Where Gallagher Was Found], Scottish Junior Histories (page 21), Evening Times, 1933, via Scottish Football Historical Archive Fraser scored on his Scottish Football League debut against Morton in September 1902 as a makeshift right half[https://www.londonhearts.com/scores/images/1902/1902092091.htm League Gossip. {{!}} Successful Experiments]. The Scottish Referee, 22 September 1902. Scan via London Hearts Supporters Club (his only goal in the major competitions). At the end of that season the club won the Scottish Cup in 1903, in which Heart of Midlothian were defeated after two replays.[https://www.londonhearts.com/scores/images/1903/1903042501.htm Football. {{!}} Scottish Cup Final.], The Scotsman, 27 April 1903, via London Hearts Supporters Club
A frequent but not constant starter (he was involved in two-thirds of the league fixtures in the three campaigns he featured regularly), Fraser missed out on a place in the 1904 Scottish Cup Final, a defeat to Celtic,[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2ulAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=d6YMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5977%2C1661398 Scottish Cup Final Tie. {{!}} Celtic v. Rangers.], The Glasgow Herald, 18 April 1904 but did take part in a win over the same opponents in the final of the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup a month later,[https://playupliverpool.com/1904/05/14/glasgow-rangers-v-celtic-5-2-glasgow-charity-cup-final-may-14-1904/ Glasgow Rangers v Celtic 5-2 (Glasgow Charity Cup Final: May 14, 1904)], via Play Up Liverpool[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8OlAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=d6YMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5977%2C4638061 Football. Glasgow Charity Cup–Final Tie], The Glasgow Herald, 16 May 1904 only to finish on the losing side in an Old Firm final again five months after that, this time in the Glasgow Cup[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tdVAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b6YMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3775%2C3913204 Glasgow Cup–Final Tie. {{!}} Celtic V. Rangers.], The Glasgow Herald, 10 October 1904 in the period when the competitive rivalry between the two clubs was intensifying.
More disappointment was to follow for Rangers at the end of that season as they lost the 1905 Scottish Cup Final to Third Lanark after a replay,[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qOlAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f6YMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5336%2C1703664 Football. | Scottish Cup–Final Tie.], The Glasgow Herald, 17 April 1905 then suffered another defeat to Celtic in a play-off for the 1904–05 Scottish Division One title, both having finished level on points.{{cite news|last=Hannan|first=Martin|title=1905: The last time Scotland drafted in a foreign referee |url=http://www.scotsman.com/sport/1905-the-last-time-scotland-drafted-in-a-foreign-referee-1-1370563|accessdate=27 July 2020|work=The Scotsman|date=27 November 2010}}
At the start of the next season Fraser was injured against Kilmarnock[https://www.londonhearts.com/scores/images/1905/1905081989.htm Close Contest at Ibrox.] The Scottish Referee, 21 August 1905. Scan via London Hearts Supporters Club and did not feature again until January 1906 in a defeat to St Mirren – this appears to have been an unsuccessful comeback attempt as it was reported that he "got injured somehow, and had to retire".[https://www.londonhearts.com/scores/images/1906/1906011308.htm "Dark Blue".] The Scottish Referee, 15 January 1906. Scan via London Hearts Supporters Club That proved to be his final appearance for Rangers; in June 1906, it was stated that he had "almost completely recovered from the rather severe knee injury which troubled him so much last season"[https://www.londonhearts.com/scores/images/1906/1906062301.htm A Popular Light Blue.] The Scottish Referee, 25 June 1906. Scan via London Hearts Supporters Club but a few days earlier it had been confirmed that his contract was not being renewed,[https://www.londonhearts.com/scores/images/1906/1906062202.htm Rangers F.C. Annual Meeting.] The Scottish Referee, 22 June 1906. Scan via London Hearts Supporters Club and as with teammate Alec Mackie, it appears that he did not play for any senior club after that fairly prominent spell at Ibrox. He later emigrated to South Africa.[Transvaal Province, South Africa, Estates Death Notice Index, 1855-1976], via Ancestry