Walter Robert Fairgrieve (born 30 August 1874) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as an outside forward

Outside forward

Outside forward is a position in association football which refers to a footballer who plays as an advanced forward on the right or left wing - as an outside right or outside left. Typically as part of a 2-3-5 formation or one of its variants...

 for Southampton

Southampton F.C.

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

 and Luton Town

Luton Town F.C.

Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...

 in the late 1890s.

Football career

Fairgrieve was born in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 and started his football career with Dalry Primrose and Glasgow Perthshire

Glasgow Perthshire F.C.

Glasgow Perthshire Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Possilpark, in the North of Glasgow. Nicknamed the Shire, they were formed in 1890 and play at Keppoch Park, not far from the Saracen Park home of Ashfield...

, during which time he earned Scottish junior international honours and represented Glasgow in a game against Lanarkshire.

After a month's trial period at Everton

Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

, he joined Southern League

Southern Football League

The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

 champions Southampton

Southampton F.C.

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

 in May 1898 on a professional contract. He spent most of his time at The Dell in the reserves, with his only first team outing coming when he took the place of Tom Smith

Tom Smith (footballer born 1877)

Thomas "Tom" Smith was a professional English footballer who played at outside-right for various clubs around the turn of the 20th century.-Football career:...

 for the second match of the 1898–99 season, a 2–0 defeat by New Brompton.

In the summer of 1899, he left "the Saints" to join Luton Town

Luton Town F.C.

Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...

 of the Football League Second Division

Football League Second Division

From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

, although he failed to break into the first team.