The International Valiants club
Following Chris Birchall’s International retirement, OVF takes a look at the select group of Port Vale players to represent their country.
The first Vale player to play International football was the flamboyant goalkeeper Teddy Peers, who represented Wales in 1922. Since Teddy’s debut, another thirteen players have played for their countries.
Chris Birchall leads the way with 26 appearances, while four players have made a single appearance when on the Valiants’ books (notably David Healy, Andrew Little and Neville Southall who were all on loan at the time).
In terms of the countries represented, the most popular is Northern Ireland as the table below shows:
Countries represented:
- Northern Ireland (6)
- Wales (3)
- Trinidad and Tobago (2)
- Montserrat (1)
- Nigeria (1)
- Ireland (1)
Goals have been few and far between for our Internationals with just eight scored in 83 Internationals appearances. Here is the goalscorers list:
Top International goalscorers:
- Chris Birchall (3)
- Sammy Morgan (2)
- Andy Jones (1)
- Eamon O’Keefe (1)
- Tony Rougier (1)
In terms of positions supplied to the national sides, there is a distinct lack of defenders in the Vale ranks with Nigeria’s George Abbey the sole exception. Here are how the positions ranks:
International positions supplied:
- Goalkeepers (2)
- Defenders (1)
- Midfielders/wingers (6)
- Forwards (5)
Here’s a list of all of Vale’s Internationals. You can also find this (and other statistical databases) from the “Stats” option on the top OVF menu.
Lining up from L to R in the image above are Chris Brichall (Trinidad and Tobago), Neville Southall (Wales), James Lawrie (N.Ireland) and Eamon O’Keefe (Ireland).
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