Robert Walker (10 January 1879 – 28 August 1930) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a forward for Heart of Midlothian and the Scotland national team.

Club career Walker joined Hearts from Dalry Primrose in 1896, making his debut in a "trial" match vs Sunderland. He played in a few games that clinched Hearts' second League Championship in 1897. Walker was the first Hearts player to score over 100 league goals, and he scored their 1000th SFL goal. Other notable achievements are his 33 goals against Hibernian, which is the record tally in the Edinburgh Derby if local competitions are included. He scored two hat-tricks against Hearts' main rivals, the first at the age of 19 years and 9 months in a 5–1 victory at Easter Road on 28 October 1898. He repeated the feat on 18 September 1905, again at Easter Road, in a 3–0 win.

The 1901 Scottish Cup was remembered as "Walker's Final", Hearts beating Celtic 4–3. With the score poised at 3–3 The Scotsman reported: "the Edinburgh team soon showed that they were not going to relinquish the grasp of the cup which their play entitled them to, and Walker once more proved himself the grandest forward on the field. Taking the ball some thirty yards right through the opposition, he shot straight and true. M'Arthur saved, but sent the "leather" to Bell, who tipped it over to Houston. By the last named it was again sent towards the Celtic custodian who muddled his attempt to avert, and again the Hearts were one to the good." After this match Charlie Thomson dubbed him "The Best Player in Europe" and his style of football, involving brilliant footwork and sublime passing was known as "Walkerism". He also played in Hearts Scottish Cup win of 1906.

During Hearts' first overseas tour to Norway in May 1912, King Haakon of Norway attended one of the games specifically to see Walker play.

Walker became a Hearts director in 1920. He died at the age of 51 in August 1930. Huge crowds lined the funeral route and thousands stood round his graveside. His obituary in The Scotsman stated "The Hearts never had a more brilliant forward than Walker. He was amazingly clever in manipulating the ball, and it was on skill alone that he relied, for he was never favoured with physique. With the ball at his feet he could turn on his course elusively, and in such little space, that he could often put a whole defence out of position with his deft movement."

The Football Encyclopaedia from 1934, edited by Frank Johnston, referred to him simply as "Bobby Walker, the greatest natural footballer who ever played."

International career Walker was the most capped Scottish footballer for Heart of Midlothian with 29 caps until the record was broken in 2006 by Steven Pressley. He held the Scotland national team caps record at various points from 1905 to 1931.

If caps are "weighted" to measure the number of games that were possible to play in a season, he is third in the all time Scottish caps list. His Scotland career of 13 years, one month and three days places him at no. 11 in the all-time list. He shares the record of 11 Scottish caps versus England, along with Alan Morton of Queen's Park and Rangers. The record would have been 12 as he played in the Ibrox disaster match of 5 April 1902 which has subsequently been declared unofficial. In addition he won 14 Scottish Football League XI caps, which places him 7th in the all-time list.

Personal life His brother Alex Walker also played for Hearts.

He was the uncle of St Mirren and Scotland defender George Walker, whose sisters also married footballers.Double footie marriage in Paisley, Daily Record, 30 March 2013

Bobby Walker is buried in North Merchiston Cemetery in Edinburgh.

Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueScottish CupTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsHeart of Midlothian1896–97Scottish Football League3200321897–98Scottish Football League107001071898–99Scottish Football League18121019121899–1900Scottish Football League167612281900–01Scottish Football League153532061901–02Scottish Football League184412251902–03Scottish Football League2198229111903–04Scottish Football League25121126131904–05Scottish Football League20142022141905–06Scottish Football League27175432211906–07Scottish Football League265833481907–08Scottish Football League2273325101908–09Scottish Football League284213051909–10Scottish Football League214512651910–11Scottish Football League248202681911–12Scottish Football League223602831912–13Scottish Football League11641157Career total3271246221389145

International Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Walker goal.

+ List of international goals scored by Bobby WalkerNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 1 March 1902 Grosvenor Park, Belfast, Ireland 2–0 5–1 1901–02 British Home Championship2 15 March 1902 Cappielow, Greenock, Scotland 4–0 5–1  1901–02 British Home Championship3 4 April 1903 Bramall Lane, Sheffield, England 2–1 2–1 1902–03 British Home Championship4 12 March 1904 Dens Park, Dundee, Scotland 1–0 1–1 1903–04 British Home Championship5 18 March 1905 Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland 2–0 4–0 1904–05 British Home Championship6 16 March 1907 Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland 2–0 3–0 1906–07 British Home Championship7 1 March 1909 Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, Wales 1–3 2–3 1908–09 British Home Championship8 16 March 1912 Windsor Park, Belfast, Ireland 4–1 4–1 1911–12 British Home Championship

See also List of one-club men in association football

References

External links Profile at londonhearts.com Scotland Record at londonhearts.com "The Greatest Ever – Bobby Walker at Dalry Primrose"