Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bob McEwan

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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was speedy keep. Nomination withdrawn. Poor WP:BEFORE on my part, next time I’ll do more digging. (non-admin closure) WikiJoeB (talk) 17:26, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bob McEwan[edit]

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Bob McEwan (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)
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Article about a Scottish footballer who appears to fail WP:GNG and WP:NSPORT. The search for his full name (Robert Blaikie McEwan) turns up largely irrelevant results, with the only result matching his exact name being a Wikipedia mirror[1]. A search for only "Robert McEwan scottish footballer" turned up yet another Wikipedia mirror[2]. If the article is to be believed, and Robert really is an association football player, WP:NFOOTBALL is not met here.

Although the "Senior career" section in Robert's Infobox does state that he's played for teams notable enough for a Wikipedia article, it is unsourced and probably won't ever be - refer to the above findings.

Additionally, the sources presented in the article do not support notability:

Source one is a supposed link to his page at the English National Football Archive, which doesn't establish notability, as their homepage states that "The database of the National Football Archive...ensures that every player is uniquely identified."

Additionally, the archive's critertion for inclusion is, to put it lightly, extremely lenient: "The criterion for entry in the database is that the club concerned is a member of the Football League or Premier League in the season concerned. If that criterion is met, the database then contains the results of all that club's games in League and Cups. The first season of the database is 1888-89. " This is a violation of WP:SPORTCRIT, which specifically states that "Trivial coverage of a subject by secondary sources may be used to support content in an article, but it is not sufficient to establish notability. This includes listings in database sources with low, wide-sweeping generic standards of inclusion, such as Sports Reference's college football and basketball databases."

Source two isn't even a source. It's a reference reading: "Whiteford/ McEwan Family History, researched by Alastair Robert McEwan".

Source three: the book in question[3] is simply a book covering player records from 1888-1939. As it is only available in print and not online (the reference doesn't cite where in the book his name is mentioned, either) I do not know the extent as to which he is covered, if at all, in the book, but this would be a fail of WP:GNG and WP:SPORTCRIT regardless. The book does not focus on McEwan. WikiJoeB (talk) 01:11, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Delete as hoax no sources here, no sources there, no sources anywhere. Philosophy2 (talk) 03:25, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Note: This discussion has been included in WikiProject Football's list of association football-related deletions. Spiderone(Talk to Spider) 10:00, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment - I own the Michael Joyce book and can state that it confirms that McEwan played a total of 109 games in the Football League, the highest level of professional football in England at the time, and other sources have now been added to confirm that he played 50 times in the Scottish League. I would therefore at the very least propose that the comment from Philosophy2 stating that the article is a hoax be struck, as it demonstrably isn't, as well the claim in the nom that "WP:NFOOTBALL is not met", because it is not only met but absolutely smashed with a total of over 150 games played in top-level leagues -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 13:23, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Speedy Keep He certainly exists, his name is mentioned in Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939 with a short biography there. His name pops up in a libraries catalog search in in Chelsea's, Bury's and Dundee's complete player guide books. Hardly a hoax. Govvy (talk) 12:00, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep I have now added more online references. There are many footballer biographies with questionable notability and scant sourcing so I'm not sure why the focus on this one when a bit more digging would have found quite enough evidence of a notable career. As for 'hoax', I'd probably be a bit more hesitant before chucking that claim around in future. Crowsus (talk) 13:25, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep - meets WP:NFOOTBALL by a long way and, considering how hard it is to find sources on any player of this era, quite a few decent ones do exist as demonstrated Spiderone(Talk to Spider) 16:17, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep - clearly notable, nominator has not done BEFORE. GiantSnowman 17:06, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
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