James Robert “Bobby” Combe (born 29 January 1924 in Leith, Edinburgh; died 19 January 1991) was a former Scottish international footballer who spent his entire senior career with Hibernian.
A schoolboy internationalist, Combe joined his local club Hibernian at the age of 17 from Inveresk Athletic. He was originally an inside right but dropped back to the half back line upon the formation of Hibs’ “Famous Five” forward line, his position taken by Bobby Johnstone. Despite operating largely in the shadows of the “Five”, he enjoyed a long and successful career, during which he won three League winners medals (1947-48, 1950-51, 1951-52) and one Scottish League Cup runners-up medal (1951).
Combe was also a Scotland internationalist, earning 3 caps in 1948. He made his debut in a 2-0 defeat by England and also appeared against Switzerland and Belgium that year, scoring against the latter. He was selected in Scotland’s 22 man squad for the 1954 FIFA World Cup but the Scottish Football Association only budgeted to take 13 players to the finals in Switzerland and Combe was one of the nine who did not travel.
British International Championship
10 Apr 1948 SCOTLAND 0 – 2 ENGLAND
International Challenge Match
17 May 1948 SWITZERLAND 2 – 1 SCOTLAND
28 Apr 1948 SCOTLAND 2 – 0 BELGIUM Scored
In 1957 Combe retired from playing and was appointed Hibernian’s trainer. He held the role for two years before briefly becoming manager of Dumbarton in 1959. In his later years, Combe worked as a shopkeeper in his native Leith, then in the marketing department of Scottish Gas
