Archie McDonald played for Brisbane-based Thistles in the 1920s. He was namechecked by Socceroo Wilf Bratton in a letter to the Brisbane Courier published on 13 August 1928. Bratton’s letter listed McDonald as a member of the 3rd Australian Division team soccer team which played against the Royal Air Force in the winter of 1917 at Bailleul. Four of the players would later join Thistles – McDonald, Bob Craig and future Australian internationals William McBride and John Peebles.
All four were members of the 3rd Sanitary Section, a special unit of mixed trades who planned and built hygiene improvements at Australian bases in France. McDonald was probably the A. McDonald who played for Queen’s Park just over a week before his enlistment on 30 August 1915. The same team featured James and John Love who would both enlist the next year.
Archie’s occupation as a plumber presumably led to his allocation to the 3rd Sanitary Section. The Section received lengthy training in Brisbane before they departed. He finally reached France in November 1916, by which time he had been promoted to Staff Sergeant.
Exactly what McDonald did in France is uncertain. Apart from two periods of leave, his records jump from 1916 to 1919. That year he attended the Royal Sanitary Institute in Glasgow, the city where he was born and still had family. He was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig’s despatches on 16 March 1916. According to an AIF communique about the honour sent to his mother, the despatch was a list of “names deserving special mention”. The list was published over several editions of the London Gazette, with McDonald’s name appearing on 11 July. For being mentioned, McDonald received an emblem featuring two oak leaves.
He remained in England until early 1920, when he returned to Australia for discharge. On returning to Brisbane, McDonald played for Thistle between 1921 and the end of the 1923 season, interrupted only by a trip to Scotland. Despite the claims of the Telegraph on 9 July 1923, he probably did not represent Queensland. Thistle won the 1923 premiership and soon afterwards it appears McDonald hung up his boots.
He became club treasurer at the end of the season and in 1925 became secretary. By 1930, McDonald became a committee member of the Queensland British Football Association. The same year he was a selector for the Queensland team to play New South Wales.