Edgar Donald Reid Shearer CBE (6 June 1909 – 9 July 1999) was an amateur sportsman who played both association football and cricket at international levels.^[1][2] Shearer became an OBE after World War II and a CBE in the 1970s.^[3]

Shearer was born in England in 1909, but spent most of his life in Ireland.^[2] After being an excellent sportsperson in his youth, he left school to work in a textile factory.^[2] He initially played rugby for the City of Derry Rugby Football Club before he took up football, after he was noticed for his kicking ability.^[2]

In 1929, Shearer joined Casuals before joining Corinthian a year later.^[2][4] In the early 1930s, he also played for Derry City.^[2] He played in the 1935–36 final of the FA Amateur Cup for Casuals, scoring one goal in the replay of the final, with Casuals winning their only cup.^[2] During his playing career for Corinthians and Casuals, he played in 50 matches, scoring 38 goals.^[2] In the 1936–37 season for Derry, Shearer scored 78 goals including three hat-tricks.^[2]

Shearer earned seven amateur international caps for England,^[5] and represented Great Britain at the 1936 Summer Olympics.^[6][7] He played in Great Britain's match against Poland, scoring a goal.^[8]

He was made several offers to turn professional, including from Arsenal, but he declined,^[3] before he retired from football in 1939.^[2]

In the 1929 cricket season in Ireland, Shearer scored 2,000 runs.^[2] Shearer played 13 first-class matches for Ireland between 1933 and 1952.^[9] In 1932, he became the first cricketer to score a century in the final of the North West Senior Cup, when he made 110 runs.^[3] A year later, he made his highest score in the competition, with 233 runs in a semi-final match.^[3]

During Australia's tour of England and Ireland in 1938,^[10] Shearer played in Ireland's match at College Park, Dublin in September of that year.^[3] In the second innings of the match, he scored 56 runs, with no other member of the Ireland team reaching double figures.^[11]

In 1948, Shearer founded the Leprechauns Cricket Club, and is the only cricketer to be an Honorary Life Member of the club.^[5] In 1951, he played for the Gentlemen of Ireland in a non first-class match where he became the first Irish batter to score a century at Lord's.^[12]

During World War II, Shearer served in North Africa and was the commander of the garrison in Tobruk, Libya.^[2] In the 1946 New Year Honours, he was awarded with an OBE.^[13] He later became the managing director of a textile company in Belfast, before becoming a director of Sir Alfred McAlpine & Son.^[2] He was also the chair of the Northern Ireland Sports Council and the president of the Irish and Northern Cricket Unions.^[2] In 1974, he was appointed CBE.^[14]

He died in July 1999,^[15] at the age of 90, and his obituary was published in Wisden.^[16]