James Chambers

James Chambers, born 14 February 1987 in Dublin, is an Irish former professional footballer who played for Shelbourne, Waterford United, Drogheda United, Shamrock Rovers (2 spells) and St Patrick's Athletic (2 spells) in Ireland, Solihull Moors in England, Hamilton Academical in Scotland and Bethlehem Steel in the United States. Club career Shelbourne James Chambers played for Shelbourne since he was 11 years of age. He has also been capped for Ireland at every level from 15's right up to 23's. He started out with the schoolboy teams and made his breakthrough into the first team during the 2004 season, at the age of 17, including being part of the Shelbourne squad during their successful 2004 European campaign. He did not make his first official first team appearance for Shelbourne until 15 August 2005 when he made his League of Ireland debut coming on as a 2nd half substitute during a 1–0 defeat to Cork City at Turner's Cross. To aid James with his development and to gain valuable experience, he was loaned out to Waterford United for the 2006 season and instantly became a regular in their starting XI. On 24 February 2007, Chambers received a call up to the Republic of Ireland U21 squad by manager Don Givens. Chambers returned to Shelbourne for the 2007 season but he was entering upon a very unfamiliar environment at the Tolka Park club. Shelbourne were now in financial meltdown and were uncertain over their participation for the 2007 season. After the club was demoted to the First Division, he made the decision to stay at Shels despite their demotion and keen interest in him from numerous Premier Division clubs. As only one of two first team players retained by Shelbourne for the 2007 season, Chambers' talents were now of great importance to Shelbourne and he has become one of the first names on the Shels teamsheet due to many impressive performances. He scored his first senior goal for Shelbourne with a delightful equaliser in a 1–1 draw with Monaghan United at Tolka Park on 13 April 2007.