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diff --git a/28028-h/28028-h.htm b/28028-h/28028-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8930c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/28028-h/28028-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6432 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Scottish Football Reminiscences and Sketches, by David Drummond Bone. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 1px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 1px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 1px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} +.lowercase {text-transform: lowercase;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor {vertical-align:baseline; + position: relative; + bottom: 0.33em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + +// --> +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Scottish Football Reminiscences and Sketches, by +David Drummond Bone + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Scottish Football Reminiscences and Sketches + +Author: David Drummond Bone + +Release Date: February 9, 2009 [EBook #28028] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCOTTISH FOOTBALL REMINISCENCES *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Susan Skinner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from Google Books.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 273px;"> +<img src="images/illus001a.jpg" width="273" height="386" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class='center'>RECOGNISED ATHLETIC WAREHOUSE</p> + +<p style="font-size: x-large;" class='center'>ALEXANDER DUNCAN, Wholesale Jeweller</p> + +<p class='center'>GOLD AND SILVER BADGES.</p> + +<p>Holds the Largest Stock of Prize +Specialities and Presentation Goods +in the City.</p> + +<p class='center'>NEW DESIGNS IN BADGES.<br /> +UNIQUE AND ARTISTIC.</p> + +<p class='center'>All Government Stamped.</p> + +<p class='center'>AT WHOLESALE PRICES.</p> + +<p class='center'>FOOTBALL AND OTHER CLUBS</p> + +<p>Supplied at Prices considerably +less than any other House in +the Trade.</p> + +<p>Patronised by all the Leading Clubs +throughout the country.</p> + +<p>Specimens and Prices Post Free on +Application. In ordering say +whether Football or Golf Badges +are wanted.</p> + +<p>Special Designs to Order.</p> + +<p>Over 100 Cups always In Stock, 10s. +to £30.</p> + +<p>Over 200 Gold and Silver Badges in +Stock at Wholesale Prices.</p> + +<p>Compare with others.</p> + +<p class='center'>(One Stair Up.) 75 BUCHANAN STREET, GLASGOW. (One Stair Up.)</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 126px;"> +<img src="images/illus001b.jpg" width="126" height="290" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class='center'>COMFORT FOR THE FEET.</p> + +<p>Corns and Bunions may be removed, and Enlarged Toe +Joints reduced, by using <b>Thompson's French Corn +Plaster</b>.</p> + +<p>"It is as thin as silk, and comfortable to the foot. Since +using thin Plaster I can walk almost any distance." Lady +Maude ——.</p> + +<p class='center'>Packets 1s. 1½d. each; post free, 14 stamps.</p> + +<p class='center'>ASK FOR THOMPSON'S PLASTER.<br /> +☛ AND SEE YOU GET IT.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center' style="font-size: x-large;">"GOOD NEWS."</p> + +<p>Thousands of sufferers will welcome the "Good News" that +<span class='smcap'>Nervetonine</span> is a positive, permanent, and safe cure for +all nervous affections, nervous exhaustion, nervous debility, +mental depression, loss of memory, sleeplessness, and weakness of all kinds.</p> + +<p><span class='smcap'>Nervetonine</span> will also cure indigestion, constipation, +and piles. Nerve pains, neuralgia, sciatica, lumbago, rheumatism, +etc., instantly relieved and permanently cured with +<span class='smcap'>Nervetonine</span></p> + +<p>Bottles 1/9, 2/9 and 4/9, post free, from <i>Sole Proprietor</i>,</p> + +<p class='center'> +<b>M. F. THOMPSON</b>, Chemist,<br /> +17 GORDON STREET, GLASGOW.<br /> +97 PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH.<br /> +</p> + +<p>CAUTION. Each Genuine Bottle of <span class="smcap">Nervetonine</span> has M. F. THOMPSON'S +name on label.</p> + +<p class='center'>Sponges, Bath Gloves, Friction Gloves, Flesh Brushes, Tooth, Nail, and Hair +Brushes, and every Toilet Requisite at the above address.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center' style="font-size: large;">The Trainer of the Rangers Football Team writes:</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—I use HERBULINE extensively, and find it of great value. I +have never been disappointed in my results from using it. It is superior +to any preparation I have hitherto tried, and I strongly advise those in +want of a safe, reliable liniment to give it a trial.—I am, yours respectfully,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">"<span class="smcap">Ibrox</span>, <i>February 6th, 1890</i>.<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">JOHN TAYLOR."<br /></span> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Neuralgia and Tic</td><td align='center'>cured</td><td align='center'>by</td><td align='center'>HERBULINE</td><td align='left'>in 20 Minutes.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lumbago</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>24 Hours.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Toothache</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Momentary.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cold Feet</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>5 Minutes.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rheumatism</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>24 Hours.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>HERBULINE is superior to Mustard for Poulticing. Salient +points—clean, easily applied, a more endurable heat. No liability to +chill after using. It is a wonder to those who use it, and never +disappoints in its results.</p> + +<p class='center'><i>Of Chemists and Patent Medicine Vendors</i>—</p> + +<p class='center'>Price 1s. 1½d. Net. If Posted, 3d. Extra.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +The HERBULINE Manufacturing Coy.,<br /> +67 RENFIELD STREET.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center' style="font-size: x-large;">WATERPROOFS.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 80px;"> +<img src="images/illus002a.jpg" width="80" height="164" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Gentlemen's Coats in all the Newest +Styles and Patterns. Inverness +Capes, Sleeveless Coats, etc. +Waterproofs for Tourists, Cyclists, +etc.</p> + +<p> +Travelling Requisites.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Fishing Requisites.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Shooting Requisites.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class='center'>LAWN TENNIS, Cricket, Footballs, Shin-Guards, +etc.</p> + +<p class='center'><i>Lists on Application.</i> <i>Prices strictly moderate.</i></p> + +<p class='center'> +NORTH BRITISH RUBBER Co., Ltd.,<br /> +106 BUCHANAN STREET,<br /> +Glasgow.<br /> +<br /> +Works: Castle Mills, Edinburgh.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/illus003.jpg" width="100" height="270" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class='center' style="font-size: x-large;"> +ASK FOR<br /> +<br /> +Henry<br /> +<br /> +Thomson<br /> +<br /> +& Co.'s<br /> +<br /> +OLD<br /> +<br /> +IRISH<br /> +<br /> +WHISKY.</p> + +<p class='center'>AS SUPPLIED TO<br /> +H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES,<br /> +H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT,<br /> +AND THE<br /> +HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.</p> + +<p class='center'>SOLE AGENT FOR SCOTLAND—<br /> +ROBERT BROWN, 17 Hope St., GLASGOW.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +<span style="font-size: x-large">THOMAS COOK & SON,<br /></span> +<br /> +GENERAL RAILWAY AND STEAMSHIP<br /> +<br /> +PASSENGER TICKET OFFICE,<br /> +<br /> +FOREIGN MONEY CHANGERS, &c.,<br /> +<br /> +(Tickets for Personally-conducted Parties and Independent<br /> +Travel issued to all parts of the World).<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: x-large">162 ARGYLE STREET,<br /> +GLASGOW.<br /></span> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p class='center'> +<span style="font-size: x-large">ALLAN & STEWART,<br /></span> +<br /> +163 & 165 ARGYLE STREET.<br /> +<br /> +<i>OUR SPECIALTIES IN GENTLEMEN'S OUTFITTING DEPARTMENT<br /> +ARE—<br /></i> +<br /> +HAWICK MADE HOSIERY,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">In all Weights and Sizes</span>,<br /> +<br /> +GENT.'S KNICKERBOCKER HOSE, GENT.'S WHITE<br /> +and FANCY SHIRTS, and<br /> +<br /> +<i>OUR FAMOUS SERGE CLOTHING.</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +CORNER OF ST. ENOCH SQUARE,<br /> +GLASGOW.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<p class='center'> +<span style="font-size: x-large"><b>THE EMPORIUM</b><br /></span> +<br /> +For Portmanteaus, Bags, Trunks, and all kinds of Travelling<br /> +Requisites. Lawn Tennis, Cricket, Football.<br /> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/illus005a.jpg" width="150" height="112" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p> +GLADSTONE BAGS, warranted Cowhide, 16", 13/4; 18", 15/; 20", 16/8; 22", 18/4; 24", 20/.<br /> +<br /> +SADDLERY, HARNESS, HORSE CLOTHING.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">FOREIGN SADDLERY A Speciality,<br /></span></p> +<p class='center'> +Highland Dress Sporrans, Dirks, Skene Dhus, Brooches, etc.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Price Lists on Application.</span><br /></p> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p class='center'> +LECKIE, GRAHAM & CO., 116 Union St., Glasgow.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +IMPORTANT TO CLUB OFFICIALS AND PLAYERS.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: x-large"><b>GEORGE BELL,</b><br /></span> +<br /> +PHOTOGRAPHER,<br /> +<br /> +<b>57 ARGYLE STREET,</b><br /> +<br /> +GLASGOW.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +Every description of Portrait and Group Work executed in +the best style, and on the shortest notice.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +Copies of the 3rd Lanark and Renton (record) teams can be had +on application. Price, 3s. plain; 3s. 6d. enamelled.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +NOTE THE ADDRESS—<br /> +<span style="font-size: x-large"><b>57 ARGYLE STREET.</b><br /></span> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center' style="font-size: x-large"><b>H. & P. M'NEIL</b></p> + +<p class='center'>CRICKET AND LAWN-TENNIS.</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Shirts, White,</td><td align='right'>3/6, 4/6, 5/6, 7/6, and 10/6 each.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shirts, White, Laced Fronts,</td><td align='right'>5/6, 7/6, and 10/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shirts, Silk Stripes,</td><td align='right'>8/6 and 10/6 each.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Trousers, White Serge,</td><td align='right'>7/6, 10/6 and 12/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Caps, Velvet and Flannel,</td><td align='right'>6d., 9d., 1/, 1/6, and 2/.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Belts, all Colours,</td><td align='right'>6d., 9d., 1/, and 1/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Racing Knickers,</td><td align='right'>2/, 2/5, 3/6, 4/6, and 6/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Racing Shirts,</td><td align='right'>1/, 1/6, 2/, 2/6, and 3/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Racing Shoes,</td><td align='right'>7/6 and 9/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Flesh Gloves, Lawrence's,</td><td align='right'>5/ per pair.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Boxing Gloves,</td><td align='right'>7/6, 8/6, and 10/ per set.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Swimming Pants and Costumes.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class='center'>SEND FOR PRICE LISTS.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'>FOOTBALL.</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'>Celebrated Footballs, Buttons and Buttonless, Guaranteed best Cow-Hide, 16/6 each.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Free.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>M'Neil's Celebrated Footballs,</td><td align='right'>8/6 each.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>M'Neil's Match Footballs,</td><td align='right'>7/6 each.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>M'Neil's Practice Footballs,</td><td align='right'>6/6 each.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Boys'</td><td align='right'>1, 1/11; 2, 2/11; 3, 3/11; 4, 4/11.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Knickers, White,</td><td align='right'>1/6, 2/, 2/6, 3/6, and 4/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Knickers, Blue,</td><td align='right'>2/6, 3/6, and 4/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shin Guards,</td><td align='right'>1/, 1/6, 2/, 2/6, and 3/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Football Boots,</td><td align='right'>8/6, 10/6, and 12/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Football Bags,</td><td align='right'>4/6, 5/6, 6/6, and 7/6.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jerseys, all Colours,</td><td align='right'>1/, 1/6, 1/11, 3/6, and 4/6.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class='center'>SEND FOR SAMPLES.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'>91 UNION STREET, GLASGOW (Opposite "Mail" Office).</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: large">FOOTBALL SPECTATORS<br /></span> +<br /> +Should wear nothing in STYLISH HATS<br /> +<br /> +BUT THE<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: x-large">PURE FUR FELTS,<br /></span> +<br /> +which never CRACK OR BREAK, no matter how many +times they are taken off to assist the Cheering when<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: large">A GOAL IS SCORED.</span></p> + +<p class='center'>Sold at 4s. 6d., 5s. 6d., and 6s. 6d.</p> + +<p class='center'><i>They are admitted to be the best Value ever offered +to the Public.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +<span style="font-size: x-large"><b>THOMAS STEWART,<br /></b></span> +THE POPULAR CITY HATTER.<br /> +71 ARGYLE STREET (Near Dunlop Street).<br /> +Sign of the Clock Hat.<br /> +Branches—73 TRONGATE (Tron Steeple), and at<br /> +Temporary Premises, 134 NORFOLK STREET.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1><span class="smcap">Scottish<br /> +<br /> +Football Reminiscences</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: x-small">AND<br /></span> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Sketches</span>.</h1> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap" style="font-size: large;"><br />By D. D. BONE</span></p> + +<p class='center'><i>GLASGOW</i>.</p> + +<p class='center'><br /><br /> +GLASGOW:<br /> +JOHN MENZIES & CO., 15 DRURY STREET.<br /> +HAY NISBET & CO., 25 JAMAICA STREET.<br /> +EDINBURGH: JOHN MENZIES & CO., HANOVER STREET.<br /> +1890.<br /> +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/illus008.jpg" width="400" height="172" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: x-large;">Union Billiard Rooms,<br /></span> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: large;">42 ARGYLE STREET,<br /></span> +<br /> +GLASGOW.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'>LARGEST BILLIARD ROOM IN THE KINGDOM.</p> + +<p class='center'>20 Full-Sized Billiard Tables. 1s. per Hour.</p> + +<p class='center'>POOL EVERY EVENING</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'><b>Handicaps.</b></p> + +<p class='center'>During the season, Handicaps, open only to frequenters of +the Rooms, will be held, and Handsome Prizes in Cash will +be given. NO ENTRY-MONEY.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'><b>Football Rendezvous.</b></p> + +<p>Results of all important matches received by telegram. +Secretaries of Clubs are invited to forward these.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>In bringing my first edition of Football Reminiscences and +Sketches before the public, I do so with a sense of profound +regard for the game and its players, and heartfelt gratitude to +numerous friends—some of whom, alas! are no more—for +advice and assistance. If my readers consider it worthy of +one who has devoted a quarter of a century in attaining that +experience necessary to criticise the players of the dead past +and those of the living present with fidelity, I will have gained +something to be remembered, and be amply repaid for what +I have done to assist the spread of the Association game in +Scotland. Many of my sketches, under different names, have +already appeared in various journals, including the <i>Daily</i> and +<i>Weekly Mail</i>, <i>Bell's Life in London</i>, and the "Scottish Football +Annual," but I have remodelled some of them very considerably, +and indulge in the hope that they may while away an +hour or so at the fireside of the Player and Spectator after a +big Cup Tie or other interesting match.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"><span class="smcap">The Author.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class='center' style="font-size: large;">WATERPROOFS.</p> + +<hr style="width: 10%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;"> +<img src="images/illus010b.jpg" width="75" height="171" alt="THOROUGHLY WATERPROOF" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THOROUGHLY WATERPROOF</span> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 75px;"> +<img src="images/illus010a.jpg" width="75" height="163" alt="THOROUGHLY WATERPROOF" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THOROUGHLY WATERPROOF</span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p class='center'><b>CAOUTCHOUC.</b></p> + +<p class='center'> +<i>We are Noted for</i><br /> +Superior Quality,<br /> +Moderate Prices,<br /> +Unrivalled Selection.<br /> +<br /> +Every Garment Guaranteed.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CURRIE, THOMSON & CO.,<br /></b></span> +(LATE THORNTON, CURRIE. & CO.).</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='right'>43}</td><td>JAMAICA STREET,</td><td align='left'>{43</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>45}</td><td></td><td align='left'>{45</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>47}</td><td align='center'>GLASGOW.</td><td align='left'>{47</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>No. 56.</td><td align='center' class='bl br'>BUCHANAN STREET BRANCH</td><td align='left'>No. 56.</td></tr> +</table></div> +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Ladies' Saloon.</span> (Opposite <i>Herald</i> Office,)</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Telegraphic Address—"Moses," Glasgow.</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/illus010c.jpg" width="100" height="48" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/illus010d.jpg" width="100" height="69" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='center'> +<i>The old-established Booking +Office for Tourists, Travellers, & Emigrants.</i><br /> +<br /> +<b>Through tickets issued to all parts of the +World, by best Lines and at Lowest Rates.</b><br /> +</p> + +<p>AGENCY for "Guion," "National," "Cunard," "White Star," +"American," "Inman," "Dominion," "Anchor," "Allan" Liners, +etc., for the United States and Canada at special low rates; also, +"Currie," "Orient," and other Lines, for South Africa, Australia, +New Zealand, India, and South America.</p> + +<p>Through Railway Tickets issued at reduced fares to the principal +Cities and Towns in Canada and the United States. Free Land +Warrants of £20 value granted to Queensland passengers.</p> + +<p>List of Sailings, Dates, Fares, and all Particulars on application to</p> + +<p class='center'> +<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>MOSES BUCHANAN,<br /></b></span> +62 BUCHANAN ST., GLASGOW.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + +<div class="center smcap"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'></td><td align='left'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#I_FOOTBALL_ANCIENT_AND_MODERN">Football: Ancient and Modern,</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#II_THE_FOOTBALL_WAVE">The Football Wave,</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#III_A_SWEEP_FOR_THE_CUP">A "Sweep for the Cup;"<br /> +or, How Pate Brown kept his Engagement</a>,</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#IV_FAMOUS_ASSOCIATION_PLAYERSmdashPAST">Famous Association Players—Past and Present,</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#V_THE_PIONEERS_OF_ASSOCIATION">The Pioneers of Association Football in Scotland;<br /> +or, "The Conqueror's Football Boots,"</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#VI_HOW_CLUBS_WERE_STARTED">How Clubs were Started Long Ago,</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#VII_THE_GREAT_INTERNATIONAL">The Great International; or, Ned Duncan's Dream,</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#VIII_THE_PATRONS_SPECTATORS">The Patrons, Spectators, and Popular Players,</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#IX_A_DREAM_OF_THE_PAST">A Dream of The Past,</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#X_THE_DUEL_NEAR_THE_FOOTBALL">The Duel near the Football Field,</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XI.—</td><td align='left'><a href="#XI_THE_FINAL_TIE_FOR_THE_ASSOCIATION">The Final Tie for the Association Challenge Cup—1889-90,</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class='center'><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">AERATED WATERS<br /></span> +<span style="font-size: large">(CORRY & CO.'S).</span></b></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'>Medal—PARIS, 1878.</p> + +<p class='center'> +Gold Medals—LONDON, 1873; PARIS, 1875.<br /> +Medals and Diplomas—<br /> +PHILADELPHIA and BRUSSELS, 1876.<br /> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/illus012a.jpg" width="300" height="191" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Since offering to the Public in 1850 these delicious and +unrivalled Aerated Beverages, the sole and lasting aim to +which Messrs. <span class="smcap">Corry & Co.</span> have directed all their efforts has +been, not to force sales by venturesome and questionable efforts, +but by the real fact of the superiority of the Beverages they +offer to merit universal patronage. Judging from the world-wide +favour, which they find yearly increasing, and the unprecedented +success which has attended their efforts at all the +Universal Exhibitions, or wherever they have competed, this +aim (so far attained, and which their experience has proved to +be a fundamental principle of success) will be steadily pursued. +Since 1850 many mere imitators have come and gone, and +many still remain; but the Public are requested to insist on +having <span class="smcap">Corry's</span> Waters, not imitations.</p> + +<p>To be had at all the First-class Hotels, Restaurants, and +from Family Grocers, Wine Merchants, Chemists, also on board +all First-class River and Ocean-going Steamers, etc., etc.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: x-large">JOHN MERCER & CO.,<br /></span> +<span style="font-size: large">16 ANN STREET, GLASGOW,<br /></span> +AGENTS FOR SCOTLAND.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class='center' style="font-size: x-large;"><b>WALLACE,</b></p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Only large Maker</span> of <span class="smcap">Sausages</span> in Glasgow who has +always used First Quality only of Beef and Pork. Certified, +but <span class="smcap">NOT</span> by Dr. <span class="smcap">Clark</span>, City Analyst.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +NOTE ADDRESSES—<br /> +273 ARGYLE STREET, 19 BRIDGE STREET,<br /> +19 WELLINGTON ARCADE, 123 CROWN STREET,<br /> +And 77 PAISLEY ROAD (West).<br /> +</p> + +<p class='center'>ESTABLISHED 1843.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: x-large">JOHN WALLACE,<br /></span> +(Late THOMAS BARR),<br /> +<span style="font-size: large">PROVISION MERCHANT,<br /> +<b>271 ARGYLE STREET.</b></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'>ESTABLISHED 1835.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center'> +<i>Telegraphic Address—"Football," Glasgow.<br /> +Connected by Telephone.<br /></i> +</p> + + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: x-large"><b>GEORGE GILLESPIE,</b><br /></span> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: large">WINE AND SPIRIT MERCHANT,</span></p> + +<p class='center'>170 Dumbarton Road,<br /> +242 Berkeley St., and 9 Stobcross St.,<br /> +<span style="font-size: large">GLASGOW</span>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: x-large"><b>BROWN BROS.,</b></span></p> + +<p class='center'><b><span style="font-size: large">New Central Hat Warehouse,</span></b></p> + +<p class='center'><b>195 ARGYLE STREET</b></p> + +<p class='center'>(A FEW DOORS EAST OF JAMAICA STREET), ONE STAIR UP.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: large"><b>FELT HATS,</b></span></p> + +<p class='center'> +The very Latest Shapes and Shades to +suit Gents., Youths, and Boys.<br /> +<br /> +<b>Prices, 3/6, 4/6, 5/6, 6/6, and 7/6<br /></b> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 10%;" /> + +<p class='center'><b><span style="font-size: large">SILK HATS,</span></b></p> + +<p class='center'>Newest London and Paris Shapes,</p> + +<p class='center'><b>8/6, 10/6, 12/6, 15/6, and 18/6</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p class='center'><b>Also at 25 MAIN STREET,<br /> +ANDERSTON CROSS, GLASGOW.</b><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">{17}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>FOOTBALL REMINISCENCES.</h1> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h2><a name="I_FOOTBALL_ANCIENT_AND_MODERN" id="I_FOOTBALL_ANCIENT_AND_MODERN"></a><i>I.—FOOTBALL: ANCIENT AND MODERN.</i></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Then strip, lads and to it, though cold be the weather,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And if, by mischance you should happen to fall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There are worse things in life than a tumble on heather,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For life is itself but a game at Football."<br /></span> +<span class="i6">—<i>Sir Walter Scott.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>In Scotland, so closely associated with traditional lore, and the acknowledged +birth-place of romance and patriotic song, it would be almost +dangerous to incur displeasure by attempting to refer to the early history of +anything associated with the amusements or recreations of the people, +without actually touching on tradition—a point held by some in far greater +regard and reverence than actual fact. Under these circumstances, +then, I do not want to run the risk of complete annihilation by ignoring +the traditional, and even territorial, aspect of Football. That the game was +played as early as the tenth century there is any amount of authentic +evidence to show, and that it continued to be one of the chief recreations of +the people there can be no doubt. Coming much further down, however, +the game of Football is referred to, both by historical and romance writers. +In Sir Walter Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," we find that the English +and Scotch soldiers, in a few hours' actual cessation from skirmishing on +the eve of a battle, engaged in "the merry Football play." Our forefathers, +however, must have played the game in rather a rude and +undignified fashion, if we can believe certain authorities—actual brute force +and superiority in point of weight being the indispensable concomitants of a +successful side. The matches, too, must have been played utterly regardless +of science. Just fancy a couple of crack teams meeting on a heather-covered +field, with the "hailing spots" about a mile and a-half apart, and +playing a match lasting four or five hours! Could any of our young men +nowadays stand such rough-and-tumble work? Happily it is not required. +It has been found that a match lasting an hour and a-half, with the ball +ever and anon passing in front of one on a level field, is quite enough, even +for the strongest back, half-back, or forward. Experience has sufficiently +proved that, even in this age of scientific play. So much for the past, and +I will proceed to touch briefly on the spread and popularity of football.</p> + +<p>To those who only know football as promoted by the Queen's Park, and +subsequently by the Vale of Leven, Clydesdale, Granville (now defunct), +3rd L.R.V, and lastly, though not leastly, by the Scottish Football +Association, we are almost compelled to offer some information. A quarter +of a century ago a Union was formed in Edinburgh to draw up a code of +rules to encourage the game of Football, and matches were played between +schools and other clubs. These rules were a combination of the present<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">{18}</a></span> +Association and Rugby, dribbling being largely indulged in, but the goal-posts +were similar to those now in use under the latter code of rules, and a +goal could not be scored unless the ball went over the posts. This game +made considerable progress in Edinburgh, being vigorously promoted by +scholastic clubs and students attending college. Some years later, when +the number of young gentlemen sent over from England to be educated in +Scotland, particularly Edinburgh, began to increase, these old rules were +subjected to considerable alteration, and eventually assimilated to those of +the English Rugby Union, and all the known clubs in Scotland at that time +adhered tenaciously to these rules, and under them many exciting games +were played between Eastern and Western clubs, the Glasgow Academicals +and Edinburgh Academicals being the leading ones. Eventually, however, +the new clubs springing into existence in the Western District of the +country did not care to play these rules, and, following the example of +similar clubs in England, adhered to what they considered an improvement +on the old system of Football, and joined the English Football Association, +formed in 1863. The first to do this was the Queen's Park, the mother of +Association Football in Scotland, in 1867, and the example was soon +followed by the Clydesdale, 3rd L.R.V., Vale of Leven, Granville, and +others, a few years afterwards. Well can I remember witnessing several +exciting tussles on the Queen's Park recreation ground (then the only meeting-place +of the Premier Association Club), between the Vale of Leven, +Hamilton, East Kilbride, Clydesdale, Granville, and 3rd L.R.V. Since +then the spread and popularity of the Association style of play has been so +often written about that it is, so to speak, bound up in the actual history of +the Western District of Scotland. In Edinburgh, however, the new rules +have not made so much headway, the Rugby code being there as +extensively played as of yore. Some advances, however, have taken +place, and the Edinburgh University has an Association team, and that city +several promising clubs, including the Hibernian, Heart of Midlothian, +and St. Bernard, and, in Leith, the Athletic, that made such a plucky fight +with the Queen's Park in a recent cup tie.</p> + +<p>No one, except a close observer, can believe the earnestness and +enthusiasm imparted into the game by the formation of young clubs, but +there is one danger which should be avoided. There is such a thing as +overdoing; and, depend upon it, if this is continued, the game will suffer. +To those who love and appreciate everything in season, the advice I am +about to impart will be doubly significant. Football is a winter game, and +while it may be all right to practice in spring and autumn, the line is bound +to be drawn somewhere, and why attempt to force it down the throats of +cricketers, athletes, yachtsmen, and even lawn-tennis players, in the heart +of summer? It must not be forgotten that some of our best and most +influential football clubs have also cricket clubs and kindred summer +recreations attached, and, in the interests of football, these should be +encouraged; and to this end I am confident my remarks will be treated +with some respect. I am also sure that no one who has taken a deep +interest in the game from its comparative infancy, but can look back with +extreme pleasure on its development, and even go the length of registering +a vow that he will do his utmost to make and uphold it as an honest and +manly game, despite isolated assumptions by a few traducers who question +such earnestness, and I will endeavour to point them out, and draw +comparisons.</p> + +<p>"What came ye out to see?" might often be asked by an uninterested<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">{19}</a></span> +spectator who had ventured forth to look at some of the matches. A crowd +of young men pursuing a round object, called a ball, with great earnestness +of purpose. To the young cad, who can think of nothing but the colour +of his latest pair of kid gloves, or the check of his newest acquisition in the +shape of fashionable trousers, all out-door amusement is considered an +interminable bore, the game of Football has, of course, no charm. There +is too much hard work for him, and the training required to put one in +condition, fraught with all that is called self-denial, he could never endure. +The musty old duffer, too, looks upon the game in the light of a deadly sin, +which can never be associated in his mind with anything short of idiocy +and the most virulent fanaticism. To some of his young men he remarks—"And +you call that a grand game, running about a field trying to put a +ball near a pair of upright posts, and knocking the first lad down who +attempts to retard your progress! Do you call that manly, eh? Would +anyone but a pure lunatic run the chance of getting his shins cut, or collar-bone +dislocated, indulging in such work, and donning coloured stockings +and fantastic shirt the while to make the matter all the more absurd!" He +seems to forget that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," and the +real meaning of a dull boy and a dull man is irregularity and vexation in +the counting-house and office. There are amusements and amusements, and +recreations and recreations, but I know of none adapted for the winter +months which can be so cheaply indulged in, with so much profit to health, +as Football. Accidents do happen occasionally, I admit, but they are exceedingly +few when the number of young men engaged in the game is taken +into account, combined with the fact that, last year, some of the leading +Association matches were played much more roughly than in previous years, +it is an astonishing fact that no fatal accident occurred in Scotland. There +are, of course, many, if the whole truth must be written, whom the exciting +and manly game has failed to touch by its magic and fascinating influence, +but they should not be courted, and fortunately their patronage is neither +sought nor needed, for they are the men most to be avoided on a wintry +Saturday afternoon while one is on his way to see an exciting "cup tie." +Depend upon it, they will allure you to some haunt where the language is +not even so choice as where the "final" is being played between two +leading clubs.</p> + +<p>I am fully convinced that when the game was first improved and adapted +to stand side by side with others requiring both pluck and skill, the thought +never entered the heads of its promoters that some of the laws might be +abused, not used. Unfortunately, such is too true, and the sooner these +things are discouraged the better. The old precept about warriors feeling +a stern joy when they knew they were opposed to foemen worthy of their +steel, should never be forgotten by the biggest back, half-back, or the +smallest forward. To put it in another way, gentlemanly conduct towards +an opponent in the field is pleasing to see, and, indeed, civility is worth +much, and costs nothing—only a small effort of self-denial. In this +enlightened age, the nation who crows too much over a vanquished foe is +naturally detested, and why should not this spirit regulate the game of +Football? If this were carefully remembered during the season, there +would undoubtedly be such a close bond of fellowship and good feeling +amongst Football players that nothing could disturb.</p> + +<p>And again, I cannot allow the present opportunity to pass without +protesting against a practice, now, unfortunately, too largely followed by a +section of the spectators who turn out to all the big events—viz., betting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">{20}</a></span> +About as long as I can remember, and it may be before Football, perhaps, +was played, many an honest wager was made by the leaders in all out-door +sports that they would be the victors, but the practice, I have been assured, +never went further. Now it is quite a common thing to see cash dancing +about a ring of spectators at a big match, and often the loss of cash to +certain individuals means a proportionate loss of temper, and the practice is +all the more to be deplored. It is for this end, it is for this avowed +purpose, that one and all connected with its development and culture, will +strive to their utmost to ennoble and raise Football to a higher and purer +level, and consequently discourage, by every legitimate means, betting in +all its phases, and the slightest tendencies amongst the players who take +part in the various matches towards rough play, and a disposition to +indulge in unnecessary charging.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II_THE_FOOTBALL_WAVE" id="II_THE_FOOTBALL_WAVE"></a><i>II.—THE FOOTBALL WAVE.</i></h2> + + +<p>Like Dogberry's idea of certain kinds of novel writing, both Association +and Rugby Football seem to come to the Scotchmen by nature. My +readers can, perhaps, easily remember the clever <i>jeu d'esprit</i> on the +antiquity of the Gaelic tongue which appeared several years ago advocating +the claims of that race as lisping the first "speech" heard in Eden in a +manner that must have stirred the blood of Professor Blackie. As the +history of Association Football, with which I have only to deal under the +present circumstances, is so well-known and a thing of yesterday, its +origin, like that of the Gaelic language, is not shrouded in mystery, but +actually known (or should be known) to all who take an interest in the +game. In my previous article, I tried to trace the origin of football in its +rudest form as played by our forefathers, when goal-posts and bars, to say +nothing of corner-flags, were unknown. Football now, however, has been +reduced to something like a scientific game, and to the credit of England +be it said, the Association Rules there first saw the light. Scotch players +in the Western District soon emulated their Southern brethren, and from +the Parent Club, which had a humble and unassuming origin on the +recreation ground at Queen's Park, sprang hundreds of clubs, spreading +over the length and breadth of the land with remarkable rapidity. The +wave soon rolled all over Glasgow and suburbs, submerged the whole +country, and eventually invaded the Heart of Midlothian itself, where the +Rugby code had hitherto reigned supreme. The schoolboys who played +cricket and rounders in the summertime came out on a wintry afternoon +to see their seniors engaged in Association football, and soon felt the +desire creep over them to be members of a club containing lads like themselves. +The young men engaged in the city all day thought on the health-imparting +exercise it afforded, and had the necessary funds raised to form +a club. The artisans, too, from the dusky foundry, the engineer shop, and +the factory, soon began to dribble about. The young ones, and even the +seniors themselves, had many a collision with mother earth ere they could +rely on keeping their pins with any degree of accuracy, and it was rare fun +to see a bearded man turning a somersault as he missed the ball in trying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">{21}</a></span> +to make a big kick. Football is easily acquired in so far as the rudimentary +part is concerned, but a great deal of probation is required to convert +one into a crack player. Among those who now practice football, and +their name is legion, the superior players can be numbered in (to give it a +wide scope) hundreds. In fact, to be able to master all the details +requisite to win a first-class match, one has to be capable of dribbling, +middling, heading, and passing in a way that would do credit to solving a +complicated problem in Euclid. It is all very well to talk about brute +force and lasting power, but unless these are accompanied by scientific +application, they are worth little, and cost much. "The race is not +always to the swift," says the old proverb. In at least eight cases out of +ten, the match is to the scientific and careful, but of this more anon. +There is one thing that can be said about football which in the nature of +things must recommend it to all lovers of out-door exercise. Of late years +bicycling has obtained a great deal of popularity all over the three kingdoms, +both for its usefulness as a speedy means of conveyance, and exercise +to the limbs, but that it has its drawbacks has just been made apparent by +undisputed medical authority. "The bicycle back," the effect of hard +work on the "iron horse," is beginning to appear on the handsome young +man who thinks nothing of doing his 50 miles a day, and while walking +occasionally with the young lady with the "Grecian bend," the contrast in +his case is amusing. To say that there are no dangers of any kind +attached to football would be making an assertion which I cannot substantiate, +but these are comparatively few. All sports, of whatever kind, +have the elements of danger attached to their pursuit, but, with great care, +these can be reduced to a minimum. Although I have certainly never +observed the round-shoulders of the bicyclist in the football player, I have +not unfrequently seen the "football leg." That is a series of cuts about +the shin bone, administered by a vicious opponent while (as it generally +happens) playing a "cup tie," and last season they were more plentiful +than ever. In fact, I heard from the lips of a member of one of the crack +clubs that in not a few of the ties they retired from the field "greatly +impressed with the unmistakable signs of muscular ability shown by their +opponents." This means most undoubtedly hacking and tripping, under +the guise of tackling, and if Association football is to go on and prosper +such disgraceful acts of tyranny on the football field must forever cease. +These "accidents" can, of course, be avoided, and as there are distinct +rules forbidding them, clubs would do well to see that these are rigidly +enforced.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III_A_SWEEP_FOR_THE_CUP" id="III_A_SWEEP_FOR_THE_CUP"></a><i>III.—A "SWEEP FOR THE CUP;"</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: small">OR,<br /></span> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: smaller"><i>HOW PATE BROWN KEPT HIS ENGAGEMENT.</i></span></h2> + + +<p>"What do you say, old fellow, about a 'Sweep for the Cup.' Why, +a 'sov.' is nothing to the like of you, and there will be such fun at the +lifting." This was said to me one morning about nine, just as I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">{22}</a></span> +preparing to get my shaving utensils into working order before turning +out to the warehouse. Pate Brown used to make fun of me about my +scanty hirsute appendages, and many a time caused me to blush before +sundry members of the Druids when he emphatically declared that I was +one of those effeminate individuals who shaved, not because they had +whiskers, but because they hadn't. This was in September, and a more +open year for the respective chances of the clubs in the Cup had, perhaps, +never come round.</p> + +<p>I was unattached then. I was, in fact, neither a member of the Druids +nor the Nomads, but simply a friend of both, and an enthusiastic admirer +of the game. My big brother Angus, it is true, was one of the best men +in the Conquerors, and he and I sometimes had animated discussions about +the respective merits of the clubs. "Why, Jack, this is only September, +it will be more sensible for us to postpone the affair till after the preliminary +ties. A lot of chaps to whom I have spoken consider it next to nonsense +to draw the 'sweep' so soon."</p> + +<p>After a great deal of talking and another meeting, it was agreed to go +right ahead with the "sweep," and accordingly the necessary arrangements +were duly made, and subscribers' names taken, as well as their cash.</p> + +<p>The warehouse of Ball & Field was the largest in the whole city. +Their trade connection extended to every known country on the face of +the globe. There was a decided charm about the way in which the firm +did business, and the kindly, not to say considerate manner, in which they +treated employés, who really deserved it. The two leading members of +the firm, in fact, were not insignificant prototypes of Dickens' Cheeryble +Brothers (with the exception that they were both married). I verily +believe that in an hour's notice a couple of excellent teams could have been +picked from the house to make a decent match of it anywhere.</p> + +<p>The senior himself was an enthusiastic admirer of the game, and one +way or another did much to encourage it by his presence on the field at all +the big matches, and if any of the lads, such as myself, Brown, Rose, +Wilson, or M'Nab wanted away to play in a big affair, a hint reaching the +governor's ears to that effect was amply sufficient. The manager, however, +was of a different sort, he hated football like poison. He even relegated +the grand game to a pastime suitable for pure and unadulterated lunatics, +those, as he put it, "who were too daft to get into Gartnavel." Fancy +that! Woe betide the unfortunate half-back or forward, who in a weak +moment relied on the magnanimity of "Sour Plums," as he was called, to +let him off to a match, without first consulting the governor himself. +Sometimes M'Nab forgot to do so, and as his club were frequently in +great straits to get him to play, he had to steep his brains to think on a +strategic movement to get free, and succeeded; but sometimes with the +aid of a "crammer."</p> + +<p>Brown, for reasons best known to himself, but which will duly come out +as my story advances, was very anxious to be at the "draw," and +accordingly duly appeared at the Marie Stuart Hall, Crosshill. There were +a lot of pale faces in the room when Pate drew the Queen's Park, Dick +Wallace the "Vale," Bill Weldon, Dumbarton, and Sandy M'Bean the +Rangers. A rosy-cheeked, country-looking lad belonging to the Q.P. +drew Cowlairs, and a general titter ran through the august assembly when +that same lad remarked, "he was quite satisfied with his draw, the other +crack clubs notwithstanding." Tom Vincent got Kilmarnock Athletic, +Alf. Grant the Clyde, Blower Fleming drew the Heart of Midlothian, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">{23}</a></span> +Bill Fairfield the Hibernian. I was unlucky enough to secure one of +the many insignificant clubs who never survived the first round, and so my +"sov." was a dead letter.</p> + +<p>The entire "sweep" came to a fine round sum, as the subscribers +included a good many of the rank and file of football enthusiasts, and even +two "football-daft" members of the upper strata of the Glasgow Police +Force, and three of the Fire Brigade, went the length of taking a couple of +tickets. There was also Luke Wood, the representative of the "Kick-off," +who knew a thing or two about the game. He was in for a pair of tickets, +too, and drew the Invincible and Morning Star. He was thoroughly disgusted +at the prospect (more particularly as he had been one of the leading +hands in getting up the "sweep"); but, as the Yankees say, he gradually +"cooled himself down," and got thoroughly reconciled to his loss.</p> + +<p>The Cowlairs had to play the Queen's Park in one of the ties, and a +determined tussle it turned out to be. The "boys" bore a wild look that +afternoon as they emerged from the pavilion at Hampden Park. You +could read the anxious and determined character of their mission on every +face. They had fully made up their minds to fight hard for the Cup, and +really they did. Several of the team were big powerful fellows whom not +a few cautious half-backs would think twice before "going for," and two +of the forwards were very smart on their pins, but wanted that true +mastery of the art of passing and dribbling at the proper time which make +up the refined and superior Association player. As for endurance, they +did not toil among iron wheels, steel axles, and brass fittings for locomotives, +to say nothing of generating steam on the shortest notice, without +being "hardy." No, no. They were in the best of condition for the +game. The Queen's took them too cheaply, and nearly paid a lasting +penalty for their carelessness. The game, in fact, was so closely fought +that the teams were unable to overcome one another, and two goals each +was the result. Meeting a second time, however, the Q.P. made short work +of them, and won by nine goals to none.</p> + +<p>The evening before the memorable tussle which put the half of Dumbartonshire +into a state of excitement, bordering on the football fever, +"Mary, the Maid of the Football Inn," came to the door of the little hotel +repeatedly, and after casting sundry glances at the roadway and scanning +the passers-by, muttered something about being jilted, and how shamefully +she had been used by Bob. Her own Bob, who was always so punctual, +and occasionally treated her to a nice walk along the Leven, past Ewing's +big work, and even went the length of composing verses in her honour.</p> + +<p>"What had become of him? Had Nancy Pringle waylaid him, as she +positively swore she would do, on the first opportunity, and start the probationary +stages of a drama in real life?" The fact was Bob never came, +and no wonder. He was collared by the Dumbarton captain, and carried +off to the field to practice for the great fight of the next day, under pains +and penalties. He pleaded for Mary, but it was of no avail. "He had," +he went on to remonstrate, "promised on his word of honour to meet her +that evening and take her to Luckie M'Latchie's booking." Luckie and +Tam M'Murtrie (an old footballer) were to be spliced a fortnight afterwards, +and the "cries" were in.</p> + +<p>With a serious air the captain lectured Bob till he was blue in the face, +and told him if he did not put himself in condition for the great battle of +the morrow he would be stoned by the town enthusiasts. He remembered +when a boy at school scribbling as best he could on his copybook, "Discretion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">{24}</a></span> +is the better part of valour," and the sentence flashed across his +heated brain with all the force of actual conviction. "What was he to +do?" "Was it to be football first, and Mary afterwards?" Something +whispered "yes; Mary could afford to wait, but the 'Cup' was a transitory +article, and the splendid chance his club had of winning it might pass +away like a dream." "Why, there was Joe Laidlay, he was in something +like the same dilemma so far as his 'lass' was concerned, and if Joe, he +thought, could afford to put off his sweetheart, Maggie Jackson, in the +same way, he (Bob) considered that he should be able to conclude the +arrangement, and make the best excuse to Mary."</p> + +<p>Quietly speaking, Bob had an ambition in his football, and it consisted +in being a member of the eleven who would at one time or another "lick" +the Queen's Park, and went into the practice game with his whole heart, +and played all through in good form.</p> + +<p>Just a year or so before this the "Vale" would have given the same +Dumbarton lot short shift and no favour on any of the grounds, but +matters were altered. They wanted a lot of their old blood, which had in +years gone bye carried them through many a doubtful battle. They had +lost their grand goalkeeper, and the crack half-back had vacated his +favourite position to keep the ball from going between the uprights in +"time o' need."</p> + +<p>Some of the daring forwards had also bade farewell to the game, and +were scattered over the length and breadth of the land. The match, however, +had to be played—it would brook no delay—and the spirited captain +resolved to make the best of it, although a score of misgivings passed +through his mind as to the issue. There was one thing in favour of the +"Vale," they had their own ground to play upon, and that was reckoned +as worth a goal any day.</p> + +<p>Before the start Johnny Freer told his old chums to keep their "weather +eyes" open for sudden rushes by the Dumbarton forward division, and +before the game was very old, they discovered that the advice did not come +a moment too soon. Keeping close on the touch lines till well down +among the half-backs, Maclure and his light companion, "the Bird," +assuredly did not allow the grass to grow under their leather bars. The +ground was a little sloppy from the recent rain, but, strange to say, the +Dumbarton men seemed to keep their feet in a remarkable manner. +M'Luckie and big Walton tried their very best to intercept the dribblers, +but at times they were completely mastered, and Dick Wallace had to come +away from his place at back and assist.</p> + +<p>The most of the Dumbarton lads were much faster on the ball than the +"Vale," and this, added to a slice of luck, aided them in scoring twice, +and they consequently won a hard battle by two goals to none, and earned +the proud distinction of being the champions.</p> + +<p>After the great crowd had dispersed, and lots of silver had changed +hands, a solemn silence reigned in that part of the pavilion utilised by the +"Vale." "There is no use denying the fact, chaps," said the captain of +the defeated team, "these fellows have beaten us on our form this season, +and we'll have to make the best of a bad bargain."</p> + +<p>Not so, however, in the other end of the house. The victors were +"blowing" a good deal of the bad luck they had had, and how they ought +to have scored a dozen goals if "Sandy had not repeatedly allowed the +ball to graze the goal-posts, instead of attempting to kick it out. They +had, however, beaten the 'Vale,' and that was all they cared for, in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">{25}</a></span> +said tie. The Rangers they declared they did not fear, and from all they +could hear, they were now quite able to meet the Queen's Park face to +face."</p> + +<p>With the Rangers, however, they had just sufficient to do on their own +ground in the first match, but in the second came off victorious by five +goals to one.</p> + +<p>One Saturday evening we took forcible possession of Jack Cook's +lodgings, which were situated near the Marie Stuart Hall, Crosshill. +Jack was very fond of billiards, and sometimes pocketed several "pools" +of an evening, when a few choice spirits congregated in "The Rooms." +Jack's landlady had frequently threatened him with pains and penalties for +treating anything approaching "elders' hours" with contempt, and once +intensified it to instant dismissal, bag and baggage, for encouraging a lot +of his chums in leading the chorus of Dickens' Bacchanalian song:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"We won't go home till morning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till morning, till morning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We won't go home till morning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till daylight doth appear,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>at four o'clock <span class="smcap lowercase">A.M.</span>, under her kitchen window after a big cup tie, which +the Conquerors had won. Jack, as a matter of precaution warned us that +we were to comport ourselves with decency, and not rouse the aforesaid +lady. Our friend had something in the bottle. We were comfortably +seated, and the room filled with tobacco smoke, when a dim shadow was +noticed at the door, and turned out to be Willie Fairfield, of the Flying +Blues, who had just called to let us know he had received a telegram from +Edinburgh announcing the defeat of the Hibernian in the protested match +with Dumbarton, by six goals to two.</p> + +<p>Willie, it may be mentioned, had drawn the Hibernian in our "sweep," +and was, I may inform all concerned, well pleased with his luck when the +ticket came out the bag; but now much crestfallen. Bill Weldon, however, +who had secured Dumbarton in the same drawing, jumped off his +chair at the success of the club he had secured, and remarked—"Look +here, boys, Dumbarton are just about good enough to win the Association +Cup, and I'll take evens on't." "Done," said a chorus of voices, and +Mrs. Blank's parlour was for a few minutes transformed into a betting +house on a small scale.</p> + +<p>We had a long chat as to the respective merits of the Rangers and +Dumbarton, who were to play their tie over again, in consequence of some +informality, and after draining Jack's bottle, were accompanied to the door +with solemn injunctions not to kick up a row on the stairs.</p> + +<p>Weeks passed after this little incident, and the clubs left in our +"sweep" were getting small by degrees and beautifully less. The +Rangers, Partick, South-Western, Northern, 3rd L.R.V., Arthurlie, +Kilmarnock Portland, Alexandra Athletic, Thornliebank, Heart of Midlothian, +and even the plucky little Clyde were cleared off the list, and the +Queen's Park had their own ado with Kilmarnock Athletic, and only beat +that sturdy Ayrshire Club by three goals to two. All that now remained +in the tie, in fact, were Q.P. and Dumbarton.</p> + +<p>It was Weldon and Pate Brown for it now, and both began to dream of +a good pocketful of "sovs."</p> + +<p>Pate, who was engaged to charming little Lizzie Green, had been living +very carefully for a time in prospect of shortly calling Lizzie his own, was +only now a casual visitor to Cook's lodgings. One evening, on his way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">{26}</a></span> +home from Ball & Field's, Pate began to reckon up his chances of winning +the "sweep."</p> + +<p>"One hundred and five subscribers at a 'sov.' a-piece," said he, "why +that makes £105. The odd 'fiver' will pay all the expenses, and if the +Q.P. win the Cup, why all that will be mine. Oh! glorious Q.P., +invincible Q.P., you must and shall win the Cup," raved excited Pate. +"Lizzie, my own dear lassie, I have not told you about my speculation, +nor will I till the tie is over, and we'll get married this summer yet."</p> + +<p>I do not intend to weary my readers with a detailed account of the final +Cup ties, for everybody knows there were two played. In the first, when +the clubs tied, and Dumbarton had the best of the game, little Pate Brown +nearly lost his senses with excitement, and had frequently to lean heavily +on the shoulder of Lizzie Green to prevent him from falling under the +grand stand.</p> + +<p>"What is it, dear, that makes you so terribly pale at a match?" she +said to him in a gentle whisper. "You must be ill, for I have never +observed you so excited before." Little did the young lady imagine what +was at issue, and the cause of Pate's nervousness; but she knew afterwards, +and had a jolly laugh over it in her own tidy little house at Govanhill.</p> + +<p>Who does not remember the real final tie on Cathkin Park? Such a +match will, perhaps, never be seen in Scotland again. How both Queen's +Park and Dumbarton played with all the force and dash they could command, +and how at length the Queen's Park were the conquerors, and Pate +Brown won the double prize.</p> + +<p>A few nights afterwards Pate received one hundred sovs. (there were no +second and third prizes) in the "Marie Stuart," and when he told the +young fellows assembled that he was about to get wed to Lizzie Green, +every soul of them (not even excepting Bill Weldon himself, who had +drawn Dumbarton in the speculation, and lost a few "sovs." on them too), +congratulated him on his choice, and called Pate a "lucky dog."</p> + +<p>They all knew and admired the neat little girl who, among other blithe +and gentle faces, turned out to see the leading football matches, to cheer +the players when they won, and chaff them when they lost.</p> + +<p>They were married—Pate Brown and Lizzie Green—and in presence of +his old club companions, whom he had invited to spend an evening at his +new house, Pate told the simple story of how he had got married to his +little darling a year sooner than he expected, all through drawing the +Queen's Park in a "<span class="smcap">Sweep for the Cup</span>."</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV_FAMOUS_ASSOCIATION_PLAYERSmdashPAST" id="IV_FAMOUS_ASSOCIATION_PLAYERSmdashPAST"></a><i>IV.—FAMOUS ASSOCIATION PLAYERS—PAST +AND PRESENT.</i></h2> + + +<p>Little did the comparatively small but orderly group of enthusiastic +spectators who met around the ropes at Hamilton Crescent Ground, +Partick, eighteen years ago, to witness the first International Association +match, imagine the ultimate development of the Association style of play +in Scotland, and in after years the triumphs which awaited her sons in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">{27}</a></span> +contests with England. I was present, and shall never forget the manner +in which the teams—both Scotch and English—acquitted themselves, and +made a drawn game of it.</p> + + +<h3>The Five Dead Internationalists.</h3> + +<p>The ranks of the past crack players are beginning to get thinned by the +common enemy of mankind. When I think of the busy feet, blithe and +happy faces, and merry voices that joined in the game twenty years ago, a +sense of sadness comes over me which it is difficult to dispel. "The first +International, sir;" yes. Five of the gallant eleven who fought Scotland's +battle are dead. Poor Gardner, Smith, Weir, Leckie, and Taylor, football +players, have cause to remember thee! It was a hard struggle to keep up +football in those days, and as there were no club funds all the items of +expenditure had to be brought forth from the capacious pockets of the +members. They loved the game, however, those primitive players, and +engaged in it for its own sake, without ever thinking of reward. In the +words of a great poetess, "We shall sing their praise ere long;" and while +it may be thousands of dribblers of the present never heard their names, +it is but right that the young ones should not forget what they owe to the +Association football pioneers. Yes, the boys of the old brigade are falling +out of the ranks in which they served so well, never to muster again on this +side the grave; while others, still toiling on, are "scattered far and wide, +by mountain, stream, and sea."</p> + + +<h3>Joseph Taylor.</h3> + +<p>The admitted chief of the five who have gone to their rest was Joseph +Taylor. Of a quiet and unassuming disposition, blended with remarkable +firmness, no man who captained the Queen's Park was so much respected +both on the field and in private life. None hated unfair or rough play +more. He could not endure it in a club companion, and this was particularly +so if his team were playing a comparatively junior combination. Taught in +the early school of Association football, when the rules were much more +exacting than they are now, he had, along with his colleagues in the +Queen's Park, to fight their preliminary battles, and overcome the prejudices +consequent on introducing the "reformation," so to speak, in +football. Taylor developed into a first-class back when comparatively +young, and was chosen to play for his club against England in 1872, when +the Queen's Park met that country single-handed, and played a drawn contest. +Considering his light weight, he was a fine tackler, returned very +smartly to his forwards, and, possessing remarkable speed, completely +astonished an opponent by clearing the ball away before the forwards of +the opposing club were able to obtain any advantage. He had always a +kind and encouraging word to young players, and in 1875 and 1876 was +chosen captain of the Scotchmen, and played, in all, five times against +England. He died in Govanhill about three years ago.</p> + + +<h3>Robert Gardner.</h3> + +<p>As the first captain of the Queen's Park in the International of 1872, and +also chosen to that post next season in London, Gardner, who has also +joined the great majority, was the most extraordinary player of his day. +He was so versatile that I have seen him at work in all the different positions +of the field—goalkeeper, back, half-back, and even forward—but it was as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">{28}</a></span> +a goalkeeper that he excelled. A very indifferent kicker out in front, when +the ball came up, he sometimes made mistakes with the feet; but when I +remember the brilliant men who have since stood between the posts in +Internationals and final cup ties, each in their line famous, I must confess +that none ever used their hands and weight to greater advantage than +Gardner. Possessing a peculiarity of temper which had much of the +Scotchmen's sturdy independence, he had a difference with some of his +friends, and left the Queen's Park to join the Clydesdale, and did much to +assist that club to attain at the time the second position in Scottish Association +football. Members of both clubs will not easily forget the manner in which +Gardner kept goal for his new combination against the Queen's Park in a +cup tie, when three matches had to be completed before the senior club +won. He retired from the game some time before his death, which took +place at South Queensferry a year and a half ago.</p> + + +<h3>James E. Weir.</h3> + +<p>Who could dribble and keep possession of the ball like Weir? In a +football sense he was in everybody's mouth sixteen years ago, when crack +forwards were few, and neat dribblers fewer. In all the contests the +Queen's Park engaged in for ten years, none was more popular among +the spectators, and emulated by the then young generation of players, than +Weir. He always worked on the right side, and with William M'Kinnon, +Angus Mackinnon, H. M'Neil, T. Lawrie, and T. C. Highet for companions, +the exhibition of dribbling and passing, with the six forwards, +was finer than is the case now with the five. The ball had then to touch +the ground after being thrown in straight from the line before being played. +Under those circumstances, heading by the forwards was never seen in the +field, unless after a corner-flag kick. Well can I remember the match at +Hampden Park against the London Wanderers, whom the Queen's Park +defeated by six goals to none, when Weir, being tackled by the Hon. A. +F. Kinnaird and C. W. Alcock, put his foot on the ball, shook off the two +powerful Englishmen, and made a goal. The sad news only arrived lately +from Australia, whither Weir had gone some years ago, of his demise. +Deceased played in two Internationals, including that of 1872, and no finer +dribbler ever toed a ball. He was, in fact, at the time designated the +"Prince of Dribblers."</p> + + +<h3>Joseph Leckie.</h3> + +<p>In every condition of life, no matter the sphere in which one is placed, +he has his own peculiarities, and, in a football sense, Leckie, above all +the gallant throng who have disappeared for ever from the field, had his. +Comparatively short of stature and powerfully knit together, with splendidly +moulded limbs, Leckie was one of the most tenacious forwards. +While dribbling past an opponent with the ball at his toe, his peculiarity +asserted itself in such a way that, once seen, could never be forgotten. +Weir, Smith, W. M'Kinnon, H. M'Neil, and, later on, Fraser, Highet, +and Richmond, among the army of forwards brought out by the Queen's +Park; to say nothing of M'Lintock, M'Intyre, and Baird (Vale of Leven), +J. R. Wilson and Anderson (Clydesdale), T. Vallance and P. Campbell +(Rangers), and A. Kennedy and J. Hunter (3rd L.R.V.), of whom I will say +something later on, had all their imitators in the younger clubs, but Leckie +had none. He was, in fine, a player by himself. When he obtained possession +of ball, he guarded his body with extended arms drooping from his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">{29}</a></span> +side, with the back of his hands in front of the thighs, and thus formed +a barrier to an opponent who attempted to tackle or take the ball from +him. He took part in the first International. He died about three years +ago in South Africa.</p> + + +<h3>James Smith.</h3> + +<p>The least known, perhaps, of the original International men, but one +whose name will ever be honoured by many of the older school of players, +and locally Queen's Park members, is Mr. James Smith, who died some +years ago in London. Mr. Smith was, in conjunction with his brother +Robert, early associated with the game in Scotland, and was an original +member of the Queen's Park. Mr. Archibald Rae, the first secretary of +the Scottish Football Association, and at one time an active member of the +Queen's Park (and a beautiful dribbler in his day), tells an amusing anecdote +of Smith, while playing against the Hamilton Club, leaping on the +top of a hedge to win a touch-down, which in those days counted a point +in the game. This entirely coincided with poor Smith's play, as he was +sometimes very impetuous. He played in the International of 1872 as a +forward.</p> + + +<h3>William M'Kinnon.</h3> + +<p>Dealing now with the past players who are with us in the body, for a +long series of years, and, indeed, till within a short period of retiring from +the field, no centre forward of his day, and very few since, have equalled +M'Kinnon in that trying position. When the 3rd Lanark Rifle Volunteers +started the dribbling game on the old drill ground at Govanhill, or rather +when that small burgh was "No Man's Land," M'Kinnon was one of its +most active players. It is in connection with his membership of the +Queen's Park that I wish to recall incidents in his career. In 1874 I made +my way over to the South-Side Park to witness a match between the +Queen's and the Vale of Leven. Association football was then a very +insignificant affair—the Rugby code, with such fine clubs as the Glasgow +Academicals and West of Scotland as exponents—engaging all the public +attention. The game was free to all. "Ladies and gentlemen, no +charge for admission. Come and see our game. Kick-off, 3.30." Well, +M'Kinnon, along with the rest of the team, emerged from the old toll-house, +close by, to meet their gallant opponents, and Mr. Parlane, of the +Vale of Leven (who kept goal so well for that club in many of her best +matches), "chaffed" the Q.P. man in amusing manner about his boots +(See "<a href="#V_THE_PIONEERS_OF_ASSOCIATION">The Conqueror's Football Boots</a>"), which were new, and differed +considerably from the style then worn by players. All through the contest, +which, by the way, was drawn, with no goals on either side, M'Kinnon +was a little stiff, and scarcely played so well as was his wont. He never +discarded his old companions, however, and those very boots in after years +kicked many a goal both in Internationals and final cup ties. As an indication, +in fact, of his genuine ability, he was chosen to play against +England oftener than any man in Scotland, with the single exception of +Mr. Charles Campbell, who was selected no fewer than ten times as a +half-back. Mr. M'Kinnon was engaged in eight, including the first, and +in these his country was victorious four times, and two were drawn matches. +As a centre forward has to bear the brunt of an attack from the opposing +side first, M'Kinnon was the very man to lead on the advance guard. His +pluck was immense; and while he rather delighted to dodge an opponent +and leave the charging to his backer up, he was a close and beautiful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">{30}</a></span> +dribbler; could play a hard match without any outward signs of fatigue, +and no man before or since could take a corner-flag kick like him. He +used to practice this kick, and could place the ball within a few inches of +the spot aimed at. Mr. M'Kinnon is still in our midst hale and hearty, and +when a good thing in football is announced he generally turns out to see +his favourite game, and is not afraid to criticise the form shown by his +successors.</p> + + +<h3>David Wotherspoon.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Wotherspoon was early associated with the Queen's Park; indeed, +one of the original members, and did much in his day for football. When +the senior club found it a matter of difficulty to get up an eleven to play in +the country, some times at East Kilbride (for you must know that important +agricultural centre had a club nearly twenty years ago), Alexandria, +and Hamilton, Wotherspoon and Gardner were generally the first volunteers. +There were no fares paid in those primitive days out of club +funds, and each individual had to square up his own account, like the +Scottish cricketer of the present. Although retired now for a number of +years, and out of the run of the game, Wotherspoon, who is in business +in the city, is always delighted to hear of its development, and proud +of what he did in his youth for it. If ever a man had neatness of +style, combined with gentlemanly conduct to an opponent on the field, it +was Wotherspoon. Considering the fact that he was a light-weight, under +10st., he many a time astonished both opponents and spectators by his +magnificent returns at half-back, and I may mention, in passing, that in a +match at Hampden Park I actually saw him kick a ball from the centre of +the field right through the goal—a feat that very few of our younger half-backs +could accomplish now. As I saw him in two Internationals (1872-73), +however, it was not as a half-back, but as an accomplished forward, +dribbling with great judgment, and passing in a most unselfish way. Mr. +Wotherspoon left the Queen's Park to join the Clydesdale a short time after his +old companion Gardner, and the two were associated with that club when +it numbered among its members such fine players as Messrs. F. Anderson, +G. M. Wilson, J. R. Wilson, W. Wilson, J. P. Tennent, J. M'Pherson, +W. Gibb, J. T. Richmond, and David's brother, J. Wotherspoon. In the +first of the long string of matches which have been played between Sheffield +and Glasgow, dating back to 1874, Mr. Wotherspoon was one of the +players; and it may be mentioned that, in the same contest, the Glasgow +representatives were made up entirely of Queen's Park and Clydesdale +men, and that each city scored a couple of goals.</p> + + +<h3>James J. Thomson.</h3> + +<p>No player among the half-backs of the old school was so much thought of +in Association football as Thomson. Once seen and met by an opponent, +he could never be forgotten. Tall and stern in appearance, he carried +every pound of his heavy weight with the greatest ease, and, what was of +more consequence to his club in a hard battle, used it well. He tackled +with consummate skill, and had remarkable confidence in himself. For the +first three years of his membership no player ever turned out more +regularly to practice, and, for a stout man, none could show an opponent a +cleaner pair of heels. All the time he was available in the Queen's Park, +an International without Thomson as one of the half-backs was out of the +question, and for three seasons (1872-73-74), he was selected for that post<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">{31}</a></span> +against England. In the last event, when Scotland won at Partick by two +goals to one, the brilliant manner in which Thomson played will not easily +be forgotten by those who witnessed the contest. While F. Anderson +(Clydesdale), and A. Mackinnon (Queen's Park), scored the goals for +Scotland, Thomson never worked harder in his life, and when the English +forwards got near his side, he rarely, if ever, failed to take the ball away +from them. Just before leaving for Manchester, Mr. Thomson was chosen +captain of the Glasgow Eleven against Sheffield. Some years ago he went +to Liverpool, and is now secretary of the extensive butcher business +of Eastmans Company (Limited). In addition to his ability as a football +player, Mr. Thomson was a splendid sprinter, and carried off a large +number of prizes both in Glasgow and Edinburgh.</p> + + +<h3>William Ker.</h3> + +<p>Mr. William Ker was captain of the Queen's Park when they leased +their first private ground, and did much by his tact and ability to bring on +our senior club to seek new conquests in England. Mr. Ker—of whose +brother George I shall have occasion to refer by and by—was a most +gentlemanly young fellow, and made himself respected by club companions +and opponents alike. In the early history of the game a half-back, and +even back, did not consider it <i>infra dig.</i> to dribble a bit and bring up the +ball to goal, provided the match was against a much weaker club, and +while Ker was a grand back and beautiful kicker with his left foot, he was +also an accomplished dribbler. In a match he never lost sight of the ball +for a moment, and when any of his team made a mistake in following up, +Ker frequently stepped into the breach himself, and did his best to get the +player out of a difficulty. He was too gentlemanly to upbraid a member of +the team on the ground, like some captains now-a-days, but awaited an +opportunity, and the advice imparted generally did the careless player a +world of good. In the famous match at Partick in 1872, Ker showed some +very fine play, both in clever tackling and returning the ball; and, if I +mistake not, he was opposed on the opposite side by the English captain +(Mr. C. J. Ottaway, since dead), and the manœuvring between the pair +was something to be remembered. Mr. Ker did not play very long after +this game, as he left Glasgow for Canada.</p> + + +<h3>Robert Smith.</h3> + +<p>Unlike his brother in the manner of his style, Mr. Robert Smith was not +by any means an impulsive player, but took in the situation quietly; and +while no man ever worked harder in the field, or did more for a club, he +was not what could be called a brilliant forward. The brothers, however, +did well in the International I have referred to, and considerably helped the +eleven to make a drawn battle of it. It may be mentioned that both were +then also members of the South Norwood Club (one of the best in England +at that time), as they had previously left Scotland for London. Mr. Robert +Smith, so far as I am aware, is now in the United States.</p> + + +<h3>Alexander Rhind.</h3> + +<p>A rare but light dribbler was Mr Rhind. One of the old members of +the Queen's Park, and associated with men whose names I have already +mentioned in its early struggles, he knew, if I may be allowed to use a +simile which is likely to force a smile, what football poverty was, for is it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">{32}</a></span> +not a fact that he was a member of the Q.P. Finance Committee when the +annual subscription was <i>sixpence</i>, the yearly income £3 9s. 8d., and as +the expenditure amounted up to £4 2s. 4d., the deficit of 12s. 8d. had +to be made up by a levy? I never remember Mr. Rhind playing in a +match after the International. He is now in Aberdeen.</p> + + +<h3>The First Final Cup Tie.</h3> + +<p>The First Final Association Cup Tie, on Hampden Park, I remember +well. The clubs fated to meet each other were the Queen's Park and +Clydesdale, and the match, considering the fact that the players were +comparatively young in the practice of the dribbling game, proved a very +fine one indeed. It was on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of March, +1874, and a crowd of fully 2000 spectators attended. The Hampden +Park of to-day, with its splendid pavilion and accessories, and beautifully +laid-off turf, was not then conceived in the minds of the Match Committee. +It was the Hampden Park of yore, now cut up to form a railway +embankment. Mr. Hon. Secy. Rae and his companions in office never +for a moment imagined that in sixteen years afterwards the new ground, +which is crowded nearly every Saturday afternoon with excited spectators, +would be made to satisfy the cravings of a football public, and the +exigencies of athletic life. There was no such thing as a pavilion then, only +a kind of "wee house" at the gate end of the field, for all the world like +an overgrown sentry-box, did duty instead. The grass on the field was +not even cut in some places, and at the top corner-flag was long and turfy. +The spectators, however, of whom a large number were ladies, enjoyed it +very much, and the enthusiasm imparted among the youths who were +present had a wonderful effect on the spread of the game. It was thought +that a draw was inevitable, so well did both sides play till within twenty +minutes of the finish, when Mr. Wm. M'Kinnon scored a goal for the +senior club, and this was followed by a second from the foot of Mr. Leckie, +not long before no-side was announced, leaving the Q.P. the winners by +two goals to none. I must, however, go back a little way and say something +about the</p> + + +<h3>Association Challenge Cup,</h3> + +<p>which has caused a new order of things to arise in Scottish football. Well, +during the previous year, and, in fact, not long after the first International +at Partick, new clubs were formed in many quarters, but more particularly +Glasgow and Dumbartonshire, and it was on March 13, 1873, that the +Queen's Park convened a meeting of representatives of clubs, and what is +now known as the Scottish Football Association was formed. Eight clubs +responded, and created the great Association. The eight, who deserve +much honour at the hands of players, were:—Queen's Park, Clydesdale, +Vale of Leven, Dumbreck, Eastern, Rovers, 3rd L.R.V., and Granville, +and those clubs were represented on the committee by Mr. Arch. Campbell +(Clydesdale), president; Mr. W. Ker (Queen's Park), hon. treasurer; +Mr. Archibald Rae (Queen's Park), hon. secretary; with the following +committee:—Messrs. Ebenezer Hendry and Wm. Gibb (Clydesdale), J. +Turnbull (Dumbreck), D. Macfarlane (Vale of Leven), W. E. Dick (3rd +L.R.V.), T. Mackay (Granville), J. M'Intyre (Eastern), and R. Gardner +(Queen's Park). Next in order came the Challenge Cup, and the competition +for that trophy was in full swing. The necessary funds were soon +forthcoming, and a very neat, but plain, specimen of the silversmith's art<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">{33}</a></span> +was brought forth. The subject for ornamentation was taken from a cut +in the <i>Graphic</i>, representing a player in the act of dribbling at the first +International, and made by Messrs. George Edward & Sons. There you +have it now, gentlemen, rather dry reading and technical, though, but +nevertheless the infant life of a great competition. By a strange coincidence +in the respective matches, and one which the players of a former era +will look upon with a sense of sadness, consists in the fact that of the +twenty-two who took part in that game seven are dead. Of these the senior +club has the misfortune to claim five—Messrs. J. J. Taylor, J. B. Weir, J. +Leckie, J. Dickson, and A. Mackinnon; while the Clydesdale, so far as I +am aware, has only two, Mr. J. R. Wilson and Mr. Robert Gardner. +As I have already given short sketches of Messrs. Taylor, Weir, Leckie, +and Gardner, under the head of "Dead Internationalists," and J. J. +Thomson and W. M'Kinnon under another, I have only to deal with +R. W. Neil, J. Dickson, T. Lawrie, C. Campbell, Angus Mackinnon, and +H. M'Neil (Queen's Park), and the whole of the Clydesdale, with the sole +exception of R. Gardner.</p> + + +<h3>Charles Campbell.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Campbell seems to have had no real starting point in his football +career. The love of the game and its early associations came to him as if +by nature. I am told that when he was quite a boy he used to appear on +the ground at Queen's Park to see his brother Edward playing with old +club companions. He soon began to dribble about, and afterwards show +splendid ability in long-kicking and tackling, and in 1873-74 played for the +Queen's Park in her best matches. The final cup tie, however, was his +first big event, and no doubt the lessons and confidence he obtained in that +match served him well in after years, when he was destined to be the +greatest favourite both among players and spectators that ever took part in +any cup tie or International. Mr. Campbell has now retired from active +duty on the field, but his love for the game, and the welfare of the players +engaged in it, induced him to accept the presidentship of the Association +for 1889-90, and one and all are alive to the fact that he discharges his +duties with the greatest fidelity. As a brilliant tackler and neat kicker at +half-back, it might honestly be said of him that he had no equal. Men +who played against him on great occasions (for Mr. Campbell always rose +to his best form in these) have good cause to remember how he could +"head" the ball away from goal at a critical moment, and get it through +quite a forest of legs. As he was not one of the cracks in the final cup tie +of 1874, I must honestly confess I can't remember how he played, but as +his club scored a victory, and he was one of the half-backs, he must have +done well. Mr. Campbell rarely, if ever, spends a Saturday afternoon +away from Hampden Park in the winter time; takes a lively interest in his +mother club, and, what is of more account, can still play in his favourite +position with great dash and precision. He has the unique distinction +of playing in ten Internationals with England, and been an office-bearer of +his club since 1873.</p> + + +<h3>Thomas Lawrie.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Lawrie has done much for football in connection with his club and +the Association, both by example and precept. In the early days of the +Queen's Park he was one of their most brilliant forwards, and in several of +the cup ties, notably that between the Queen's Park and Renton, proved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">{34}</a></span> +the best man on the field. He never shirked his work, or left hard +tackling to the half-backs, but sprang on the ball and opponent at once, +and generally had the best of it. Of all the fine forwards who received +their football education under Mr. J. J. Thomson's, and later on Mr. +C. Campbell's and Mr. Joseph Taylor's captaincy, none could keep his +feet better on the field; and it was quite a rare thing to see Lawrie grassed +by an opponent. Although not much above the middle height, he was a +perfect football Hercules, and not long before retiring from the field +opponents in some of the matches would frequently make earnest inquiries +about whether he were to be included in the Q.P. team on that day. But +for an accident to the knee which made him retire, after being chosen to +play in the International against England in 1874, Mr. Lawrie would have +then represented his club. After giving up active duty in the field, he has +rendered noble service by being president of the Scottish Football Association, +and loves the game as dearly as ever.</p> + + +<h3>Harry M'Neil.</h3> + +<p>The first final cup tie brought into prominence one of the neatest little +dribblers and passers that ever played on the left wing of any club. Methinks +I see him now, with his quick action, short step, and unselfish play, +gliding down the side of the field, dodging an opponent close on the touch-line, +and causing the spectators to laugh immoderately. Spectators are +prone to make favourites, and while Mr. Campbell was assuredly one +at half-back, Mr. M'Neil was none the less loved among the forwards. +While playing in the leading games he was always ready with his joke, and +I'll back him to be the best man in the world to explain away a defeat and +magnify a victory for the club he loved so well. Mr. M'Neil was chosen +seven times to play against England and Wales, and I remember his +efforts and their results with pleasure. The only time he was sorely beset +was in the International of 1876, when Mr. Jarrett (Cambridge University, +I think), one of the English half-backs—a powerful young fellow—tackled +him severely. The gallant little Queen's Park man, however, withstood +the charges well, and came up from mother earth smiling. That match, +however, ended in favour of Scotland by three goals to none. Mr. +M'Neil was a member of the 3rd L.R.V. at the start of his career, and +also of the Rangers, but joined the Queen's Park in 1872.</p> + + +<h3>Robert W. Neill.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Neill kept the late Mr. J. J. Taylor company at back in many of the +most trying and critical Q.P. matches of 1876, '77, '78, and '80, and in all +those years was a familiar figure in the Internationals against England and +Wales. As we have previously said about the deceased Mr. Leckie, +players have their peculiarities, and Neill had his. He was a really +brilliant back and pretty sure tackler, but relied too much on his feet while +defending goal, instead of using the breast and head. His individuality +consisted in meeting the charge of an opponent with bended knees, and he +had the knack of taking the ball away and making a brilliant return in a +style that roused the cheers of the spectators. He was a very hard worker +to the last, and only retired from football to go abroad some years ago. He +has, however, returned to Glasgow, and may frequently be seen at some of +the best matches of the season. His play during 1877 and 1878 was exceptionally +good, and in those years was in the best form of any back in +Scotland.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">{35}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>John Dickson.</h3> + +<p>Poor fellow! Mr. Dickson had but a short career, not only in football, +but in everyday life. He caught a severe cold one bleak evening coming +from Hampden Park after a practice match, and succumbed to the malady +of inflammation of the lungs at the age of 28. He started his football +life as a back; but when the Queen's Park lost Mr. Gardner he was tried +as goalkeeper, and did very well. Tall and gentlemanly in appearance, +with neatly trimmed sandy whiskers and moustache, Dickson kicked out +in front of his goal very neatly, and was not afraid to meet the charge of an +opposing forward. An incident in his career caused a great deal of amusement +at the time, however, and is worth recording, just to show the immense +faith he had in the infallibility of his old club. It was in a cup tie with +the Vale of Leven, when that club beat the Queen's Park by two goals to +one. Dickson appeared at goal with an umbrella, as the rain was falling +fast, but when the Vale scored their first goal he was obliged to throw away +his companion, and work harder than ever he had done before.</p> + + +<h3>Angus Mackinnon.</h3> + +<p>A powerfully-made young fellow, above the medium height, Mr. +Mackinnon was a very fair forward, and always played in the centre with +Mr. William M'Kinnon, his namesake, and the pair were a "caution" to +meet in a hot tussle. The six forwards took part in the play then, with +two on each wing and a couple in the centre, and it was a treat to see how +well the Mackinnons worked in their places. Mr. Angus, however, was +rather short in the temper, and often had a "few words" with both +companions and opponents during a game. He played a very indifferent +game in the final tie and some of the matches previously, but was really in +excellent form at that same year's International against England, and +scored one of the goals. Mr. Mackinnon died about four years ago in +Canada.</p> + + +<h3>Frederick Anderson.</h3> + +<p>If there is one player more than another that deserves to be remembered +by his old club, the Clydesdale, for the manner in which he brought it +before the public by scoring one of the goals in the third International at +Partick in 1874, it is Anderson. He was a very fine dribbler, and about +the most difficult man in the Clydesdale forwards to get the ball away from +after he had obtained possession. Although not one of the original +members, he was early associated with the Clydesdale, and played in the +best games of seasons 1874, '75, and '76. He was a bit of a sprinter, and +very fast on the ball, with very fine staying power. Many of the backs +who played against him during his best days were afraid of Anderson when +he got near the sticks. He is now in Manchester.</p> + + +<h3>John M'Pherson.</h3> + +<p>Mr. John M'Pherson, of the Clydesdale, is a much older player than +his namesake of the Vale of Leven. When the Clydesdale went into the +game with a dash that astonished even the Q.P., he was one of their finest +forwards, and, possessing great speed, was not easily tackled by the best +backs of the day. He always played on the right wing, and was a +dangerous man at goal. Mr. M'Pherson did much both for football and +cricket in Inveraray, and even now takes an interest in his favourite pastime<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">{36}</a></span> +in Rothesay, where he assists his father in the management of the Queen's +Hotel. It may be mentioned that, in addition to his other qualifications, for +"he was so versatile," M'Pherson has acted on more than one occasion as +outrider to Her Majesty when she visited the Highlands. In 1875 he +played against England.</p> + + +<h3>William Gibb.</h3> + +<p>I am sorry to say Mr. Gibb is dead, and that the sad event severs the +link that bound the whole of the Clydesdale eleven together, with the +exception of the blank left by the loss of their accomplished goalkeeper. +Mr. Gibb was a tall and powerful young fellow, and I have frequently seen +a few of his opponents feeling rather shy before attempting to oppose his +progress towards goal. During the winters of 1873, 1874, and 1875, the +Clydesdale forward play was good. So brilliant was his form in 1873 that +he was taken to Landon to play against England, and scored one of the +goals got by Scotland, who were defeated by four goals to two. Mr. +Gibb's only fault on the field was a disposition to over-run the ball. He +died about two years ago in India.</p> + + +<h3>A. H. Raeburn.</h3> + +<p>In the first final cup tie Mr. Raeburn was one of the half-backs, and +played up with great dash and pluck. If my memory serves me right, he +was one of the original members of the Granville Cricket and Football +Club when the ground was at Myrtle Park, about a couple of stone-throws +from Hampden Park. He was very fond of the game, and no man in the +Clydesdale had more enthusiasm. Mr. Raeburn was a fine tackler, and +not easily flurried when meeting an opponent, and with such men as the +Mackinnons to face in the centre and Weir on the right that day of the +final, he had his own ado. He did not play very much after this game.</p> + + +<h3>Ebenezer Hendry.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Hendry was more of a cricketer than a football player, and made +many fine scores for his side during the early years of his career. With the +exception of Mr. Gardner and Mr. Anderson, all the members of the +Clydesdale could play cricket, and it was more for the purpose of keeping +members together during the winter months that the dribbling game was +started on Kinning Park (the old home of the senior cricket club of +Glasgow). Mr. Hendry was a slow tackler, and took too long to get on the +ball, but when he got a fair chance, was a very neat kicker, and showed +good judgment.</p> + + +<h3>J. R. Wilson.</h3> + +<p>During the past season, Mr. Wilson, who had been abroad for a number +of years, made a visit to his native city, and was welcomed back by his old +friends of the field with remarkable pleasure. No man in the club was +more highly beloved and respected, and, in after years, when his brother +Walter joined the club and played in several of the leading matches, the +pair rarely if ever missed a practice evening. Mr. Wilson was very fast on +the ball, and went right ahead when he got possession. In 1874 he was +chosen to play for Glasgow against Sheffield. In the cup tie which is +now under notice he made some very fine runs, and did much to make a +name for the old Clydesdale. It is with much regret I have to announce +that Mr. Wilson died in Glasgow only a month ago.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">{37}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>James M'Arly.</h3> + +<p>A hard worker and plucky tackler was Mr. M'Arly. For a long series +of years he was one of the finest batsmen in cricket that Glasgow +produced. Contemporary with Mr. Thos. Chalmers (Caledonian), the +pair often met on the field for their respective clubs; but so far as football +is concerned Chalmers played the Rugby game for the Glasgow +Academicals, while his contemporary was half-back in the Association +Clydesdale. About a dozen years ago he went to Manchester, where he +is engaged as partner in a large calico printing business; and the other day +I had a chat with him about old times, and he enjoyed it immensely.</p> + + +<h3>John Kennedy.</h3> + +<p>Pressed into the service of his club on very short notice, Mr. Kennedy +played in the tie as a substitute. He had only been a few weeks at the +game when the match took place, but the young and rising generation of +players must remember the substitutes were few in those days, and it is not +the first time I have seen a match played with one of the clubs a man +short. Kennedy played as a forward, but afterwards developed into a +very fair back, and showed capital judgment in that position.</p> + + +<h3>J. J. Lang.</h3> + +<p>Originally a member of the 3rd L.R.V., Lang left that club and joined +the Clydesdale in 1874. He played in the final, I think, as centre forward, +and backed up Mr. J. R. Wilson. Possessing splendid dribbling powers, +he was a very "showy" player, but his short steps did not make anything +like the progress with the ball one imagined at the time. He was a somewhat +heavy charger when he got the chance, and frequently preferred to +take his man before the ball.</p> + + +<h3>A Final Charity Cup Tie Eleven Years Ago.</h3> + +<p>Bringing my reminiscences down to 1879, the year above all others when +Association football was, so to speak, in a kind of transition stage, the +clubs that earned the greatest fame, and justly so, were the Queen's Park, +Rangers, and Vale of Leven. Who, among all the gallant throng that +played in those clubs—and, for that part of it, the spectators—can forget +the exciting tussles engaged in by the trio? In this year the Rangers met +the Vale of Leven in the final tie for the Association Challenge Cup, and +also in the final for the Charity. Party, or shall I say club, feeling ran as +high, if not higher, than now, the excitement was great, and intensified by +the fact that the Leven men had been eventually awarded the Association +Cup without playing off the drawn match, in consequence of the Rangers +not turning up. Later on, too, the crack Dumbartonshire eleven overthrew +the Queen's Park in the semi-final of the charities, on Glasgow +Green, by four goals to none. Well, it was on Tuesday evening, 20th +May, that the battle came off on Old Hampden Park, and both the Rangers +and Vale of Leven mustered in strong force. Lovely weather helped to +swell the crowd, and some 12,000 people were inside the ground. The +Vale of Leven scored almost at once by Mr. M'Dougall, and this looked +like the prelude to victory. The Rangers, however, set their teeth, and +before the contest closed vanquished their powerful opponents by scoring +a couple of goals—one by Mr. Struthers, and another out of a scrimmage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">{38}</a></span> +Since then eleven years have come and gone, and with them a new generation +of football players. Seeing that the Rangers were the victors, I shall +proceed to give sketches of their eleven who played on the occasion, and +deal with the Vale of Leven afterwards.</p> + + +<h3>George Gillespie.</h3> + +<p>In connection with the dribbling game in Glasgow, it should be generally +known that Mr. Gillespie supplies the link which binds the players of the +dead past to those of the living present. He is still to the fore, and does +duty as well as ever. Early in his football career Mr. Gillespie was not a +goalkeeper, for I am certain I saw him play at back in some of the early +matches of the "Light Blues." Nature, metaphorically speaking, never +intended him to be anything in the game but a goalkeeper, and a brilliant +one, too. How he kept goal in this great match, and dozens of others, is +still fresh in the memory both of old players and spectators. He is the +only man on the active list who played ten years ago, and had the distinction +of appearing against England twice and Wales three times. From the +Rangers he joined the Q.P. about six years ago.</p> + +<h3>Thomas Vallance.</h3> + +<p>The early history of the Rangers—their triumphs, misfortunes, joys, and +sorrows—have all been shared in by Mr. Thomas Vallance, and he still +sticks to them like the veritable leech. Who could captain a young team +like he? When Vallance led the Rangers to victory in this final Charity +tie, I am sure he was barely out of his teens, and I don't think would even +yet hesitate to don the blue jersey of the club were it hard up for a back. +Vallance was a back, indeed, and for several seasons, but more particularly +that of 1879-80, none in Scotland showed better form. His returns near +goal were neat and clean, and without being in any way rough with an +opponent. Vallance's length of limb and good judgment often saved his +club from losing goals. The whole of the Rangers "lo'ed him like a vera +brither," and at practice his word was law. He played four times against +England.</p> + + +<h3>Alexander Vallance.</h3> + +<p>With quite as much pluck, but awanting in finish and style, the younger +of the brothers, Mr. Alexander, was nevertheless a fine back. Lighter +made and more easily tackled than Thomas, he had a way of his own in +running out the ball before making the final shy, and when this was done +well, as it frequently happened in a first-class match, young Vallance received +a perfect ovation from the crowd. Alexander was in fine form in this +tie, and some of his returns were splendidly made. Instead of going at an +opponent with the air of an infuriated bull, as some backs are prone to do +now-a-days, he kept close to his man, and waited for an opportunity, which +was at once taken advantage of. Like his brother, he is still in the city, +and takes a kindly interest in his mother club.</p> + + +<h3>Hugh M'Intyre.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Hugh M'Intyre and Mr. J. Drinnan were the half-backs in this +contest. No such new-fangled device as three half-backs was ever thought +of in Scotland at that time, and you may be sure the pair had hard work. +Of all the players sent out by the Rangers, M'Intyre was in many respects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">{39}</a></span> +the most powerful. He was, however, to be outspoken, the coarsest. Woe +betide the light and gentle forward who tried to pass Mr. Hugh! He +pounced on his man at once, and with raised back—for he was somewhat +round-shouldered—gave the excited spectator the idea that he meant to +have the ball at any cost. His weight gave him an immense advantage in +tackling, and I think old players will be at one with me when I say that he +was the best at that kind of work in Scotland. He was about the first to +leave Glasgow and accept an engagement in England. He played against +Wales in 1880.</p> + + +<h3>James Drinnan.</h3> + +<p>In the list of the Rangers' eleven who took part in the match under review, +the name of Mr. Drinnan does not occur, and I am obliged to proffer an +explanation. In the report of the contest one "R. Jackson" is credited +with keeping H. M'Intyre company on the occasion. As the incident is +past, and Mr. Drinnan no longer amenable to the laws of engineer +apprenticeship, he did in this match what a great many men have done +before him—viz., played under an assumed name. He was a very fair +back, but not sufficiently brilliant to obtain notoriety, and never had the +distinction of playing in an International. He was, nevertheless, a very +useful all-round player, and could take his place as a centre forward at a +moment's notice.</p> + + +<h3>Peter Campbell.</h3> + +<p>The Rangers a dozen years ago without Mr. Peter Campbell would have +been like the Queen's Park now with Mr. William Sellar left out. He +was the life and soul of the forward division, and it is not too much to say +of him that a finer dribbler and harder worker never kicked leather. Poor +Campbell, like so many more of the old lot, is gone to his account! In a +terrible storm in the Bay of Biscay, which left many a home desolate, +seven years ago, the steamer in which he was chief engineer foundered, and +not a soul was left to tell the tale. Quiet and unassuming in manner, Mr. +Campbell was beloved by all, and his untimely death is still mourned by the +Rangers, for whom he did so much. In 1878-79 he was in such good form +that he was chosen to play against Wales, and in 1876 and 1878 did duty +for Glasgow against Sheffield.</p> + + +<h3>Moses M'Neil.</h3> + +<p>The M'Neils are quite a football family, and, what is of more account, +have gained distinction in the game. Is it not a fact that Mr. Peter was +one of the founders of the famous club nineteen years ago, and that Messrs. +Harry, William, and Moses kept the ball rolling on Kinning Park with +credit for many a day? Moses is the youngest of the lot, and consequently +what may be termed the most modern. He was quite a boy when this cup +tie came off, and played with a dash and finish on the left wing that completely +astonished all who were present on Old Hampden Park that May +evening. Mr. Moses, too, was more than a mere local player, and through +sheer force of ability was chosen to play against England in 1880, and +acted in the same capacity for Scotland against Wales in 1876. He is still +young and active, and resides in the city.</p> + + +<h3>William Struthers.</h3> + +<p>An original member of the Partick, when that club could boast of having as +good a team as now, Struthers was associated with the old pioneers in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">{40}</a></span> +Messrs. Boag, James S. Campbell, Love, Sutar, Bell, and Smith, and +joined the Rangers the previous year before the tie. He was a beautiful +dribbler, after the style of Mr. T. C. Highet; went right ahead with the +ball close at his toe, and was the most difficult man to tackle in the +Rangers. He left Scotland some years ago for England, where he played +for the Bolton Wanderers. In brilliant form in the match, he made some +fine runs in company with Mr. Campbell and Mr. Hill, and was successful +in scoring the first goal got for the Rangers. Mr. Struthers is now in +England, where he has settled down.</p> + + +<h3>David Hill.</h3> + +<p>A most unselfish player was Mr. Hill. He was slow, but sure, and if +ever a man showed an example in the field by at once passing on the ball +when necessary, and never opening his mouth from kick-of to time call, it +was he. One of the prominent figures all through quite a decade of +seasons for his old club, Mr. Hill rendered the Rangers valuable service, +and never failed to turn up when he was wanted. In the final Association +Challenge Cup match with the Vale of Leven, played shortly before the +one I am touching upon, and which ended in a tie, some splendid passing +was witnessed between him and Mr. Wm. Dunlop, who, by the way, +could not play in the Charity event in consequence of an injury sustained a +week before.</p> + + +<h3>Alex. Steel.</h3> + +<p>Like the other members of the Rangers, Mr. Steel was very young when +he joined that club. His enthusiasm for the game, however, was +unbounded, and I have been told by an old Rangers' man that he was one +of the original "moonlighters" of the club. This phrase gentlemen, +requires some explanation. It does not refer to Ireland and its agrarian +grievances. No, no. It was only a few choice spirits of the Rangers +who, determined to win all matches, used to practice at full moon, and +frequently frightened some of the belated lieges in the vicinity of Kinning +Park, who swore the place was haunted.</p> + + +<h3>Charles M'Quarrie.</h3> + +<p>Although retired from active duty on the field, Mr. M'Quarrie is even +now in football harness as the treasurer of the Partick Thistle. He did +not play in many of the first eleven matches of the club, but being a +promising lad was always available as first reserve forward. He was +rather a neat dribbler and good backer-up, but a little slow in tackling. +He was always a steady player, and did very well in this game. He did not +play very much after this tie, but gave up football altogether, till his old +love for the game returned some years ago, when he joined the Thistle, +and is one of their most earnest committee workers.</p> + + +<h3>Robert Parlane.</h3> + +<p>I now proceed to the Vale of Leven men who played in this tie, and +goalkeepers, beware! and, let me tell you, don't think too much of yourselves +nowadays! We had a great man who stood between the posts a +dozen years ago, quite equal at all points to you, and his name was +Parlane. Who did not know Mr. Robert Parlane a decade ago? In the +early history of Association football some of the best players ever Scotland +produced were also good cricketers, and Parlane was one of these, and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">{41}</a></span> +grand wicketkeeper. Without saying too much of the men who have over +and over again distinguished themselves, I cannot help saying that a better +goalkeeper never chucked out a ball. Mr. Parlane did very well in this +match, his only fault being a disposition to go away too far from his charge. +He kept goal for Scotland against England in 1879, and is now in Belfast.</p> + + +<h3>H. M'Lintock.</h3> + +<p>For six years no man ever did better work for his club than Mr. M'Lintock. +In fact, the Vale of Leven would as soon have scratched altogether in a +cup tie as entered into a doubtful contest without him and their other great +back, Mr. Andrew M'Intyre. M'Lintock did more than any of the old +school now living to popularise a style of back play which ten years ago +was emulated to a large extent all over the country. He had a most +graceful way of turning the ball when it came dangerously near the goal, +and running it out by dodging an opponent. He used both feet with equal +freedom, and was decidedly the cleanest kicker that ever played in the +Vale of Leven. It is a curious fact, and one worth noting, that Mr. +Forbes adopted much the same style. M'Lintock played against England +in 1875 and 1876.</p> + + +<h3>Andrew M'Intyre.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Andrew M'Intyre was a terrible fellow to meet in a hot scrimmage, +and no matter the forwards who opposed—and I have seen three at him in +a close tussle in front—M'Intyre generally had the best of it and got the +ball clear. His powerfully-knit frame served him in good stead in all the +great matches in which he took a prominent part. In the one under +review M'Intyre was sorely beset by the pick of the Rangers' forwards, +but was always in the right place. No player of his day could work as +well in so little space, and get the leather away safely. His only fault was +to be a little demonstrative in the field with opponents, and tell them a bit +of his mind during the game. In 1878 he was chosen to play against +England.</p> + + +<h3>J. Macintyre.</h3> + +<p>The play of the two namesakes was as different as the poles asunder. Of +a fair height and good appearance, Mr. J. Macintyre was one of the most +excitable men that ever stood in front of a goal. He generally warmed up +at bit, however, and even showed more daring when his old club were +playing an uphill game, and I know for certain that in the great drawn +matches for the Association Challenge Cup, between the Vale of Leven +and Rangers, no man ever did harder work. He was slow to get on the +ball, and at times very erratic, but rarely if ever lost an opportunity. Very +rough in tackling, he, above all others in the club, was severe on the +opposing forwards.</p> + + +<h3>J. M'Pherson.</h3> + +<p>Among the Vale of Leven back division, which was so powerful long ago, +none was more devoted to the game than Mr. M'Pherson, who held his place +for several years as one of the backs of whom Caledonia felt proud. Without +the least show or fussiness, M'Pherson did his work quietly, and had +the credit (and a good one, too) of being next to Mr. John Ferguson, the +best-natured footballer in Dumbartonshire. He could play a magnificent +game when he liked, and one season particularly—that of 1883—when he +was one of the Scottish Eleven against England at Sheffield, ably assisted +his team to win a hard match by three goals to two.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">{42}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>J. Macfarlane.</h3> + +<p>The Vale of Leven at the time this tie was played had a rare forward +combination, and in some of their best matches the dribbling and passing +among them were something to be remembered. Macfarlane, however, +was certainly not the best of the lot, but a very safe man, and could play +equally well on the left wing or the centre, and, if I mistake not, work +excellently as a backer-up to J. M'Gregor. Now, when I think of it, he +was severely tackled in this match by H. M'Intyre, and was not in such +good form as some of the other forwards.</p> + + +<h3>R. Paton.</h3> + +<p>There are few, if any, old players in Dumbartonshire, and, I should say, +spectators as well, who cannot remember the familiar figure of Mr. Robert +Paton. A nicely-featured little fellow, with a joke for every acquaintance, +he was full of vivacity, and an intense love for his old club, the Vale. +Yes, "The Vale." Nobody ever called it anything else. Paton, above +all the other forwards who did so much to make the Leven men beloved at +home and feared "abroad," even to the next parishes and the big city of +Glasgow, was a fine player, and never kept the ball longer than was +necessary if he saw a chance. He played against England in 1879.</p> + + +<h3>J. Baird.</h3> + +<p>Mr. James Baird was a fair average player, without anything very +remarkable about him. The combination, as I have already said, was so +good among the Vale of Leven at the time when this great contest took +place that an inferior or selfish player would soon have found his level. +The forwards, in fact, were all pretty much alike, but with clearly defined +degrees of brilliancy, and Mr. James Baird was one of the lesser lights. He +was a good runner and smart at following up, but his dribbling was sometimes +too wide for the others when following up on the enemy's lines. +When hard pressed he often lost the ball, but in a scrimmage in front of +the posts he was a rare shot at goal, and scored a good many for his club.</p> + + +<h3>J. C. Baird.</h3> + +<p>Of all the forwards who learned the game at Alexandria, on the old +ground belonging to the Vale, perhaps, in many respects, Mr. J. C. Baird +was the most distinguished, and, at the same time, the most gentlemanly. +When the Vale of Leven beat the Queen's Park for the first time in one of +the ties for the Association Challenge Cup, on Hampden Park, Mr. J. C. +Baird played a perfect "demon." On the slippery ground he kept his +feet against all comers, dribbled and passed on splendidly, and fairly took +the breath away from John Dickson when scoring the goal which gave his +club the victory. Mr. Baird was chosen to face England in 1876, and +again in 1880.</p> + + +<h3>J. M'Gregor.</h3> + +<p>If one had met Mr. M'Gregor off the football stage, so to speak, they +would never for a moment have taken him for a brilliant and accomplished +player at all points. He was all nerve and sinew, and always in grand +form. His disadvantages in appearance and weight, however, were kind +of blessings in disguise to his club, for the opposing backs sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">{43}</a></span> +treated him with indifference, and even contempt. This was M'Gregor's +opportunity, and never man used it better. If ever he made his way +past the backs, and was alone with the goalkeeper, ten to one but his team +was a goal to the good in a few minutes. He played against England +in 1877, 1878, and 1880.</p> + + +<h3>J. M'Dougall.</h3> + +<p>Two years previous to this final tie, Mr. M'Dougall was the most brilliant +forward in Scotland, and he and Mr. J. T. Richmond (Queen's Park) were +the first two forwards selected to play against England. A fine figure on +the field, and a capital dribbler, without being showy, M'Dougall was +always near the ball when wanted, and it sometimes took a couple of +opponents to get the leather away from him. For three years in succession +he was selected to appear against England. In the tie with the Rangers, +Mr. M'Dougall was captain of the team, and scored the only goal made +for the defeated club.</p> + + +<h3>The Great International of 1882.</h3> + +<p>The eleven who were chosen to do battle for Scotland in this contest, close +upon nine years ago, were considered in many respects the best that had +ever donned International caps in any tussle before or since, and a better +illustration of the wisdom of the Association Committee in their selection +could not have been given than the result itself—viz., Scotland, five goals; +England, one. Hampden Park was the meeting-place, and as one of the +football giants of the day (E. Fraser) is, like some of my dear old friends, +now lying in the grave, and others who took part in the memorable event +divided by thousands of miles from those with whom they fought and won +for Scotland, I should like to pay a tribute of respect to their football +ability, and let the young and rising generation of players know that such +men appeared in the arena, and played the game as well as it is done now. +The match took place on the 11th March, 1882, and as England mustered +a very powerful eleven, the issue was doubtful. About a quarter of an hour, +however, after the start, Mr. Ker and Mr. Harrower had a fine run, and +Harrower made the first point for Scotland but at half-time the score +stood—Scotland, two goals; England, one—Ker having added the second, +and Vaughton the one for England. In the last round, the Scotchmen, +although playing against a good breeze, had it all to themselves, and +scored other three points by Messrs. M'Pherson, Ker, and Kaye. In giving +short sketches of the International eleven, I have only to deal with eight +of the players, as Messrs. Charles Campbell, A. M'Intyre, and G. +Gillespie have already been noticed in previous articles while engaged in +other matches. I shall accordingly begin with</p> + + +<h3>Andrew Watson (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>Mr. Watson did a great deal for football in the Glasgow district a dozen +years ago, both with his ready purse and personal ability in the game. It +was in a great measure owing to his interest and energy that the young Parkgrove +Club obtained proper ground, and was fairly put on its way rejoicing. +The Parkgrove had a lot of very fine young fellows in its ranks, and for +several years made a capital record in numerous matches under the +captaincy of Mr. Watson. In this International he played as right-side +back in company with Mr. Andrew M'Intyre, and, as an indication of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">{44}</a></span> +how he and his companion behaved, it is necessary to say that only one +goal was got against them. Mr. Watson was a rare "header-out," and +was famed for his fine tackling and neat kicking. He had one fault, +however, and this consisted in kicking over his own lines occasionally when +hard pressed by a dashing forward. In the previous year he was the +Scottish captain against England, in London, and led his team to victory +by 6 goals to 1.</p> + + +<h3>Peter Miller (Dumbarton).</h3> + +<p>When Mr. Miller played in this match, the Dumbarton Club was a power +in the land, and not easily beaten. He was left half-back, and had as his +companion Mr. Charles Campbell, who captained the victorious eleven. +Mr. Miller was remarkable for his magnificent tackling at close quarters, +and possessed weight, which told against England in the contest. Again +and again I saw him shake off both Mr. Cursham and Mr. Parry, two of +the Southrons' ablest forwards, and once Mr. Mosforth and he had an +amusing bit of play near the Scotch goal, in which the Sheffielder came off +best. Mr. Miller was, altogether, a very fine back, and when he retired a +few years ago the Dumbarton Club had considerable difficulty in getting a +good man properly trained to supply his place. Next season (1883) he was +also chosen to play against England and Wales.</p> + + +<h3>E. Fraser (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>Lost to his club and the thousands of delighted spectators who witnessed +his brilliant ability as a right-wing forward, but not forgotten by the +members of the old Q.P., Fraser, "though dead, yet speaketh." I +question very much if any forward of that time among the mediæval class +of players, so to speak, exercised such a potent influence over the spectators, +and no style of play was more followed by the younger dribblers than +that of Fraser. A son of the manse, he was a highly cultured young +fellow, and loved football so devotedly that no amount of hard training was +ever shirked by him when under probation for the first eleven. Dribbling +beautifully up the side of the field, he had the knack of "middling" the +ball at the proper time, and for six years no man ever assisted at the scoring +of more goals. He was also included in the following season's eleven +against England, and in 1880 did duty for Scotland in the Welsh match. +Poor Fraser died in Australia, a few years ago, shortly after arriving there.</p> + + +<h3>William Anderson (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>In the International of 1882 Mr. Anderson and Mr. Fraser played on the +same side, and made a very good pair. The former, although not above +the medium height, was powerfully built, and few, if any, of his formidable +opponents were able to bring him down to mother earth. When he did fall, +however, he was never in a hurry to rise, and took matters easy. If one +could imagine such a thing as an easy-going football player, it was Anderson, +but his failing sometimes came in handy, for he would occasionally make +a gallant spurt, and pilot his way through the opposing backs in a way +that completely astonished his team and their friends. He showed very +well in this match, and the manner in which he and his companion dodged +the Englishmen, not even excepting Mr. Bailey, the crack Clapham Rover +half-back, will be easily remembered by those who were present. Mr. +Anderson is now abroad, and it is something to his credit to say that he +played four times against England.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">{45}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>J. L. Kaye (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>Like a good many fine players of the glorious past, Mr. Kaye received +the best of his football training in the ranks of the 3rd L.R.V., and a +couple of years, I think, before this big event, joined the forward division +of the black and white stripes. Of a good-natured disposition, and a +genial fellow to meet both on the field and at the social board, Mr. Kaye +was a great favourite all round, and much sought after outside the pale of +his own club. He was a very fine forward; a good dribbler, but was +much more easily tackled than Anderson, and occasionally felt shy at +meeting an opponent who had frightened him in a previous match. He +must have done well in this contest, as he is highly spoken about in the +newspaper reports, and scored the fifth and last goal got for Scotland. He +was also an old and tried hand at Internationals, as he faced the English +division three times, and Wales also in the same number of matches.</p> + + +<h3>R. M'Pherson (Arthurlie).</h3> + +<p>What might be honestly termed the illustration of a fair field and no +favour, Mr. M'Pherson's name was added to the International players of +that season through sheer force of ability. I saw him play in several +matches that year, and his style and smart passing up from the left wing +was justly admired. He was Mr. Kaye's companion in this contest, and +ably assisted that player to bring up the ball in several splendid runs. +Since M'Pherson's retiral from active duty, and also the fact of Mr. +Turner, their famous goalkeeper, giving up the game, the Arthurlie have +gone back a bit in football ability, but during two seasons they were able +to have two nominations for International honours, as Mr. Turner kept +goal against Wales in 1882. Possessing great speed and judgment, +M'Pherson was a very neat and steady player, and for two seasons at anyrate, +a star among all the Renfrewshire forwards.</p> + + +<h3>George Ker (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>A sketch of an International, cup tie, or, in fact, a first-class contest of +any kind ten years ago, would be altogether incomplete without some +reference to Mr. George Ker, now abroad. From 1880 to 1883 he was +Scotland's best centre forward, and the originator of what is now known +in football parlance as the "cannon shot" at goal. Many players have +since tried it, and made fairly good attempts, but Ker alone could do it to +perfection. In this International he gave the Englishmen a taste of his +ability in this line. He passed Mr. Greenwood, the English extreme back, +and when fairly in front watched how the goalkeeper (Mr. Swepstone) +would take in the situation. Ker spun the ball hard from his toe at the +proper moment, and sent in a "flyer," which took effect. I am all but +certain that if a vote were taken among players and spectators about the +place to be assigned to centre forwards, Ker would come out the admitted +chief. International honours were his thrice against England.</p> + + +<h3>W. Harrower (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>The Queen's Park had no fewer than five forwards in this season's International, +and Mr. Harrower was one. He played in the company of Mr. +Ker, and the central division of the Scottish team was unusually strong.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">{46}</a></span> +In fact, I distinctly remember some remarks made at the meeting of the +Association, at which I was present, about the combination at that point +being the most powerful ever sent out by Scotland. Mr. Harrower was +really a beautiful dribbler, not easily knocked off his pins, and the most +unselfish player I ever saw. He has the credit of earning the first goal +got for Scotland in the match under notice, and was in the best of form +the whole of that season. He took a leading part in the hard work of the +Queen's Park for five years.</p> + + +<h3>A Narrow Shave in the 1885 International.</h3> + +<p>There are yet other two Internationals, which introduce new faces into +the field of play, and the first is that of 1885 at Kennington Oval, London, +and ended in a tie, each side scoring one goal. Kennington Oval—in the +winter time, at anyrate—is to football in London what Hampden Park is +to Scotland in general and Glasgow in particular. The weather was +delightful on that afternoon (Saturday, 21st March), and the spectators +mustered in considerable force. Not, of course, so largely as we can show +in Glasgow, for it takes an enormous amount of attraction to gather a big +crowd in London. There was little or no wind to interfere with the play, +and as both teams were in the pink of condition, it was an illustration of +Greek meeting Greek in the open. The Scotchmen, however, were the +first to make matters exciting by scoring a smart goal from the foot of Mr. +Lindsay, and this was all the effective work done in the first round. The +second forty-five minutes of the play was also of a very give-and-take +order, and once Mr. Allan hit the English goal bar with a hard shot, but +the ball rebounded into play, and was eventually sent behind. Towards +the close, however, the Englishmen, led by Messrs. Bambridge, Cobbald, +and Brown made a fine run, and the former put the game square for England. +The contest, therefore, as I have already indicated, ended in a tie. +As in all the other events that I have already touched upon, many of the +players are now scattered far and wide. Some have given the game up +altogether, while others are still playing on, and doing football duty as +well, if not better, than ever they did before. Taking the eleven in the +order of positions, I shall begin with</p> + + +<h3>J. Macaulay (Dumbarton).</h3> + +<p>Among the brilliant array of goalkeepers who have sprung up to distinguish +themselves during the past ten years, none deserves a more kindly +notice in any football reminiscences than Mr. Macaulay. The present +match was the third he stood sentinel before Scotland's stronghold, and he +also played in '86 and '87. His first was at Sheffield in 1883, when I saw +him save several splendid shies from the feet of the English forwards, and +it is something to add of him that he was included in the Scotch teams +who never lost a match with England. In the 1885 contest he kept goal +in his best form, and was frequently cheered for the manner in which he +got out the ball and dodged the English forwards. Mr. Macaulay was +very quiet and unostentatious in his manner, and did his work brilliantly. +He returned to Scotland the other day from abroad, and may yet play for +some of our leading clubs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">{47}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>Walter Arnott (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>Second in the order of teams, but premier in all that pertains to back +play, comes the name of Mr. Arnott. Out of all the fine players who +acted as extreme backs, none has done better work for his club and, let me +say, International matches. It is all very well to say that there were giants +in those days, but you all know what befell Goliath, and I cannot help +saying that if you were to ask me candidly (taking the question in an all-round +way) who was the best back you ever saw, I should have no +hesitation in answering that it was Walter Arnott. In the words of the old +English ballad, "he feared no foe," and never in the history of football of +the present time has such a brilliant man arisen. He has so many remarkable +points that I cannot tell them in a brief notice, but as he is still playing +well, spectators are at one in admitting his grand ability.</p> + + +<h3>M. Paton (Dumbarton).</h3> + +<p>The match under review was Mr. Paton's second appearance against +England, and he acquitted himself very well. Somehow or other the +committee of selection in International matches, while they honestly do +their duty, sometimes move in a mysterious way, and the selection of Mr. +Paton to stand alongside Mr. Arnott in this contest was, at the time, considered +somewhat risky. Not by any means because Mr. Paton was not a +good back, but in consequence of the diversity of play shown by the pair. +Mr. Paton was nothing if he was not allowed a little latitude, and in some +of the matches he came off with flying colours. Arnott and he, however, +acted well together. To give Mr. Paton his due, he was a most gentlemanly +young fellow, and did his very best for the game.</p> + + +<h3>J. J. Gow (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>It has just occurred to me, and I can't see how the illustration might not +with equal force be applied to football as in the honest range of every-day +life, that if a "round-robin" were sent about the clubs that tackled the +Q.P. in their best matches in the past decade, I am certain that the verdict +about the man who was most feared in all the elevens, the name of Mr. J. +J. Gow would come out first. He was, in fine, a half-back that the Q.P. +had reason to feel proud. Half-backs might come and go—as they +undoubtedly did—but Gow seemed in his football career to go on for +ever. The most mysterious thing about him was that he was always in the +same form, and never had any practice. Football at half-back seemed to +come to him by nature, and cost him no effort. He could return splendidly, +but at close tackling, and in clearing the ball away, he was sometimes a +little slack, and had to make it up by sheer force of hard work.</p> + + +<h3>Alexander Hamilton (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>Not long ago, while "doing" a match at Hampden Park (I think it was +Q.P. v. Battlefield, in the Glasgow Cup), I met my old friend in the +pavilion looking on and enjoying the sport. Like the M'Neils, the +Hamiltons are a football family, and while Mr. James, who is now an +active member of the present Q.P., will come under my pen later on, I +have only at present to deal with Mr. Alexander. Well, he was something +in his day, and by no means to be despised as a forward. He was not a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">{48}</a></span> +fast dribbler, but when hard work was required, and wasn't it just in the +great match against the professional Preston North End, when the Q.P. +were able to hold their own, Mr. Hamilton never played better in his life.</p> + + +<h3>William Sellar (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>I have for the most part been dealing with the past, and it is no force of +imagination to come straight to the living present, and add that a better +left-wing player never appeared in any club or combination of players than +Mr. William Sellar. He has a style of his own which is, to give the +Battlefield its due, peculiar to that club's ability in the dribbling game. +Mr. Sellar did not learn all his football in the Queen's Park, but really +perfected his style on Hampden Park, and he is undoubtedly, at the +present time, the most brilliant forward in Scotland. Gentlemanly in +every sense of the word, Sellar is the fairest player that ever faced an +opponent, and no man is more respected on the field. In addition to this +contest, he played against England in 1886, 1887, and 1888. It may be +mentioned that in 1890, in playing against the 3rd L.R.V., he played +from the left in a style never excelled by any forward.</p> + + +<h3>Joseph Lindsay (Dumbarton).</h3> + +<p>Before this date, Mr. Joseph Lindsay was what might be called an old +hand at Internationals, as he had appeared before England in 1881 and +1884, and Wales in 1880, 1881, 1884, and 1885. It is not too much to +say of him that he was the most dangerous forward (to an opponent, I +mean) of his day, and if the backs were in any way slack, Lindsay "spread +dismay around," as he was a dead shot at goal, and rarely, if ever, missed +a chance if he got within a dozen yards of the sticks. Lindsay was the +best forward in many respects that ever toed a ball for Dumbarton. He +was, however, sorely tried in the finishing year of his football life, and in +many of the leading matches so closely watched by the opposing backs +that he was sometimes fairly done for, and could not get the ball away.</p> + + +<h3>David S. Allan (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>Like Sir Roger de Coverley's definition of a great ethical question to one +of his numerous friends, "that much might be said of one point," the +illustration holds good when applied to Mr. David Allan. Popularity has +its duties as well as its privileges, and there is not a single forward in +broad Scotland who is so popular and so much beloved by club companions +and opponents alike as Mr. Allan. He is, in fine, the most useful +man in the Queen's Park, and while all of us seem to grow older as each +season comes round, Allan has always that juvenile look which undoubtedly +betokens an easy and contented mind. He is not what might be called a +brilliant and showy forward, but I'll back him to do the best hour and a +half of heavy work in the world without any outward sign of fatigue. I +verily believe if Allan were forced to do it, he could play in any part of +the field with a few minutes' notice.</p> + + +<h3>R. Calderwood (Cartvale).</h3> + +<p>In consequence of Mr. R. M. Christie, who had played in the International, +of the previous year, meeting with an accident in one of the trial matches, +Mr. Calderwood did duty as left-wing forward in this match, and played +very creditably. He was by far the best man in the young Cartvale, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">{49}</a></span> +a finer country player never came under the eye of an International referee. +He was a veritable dodger among the opposing backs, and in this contest +gave the Englishmen, but more particularly the Walters and Amos, a lot +of trouble. He played a fine game in combination with the rest of the +Scottish forwards. In the same season Mr. Calderwood played against +Wales in the Principality.</p> + + +<h3>The Final Association Cup Tie of 1886.</h3> + +<p>The clubs left in the final tie for possession of the Blue Ribbon of Association +football glory in this season were the Queen's Park and Renton. +Queen's Park led off by scoring from the foot of Mr. Lambie, and this was +all the effective work till ends were changed, when the Renton team made +a brilliant charge on the Queen's Park goal, and forced the ball through in +a scrimmage. The play immediately after this was so even that a draw +looked certain, but the Queen's Park eventually assumed command, and +scored other two goals (one by Mr. Hamilton and another by Mr. Allan), +and won a hard contest by three goals to one. As most of the Renton +players who took part in the match were considered famous in their day, +and have not been already introduced to you, I shall give short sketches of +their style of play. So far as the Queen's Park team are concerned, however, +I have only to deal with new faces in Messrs. R. M. Christie, G. +Somerville, and J. A. Lambie, as all the other eight (Messrs. Campbell, +Watson, Gow, Harrower, Hamilton, Arnott, Allan, and Gillespie) have +already been disposed of in the present volume.</p> + + +<h3>J. A. Lindsay.</h3> + +<p>Somehow or other the Renton Club were never very strong in goalkeeping +when the perfect form of their forward division was taken into account, but +Mr. J. A. Lindsay was decidedly their best. He had what might be called +his good and bad days, however, and while he was always clever with his +feet, he sometimes misjudged the ball and allowed a "soft thing" to take +effect. In the present contest he had hot work in keeping the Q.P. +forwards clear. Mr. Lindsay showed such brilliant form in the trial +matches of 1888 that he was chosen to represent Scotland on Hampden +Park. He was somewhat unfortunate there, however, as England +revenged Bannockburn to the extent of five goals to none.</p> + + +<h3>A. Hannah.</h3> + +<p>Who does not remember Mr. Hannah's fine fly-kick and powerful tackling? +In meeting and judging the ball in the air he rivalled the great Q.P. back +himself, but wanted the ability to follow up an advantage. In nearly all +the matches in which he took part that season, Hannah worked hard and +earnest. He had a peculiar way of turning round to an opponent and +taking the ball away from him with the side of the foot, and no man in the +Renton team was more feared by an opponent than Hannah. He never +played against England, but in 1888 was picked out to represent Scotland +against Wales.</p> + + +<h3>A. M'Call.</h3> + +<p>In this tie Mr. Hannah had as his companion at extreme back Mr. A. +M'Call. In some of the earlier matches in which the latter appeared he +was a wild tackler and erratic in charging—rather going for the man, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">{50}</a></span> +never minding the ball—but by and by he mellowed down, and returned +the leather beautifully from a besieged goal. I remember seeing him in +several of the leading games that same year, and he showed a neatness of +style which won for him golden opinions. He played against Ireland in +1888.</p> + + +<h3>R. Kelso.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Kelso was a tower of strength to the Renton team at half-back, and +did his duty in this contest. Rather a shade rough on an opponent at times, +Mr. Kelso could also be generous to the foe when he liked, and sometimes +made a brilliant hit at half-back by clearing away the ball from the feet of +an opponent, just when the latter was poising for a shot at goal. Like Mr. +Leitch Keir, of Dumbarton, he was, and is, a magnificent half-back, and +had International honours against England in 1887 and 1888.</p> + + +<h3>D. M'Kechnie.</h3> + +<p>In connection with Mr. M'Kechnie's name in juxtaposition with Renton's +crack half-back, I must honestly confess I am like Cuddie Headrigg—"Between +the deil and the deep sea." I can only remember seeing him +twice. I come to the conclusion, then, that he must have been a substitute, +and if I am wrong in my supposition I shall be glad to stand corrected. +He was at any rate not sufficiently brilliant to get his name handed down +to posterity, although it must be said of him that he was a fair average +player, and did very well in this game.</p> + + +<h3>J. Thomson.</h3> + +<p>Although he had a disposition to "poach" a little now and again, as +some forwards are apt to do, for you all know it is human to err, Thomson +was a grand player, and made the most of his speed. He never kept the +ball longer than was necessary, and if he thought his club would benefit by +it, shied quickly in from the touch-line no matter where his companions +or opponents alike were stationed on the field. He was really a fine shier, +and his dribbling powers beyond dispute.</p> + + +<h3>J. M'Call.</h3> + +<p>The Renton team had now risen to the acme of their fame, and no player +helped them more to attain that position than Mr. J. M'Call. Some clubs +carry their position through sheer force of medium ability all round; some +have rare luck with their goalkeeping and backs; but, there is no doubt +about it, Renton was strong in front, and I question if any man during +that season played a better game than the younger M'Call. He represented +Scotland in the contests with England in 1887 and 1888 as left-wing +forward, and played a fine game.</p> + + +<h3>A. Grant.</h3> + +<p>When the Renton men carried off the Glasgow Charity Cup that same +season, the forwards showed great ability. Mr. Grant was a very neat +player. If my memory serves me right, he backed up Mr. Barbour in this +game, and did it very well. He was, however, rather slow on the ball, +and was often sent to the right-about by Messrs. Gow and Watson. Like +Mr. M'Kechnie, he does not seem to have played in many of the Renton's +first-class matches, and his name is not found among Internationalists.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">{51}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>A. M'Intyre.</h3> + +<p>Mr. M'Intyre was one of the best forwards in the county which has +produced so many fine Association football exponents, and acted as centre +forward. Like Mr. D. Gow, of the Rangers, when he got fairly on the +ball there was no getting it from him and he excelled in hard tackling. +Possessing considerable speed, M'Intyre used it to the best advantage, and +he had such a liking for dodging round the backs that he sometimes fairly +carried away the spectators, and was loudly cheered for his manœuvring.</p> + + +<h3>A. Barbour.</h3> + +<p>In this event Mr. Barbour was the best man on the Renton side, and kept +his feet on the slippery ground in a manner that completely astonished all +who saw the contest. He was sometimes fairly puzzled by the clever +heading of Mr. Campbell and the terrible tackling of Mr. Arnott, but fought +gamely to the last. In close dribbling he was the nearest approach to Mr. +William M'Kinnon (Q.P.) I have ever seen, and while he was quite as +tricky, wanted the tact to lead an opponent astray. He played against +Ireland in 1885.</p> + + +<h3>J. Kelly.</h3> + +<p>What Mr. Marshall is to the 3rd L.R.V., Mr. Berry to the Queen's Park, +and Mr. Groves to the Celtic, Mr. Kelly was to his old club, the Renton—viz., +a grand man. Kelly, I think, first came out as a forward, and played +as such for his county against Renfrewshire in 1885, and also in this tussle +on Cathkin Park, but he eventually developed into a very fine half-back, +and played against England as such twice—in 1888 for his mother club, +and last season for his new love, the Celtic. His proper place, however, +is undoubtedly at half-back.</p> + + +<h3>R. M. Christie.</h3> + +<p>Slowly but surely Mr. Christie passed all the probationary stages in the +Queen's Park on the way to develop a brilliant player, and in 1884 +appeared in the International with England. He was in the best of form, +and caused the strangers a deal of trouble. He was very strong on his legs, +and about the most powerful opponent of his day to meet in a close match. +The passing between Christie and Harrower that day was splendid, and +fairly astonished the Renton backs and goalkeeper.</p> + + +<h3>G. Somerville.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Somerville was a very fine all round forward, with a good deal of +ability in backing up and middling the ball in front of goal. Mr. Hamilton +and he used to make the spectators laugh at the way in which they +annoyed the opposing backs by passing the leather to one another in a tantalising +way, right in front of the uprights. He was a sturdy player, +something of the same make as Mr. David Davidson, of 3rd L.R.V. and +latterly Queen's Park fame, with a nerve of iron and, shall I say, a frame +of steel. He played against England in 1886.</p> + + +<h3>J. A. Lambie.</h3> + +<p>A comparatively short career had Mr. Lambie on Hampden Park, but +it was fraught with much distinction. He was a grand forward among a +fine division, and scored a lot of goals for the Queen's Park. He was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">{52}</a></span> +indeed, at it again in this match, and, as I have already said in the introduction, +took one more for the black and white stripes. When nearing the +keeper, if he were fortunate enough to pass the backs, he generally looked +about for one of his companions to follow up, and was quite an adept at +the "screw-kick." Lambie appeared against England in 1888, and is now +an active member of the Corinthians.</p> + + +<h3>The Association International of 1887.</h3> + +<p>As the International of 1887 is, so to speak, a thing of yesterday, I have +only introduced it here for two reasons. The first of these is to give me +an opportunity of bringing new faces into my reminiscences, and shortly +criticising their styles of play, and the second to show you how the +admittedly best eleven sent out by England in all her matches with +Scotland were vanquished on their own soil by three goals to two. The +event came off at Blackburn in presence of some 10,000 spectators—a +much larger crowd than ever appeared in London to see the International. +The weather was dry overhead during the early stages of the tussle, but a +heavy shower of hail fell later on, and this, added to a mud-covered +ground, made matters anything but pleasant. The Scotchmen were the first +to score, which they did through Mr. M'Call against the wind, half-an-hour +from the start; but the Englishmen soon bore down on the Scottish lines, +and Mr. Lindley equalised, so that at half-time both nationalities were on +terms of equality. Not long after ends were changed, the Scotchmen +made one of those determined charges for which they have been famed in +many of the International games, and shoved both goalkeeper and ball +through between the posts. No sooner, however, had the leather again +been started than Mr. Dewhurst, the crack English forward, sent in a +shooter, and once more squared the game. It was now "night or +Blucher" for Scotland, and after a grand run between Messrs. Marshall and +Allan, which was loudly cheered, even though an enemy did it, the young +Queen's Park forward made Scotland one goal up. Till the close the +Englishmen had several brilliant sallies on the strangers' goal, but the +backs—Messrs. Arnott and Forbes—held their own, and Scotland won by +three goals to two. Mr. Macaulay kept goal in fine style, and was the +captain of the victorious team. The Englishmen chosen to meet the +Scotchmen on the occasion were—Messrs. Roberts, A. M. Walters, P. M. +Walters, N. C. Bailey, G. Howarth, J. Forrest, E. C. Bambridge, W. N. +Cobbald, J. Lofthouse, F. Dewhurst, and T. Lindley. Besides the six +who are mentioned below, Messrs. Arnott, Macaulay, Kelso, J. M'Call, +and W. Sellar (who have already been noticed) also appeared against +England in the same contest.</p> + + +<h3>J. Forbes (Vale of Leven).</h3> + +<p>Like certain cricketers who can only cut, and are weak on the leg-side, +there are several backs playing for fair medium clubs just now who can +only return the ball properly if they have plenty of room to work, but Mr. +Forbes, who played in this match along with Mr. Arnott, was none of +these. You were, in fact, not five minutes in his company as a spectator +at a match before you were captivated with the style and finish of his play. +In the excitement of the game you imagined it was "all up with the Vale," +when a crowd of opposing forwards were observed getting the ball nearer +goal. All the time, however, Forbes was maturing his mode of attack,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">{53}</a></span> +and like the unsuspecting animal that darts upon its prey, the crack Vale +of Leven back dashed in, and you were sure to see the ball flying away +down the field, with a magnificent return. While kicking he always got +his toes well under the ball, and it was quite a rare thing to see Forbes +kicking high into the air. A great favourite with his club and opponents +as well, Mr. Forbes first appeared against England in 1884, when Scotland +won by one to none, so that in both Internationals in which he took +part his team were on the winning side. He is now in business in England.</p> + + +<h3>L. Keir (Dumbarton).</h3> + +<p>When in the spring of 1887 Mr. Leitch Keir was chosen as companion to +Mr. Kelso (Renton), and Mr. Auld (3rd L.R.V.), in this great event at +Blackburn, almost everybody had confidence in them as half-backs, and I +am happy to say that this confidence was not misplaced, for no better trio +ever did duty in an International at that important position in the field. +For good, even-down tackling, and hard work, both in heading and clean +kicking, Keir was one of the very best men who ever played football. So +proficient was he at a "free kick," that when a "hand" was given against +the opposing team, in most of the Dumbarton matches, Keir was +invariably intrusted with the ball; and when the infringement took place +near the goal, the opposing team always dreaded his shot. He was also a +very fine dribbler for a half-back, and could run out the ball in fine style from +a hotly-pressed goal, and send it spinning down the field. In the succeeding +year he was chosen to appear against England on Hampden Park, +but, like the rest of the Scottish representatives in that fatal contest, he did +not show to the best advantage.</p> + + +<h3>J. Auld (3rd L.R.V.).</h3> + +<p>During the past four or five years, Mr. Auld has been one of the best +half-backs in Scotland, and was a decided success in this contest. No club +in Britain has produced a string of better backs and half-backs than the 3rd +Lanark Rifle Volunteer Athletic and Football Club. Long ago, many of +their most brilliant victories were won by back play alone, and this means +preventing their opponents from scoring, and keeping what they had got in +the earlier stages of a contest. Among these old and tried hands I must +remember poor John Hunter (who is dead), Mr. Alexander Kennedy, who +still goes out to see his old club, and delights to give the young ones an +advice; Mr. William Somers, the gigantic high-kicker, now in America, +and many more, whose names shall long be remembered in football history: +but to Mr. Auld. He is yet a brilliant half-back, and while by no means a +heavy kicker, one of the most judicious men in front of a hard-pressed goal +I have ever seen. He is a terrible tackler, and sometimes hugs an +opponent so tenaciously that he forces the ball away and saves his side. +The 1887 match was the only one in which he played for Scotland against +England, but he appeared that same season against Wales.</p> + + +<h3>J. Marshall (3rd L.R.V.).</h3> + +<p>For two seasons, at any rate, and, I think, I might almost say three, Mr. +Marshall has maintained the honoured position of being about the best +right wing forward on any field. Gifted with an amount of speed, which he +uses to the best advantage, combined with rare dribbling powers, he is the +pride of the 3rd L.R.V. forward division, and no man is more missed from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">{54}</a></span> +a match. In connection with the last observation, the Volunteers had to +play the Rangers in the third round of the Glasgow Cup without Mr. +Marshall, and at the committee meeting before the contest, when this became +known, it was like a funeral lodge of Freemasons—nobody cared to +speak except the R.W.M. and M.C. Mr. Marshall and Mr. Robertson +(Dumbarton) were the right wing forwards on the occasion, and several +brilliant runs were made from their side. At the present time he is about +the best at middling the ball in front of goal of any player going, and is +one of those forwards who never seem to get into a fagged state near the +close of a match.</p> + + +<h3>W. Robertson (Dumbarton).</h3> + +<p>Some players are fortunate in easily securing their positions among crack +teams, while others have to struggle on before their genuine ability is +properly recognised. Long ago, ability in selecting a team went for very +little, and positions, like kissing, by favour. Mr. Robertson, however, +received no favour from any combination, and was selected on his merits. +In that same season, I am almost positive, I saw him play in brilliant form +in the Final cup tie, when the Hibernian overcame the Dumbarton on +Hampden Park by two goals to one, and several of the other matches about +the same time. He was a very fine backer up, possessing first-rate +dribbling powers, and although a little shy in meeting his opponent when +he saw a charge inevitable, rather preferring to use stratagem, was by no +means afraid to go into the heart of a scrimmage and face up to much +heavier men than himself. This was Mr. Robertson's first game against +England, and he has no reason to be ashamed of the way in which he +helped Scotland to obtain victory. On the Monday following this match +he played against Wales at Wrexham.</p> + + +<h3>J. Allan (Queen's Park).</h3> + +<p>When Mr. Allan made his appearance in the first match of any consequence +for the Queen's Park, he did so well that both club companions, +opponents, and spectators were completely astonished at his beautiful +dribbling and speed. In Ayrshire, when he played for the Monkcastle +Club, he was looked upon as a very fair young forward, but a few practice +games on Hampden Park seems to have had a remarkable effect on him, +and in one short season he was such a good man that International honours +were given him at once. In this tussle, which was one of the most trying +of the meetings between Scotland and England, Allan played a grand game, +and scored the third and winning goal for his country. The run that +resulted in the score was started by Mr. Marshall, and was one of the finest +ever seen in any contest. In a football sense, however, to use a simile, +Mr. Allan was like Octavian's prosperous star, but with this difference, he +vanished from the scene as quickly as he came, so far as first-class matches +were concerned, and only re-appeared on Ibrox Park recently against the +3rd L.R.V. and his old club, Queen's Park.</p> + + +<h3>Glasgow Charity Cup Final Tie of 1888.</h3> + +<p>The Renton Eleven are to-day in the proud position of winning the +Glasgow Charity Cup four times in succession—from 1886 down to season +1888-89, and even now the holders of that handsome trophy. In these +finals they polished off the Vale of Leven in 1886 by three to one; next +season the same club by one to none; in 1888 (the year which I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">{55}</a></span> +singled out for review) vanquished the Cambuslang by four to none: and +last spring overcame the Queen's Park by three goals to one. In 1888 the +Renton men held both cups, and what was of more account, won them by +long odds against precisely the same opponents, viz., Cambuslang. In +the final for the Association Challenge Cup the victory was one of six +goals to one, and in the Glasgow Charity Cup four to none. This was, +indeed, the largest score made in the former, and was equal in the latter +to that made in 1877 (the first year of the competition) by the Queen's +Park, when they defeated the Rangers. Cambuslang, however, were at +this time a power in the land, and had previously carried off the Glasgow +Challenge trophy in its first season. In addition to this, they are also +credited with the record of fast scoring—having taken four goals from the +Queen's Park in the last ten minutes of the fifth round of the Scottish +Challenge Cup in 1886, but as the Queen's Park had five points on +previously, they saved the game by one goal. The event of which I have +presently to deal came off on Hampden Park on the 12th May, 1888, and +ended in favour of the Renton, as has already been indicated, by four to +none. The Cambuslang men played well at the start, and a close match +was expected. Through some cause or other, however, they fell away +considerably as the game advanced, and J. Campbell scored the first goal +for Renton, and this was soon followed by a second from the foot of J. +M'Call, the record at half-time being two goals to none in favour of the +crack Dumbartonshire club. The second round, strange to say, was also +well contested at the outset, but the grand forward combination of the +Renton told the tale of defeat to the Cambuslang men, and other two goals +were added. As none of the Cambuslang team have previously come +under my pen, I give them first, and will include three of Renton who have +not been noticed.</p> + + +<h3>Mr. Dunn.</h3> + +<p>More genuine progress has been made in goalkeeping among the Scottish +Association clubs during the last decade than the average spectator cares +to admit, but it is nevertheless a fact. Mr. Dunn played in most of the +best matches of that year, and while he did very creditably in some of the +ties, had the misfortune to lose four goals in this contest. The Renton +forwards, however, were too smart for the bulk of the Cambuslang backs, +and woe betide a goalkeeper when he is not properly supported there! +Mr. Dunn had a lively time of it in the contest, and saved some splendid +shies from taking effect.</p> + + +<h3>J. Smith.</h3> + +<p>The Cambuslang team were never famed for the brilliancy of their back +play. It was what the forward division had done for that club in some of +the most severe and uncertain of their matches that forced them to be +looked upon in Scotland as one of the crack elevens. Mr. Smith was +rather of the quiet and unassuming order of players, who thought much but +said little, and did his work well. He was a fine kicker with either foot, +and his tackling was severe, but honest and clean. With a good wind in +his favour, few backs could equal him in a long kick, but he sometimes +made mistakes near goal when he was hard pressed.</p> + + +<h3>Mr. M'Farlane.</h3> + +<p>The best back in the Cambuslang eleven that season was undoubtedly +Mr. M'Farlane. He reminded me very much of the style of Mr. A. H.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">{56}</a></span> +Holm (Queen's Park), who captained the Scottish team against England at +Sheffield in 1883. He had rare ability in close tackling; used to get +the ball away by clever heading, and was the most plucky young fellow to +go to the assistance of a half-back one could see anywhere. His only +defect—and it was a very bad one—consisted in getting up to an opponent +and trying to take the ball away from him in the rear. Sometimes it came +off well, but at others his club had to pay the penalty with a free kick.</p> + + +<h3>Mr. Russell.</h3> + +<p>In the present contest Mr. Russell was one of the three half-backs, and in +no match during that season had a trio such terrible opponents to encounter +as the two Campbells, M'Call, and M'Callum, who were perfect demons +among the Renton forwards. Russell held out bravely for a time, but was +eventually cornered, and, in the second half particularly, "lost his head," +and allowed the Renton men to get up to Dunn too often. In some of the +smaller matches of the club he played brilliantly, but did not really rise to +the occasion in this memorable cup tie, and in most of the tackling came off +second best.</p> + + +<h3>John Gourlay.</h3> + +<p>It has often been said about Cambuslang that it was a club of three +names! Those names, however, both individually and collectively, were +fearless opponents to meet in any tussle, let alone a cup tie, and to the +credit of Cambuslang be it said, no combination of players ever served a +club so well, and had such pleasure in their hard work, as the Buchanans, +Gourlays, and Smiths. They were more feared than admired by the +members of the clubs twenty miles around, than the Elliots, and Armstrongs, +or, shall I say, the Græmes, of the "debatable land" long ago. +Both Mr. James and Mr. John Buchanan were famous players in their +way, but the back was decidedly the best man, and was selected to play +against Wales the same season.</p> + + +<h3>A. Jackson.</h3> + +<p>Cambuslang's style of play, with their fast following up and jerky kicking, +suited, or, I might say, favoured the old style of six forwards and only two +half-backs, but they insisted on being in the fashion. The three half-backs, +however, were only names to conjure with, but nothing in real practice, for +Mr. Jackson was always made the kind of "flying man" of the team, and +was nothing more or less than a forward. He always joined the latter +division when they were attacking an opponent's goal, and retired well up +among the backs when his club were pressed at the lines. In 1886 Mr. +Jackson played against Wales, and was also included in the team against +Ireland in 1888.</p> + + +<h3>John Buchanan.</h3> + +<p>Although Mr. John Buchanan developed into a very fair half-back, and +was selected to appear against Ireland last spring, he was included in the +present match under notice as a forward, and I think he then played on +the right. He was the fastest dribbler in the team, and a capital tackler. +The combination among the Cambuslang forward division, however, on +the occasion was completely spoiled by the superior tactics of the Renton +eleven, and that fine passing for which the village team were so justly +famed was awanting that afternoon on Hampden Park.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">{57}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>James Buchanan.</h3> + +<p>Although similar in name, the play of the other Buchanan was quite +different from that of Mr. John. He was always cool and collected, and +had a fine style of dribbling and passing which sometimes rose to perfection +itself, but in his runs he was fond of showing off, and was easily tackled in +consequence. But for this fault he would have been chosen to play in one +of the Internationals the previous year. No player, however, loved the +game and his old club so much, and practised more self-denial to attend +the field on the eve of a big match, and do his best for victory.</p> + + +<h3>J. Plenderleith.</h3> + +<p>Every club undoubtedly has its own ideal type of player, and I am almost +sure that Plenderleith was the favourite among the Cambuslang forwards. +He had speed—and rare speed, too—and with a kind of long kick that he +followed up in a style of his own, made great progress down the field. He +kept too close on the touch-line, however, and his great fault was kicking +out—a dangerous thing when too near goal in this age of smart throwing +in—for I notice a great improvement in this art during the past few years. +We are, however, still behind the Englishmen in this respect, as most of +them play cricket in the summer, and are consequently good shiers.</p> + + +<h3>G. Smith.</h3> + +<p>Mr. George Smith was what I might honestly term a fair forward, not +brilliant, but steady, and a good backer up. He was, however, always +getting too near the line, and often had to submit to the indignity of being +pressed into touch, and thereby losing the leather. The fact was he took +too much room to work in, and was slow in following up an advantage. +To give him his due, however, he was a very earnest worker, could stand +a deal of tear and wear during a season, and was always available when +wanted in a hurry by his club.</p> + + +<h3>James Gourlay.</h3> + +<p>There is not a more steady player going at the present day than Mr. +Gourlay. He showed remarkable ability in passing and middling, and his +fast shies at goal were really splendid. In this event he was at his very +best. Once or twice he started well with the ball at his toe, and made +tracks for the Renton goal, but was badly supported in the following up, +and often got collared by the opposing half-backs. He possessed great +speed, like most of the other Cambuslang forwards, and scored a lot of the +goals for his club that season in their best matches.</p> + + +<h3>H. Campbell (Renton).</h3> + +<p>The two Campbells were young players in the Renton team three years +ago, and in this match were considered sufficiently good to be included in +the forward division that did so well against Cambuslang. Mr H. +Campbell was a very fine dribbler and passer, and good at close tackling. +The passing in this tie between Mr. J. M'Call and he was splendid, and +went a long way in winning the match. He was also a veritable dodger +when he got up to the opposing half-backs, and the partisans of the clubs +who played Renton in 1888 used to hold their breath when they saw +Campbell in front.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">{58}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>J. Harvey (Renton).</h3> + +<p>Unknown to fame as a regular player in the Renton eleven until the +season when this event took place, or it may be the preceding one, Mr. +Harvey was one of the victorious forwards. He showed fair judgment, +and middled the ball very neatly to the Campbells and M'Call. His +dribbling, however, was a shade too wide, and as he had excellent speed, +sometimes he over-ran the ball at a time when the other forwards were +following close up, and lost chances to score.</p> + + +<h3>J. Campbell (Renton).</h3> + +<p>Of all the young forwards who graduated in the dribbling game at the +village of Renton, there never was a better shot at goal than Mr. J. +Campbell. Smart on his legs, with a good appearance, he dribbled splendidly, +and half-backs caught a perfect Tartar when they came close up and +attempted to take the leather away from him. His style near goal reminded +me very much of Dr. John Smith, who scored so many goals in the half-a-dozen +Internationals in which he took part against England. Campbell +never waited a second before making his parting shot, and sometimes the +goalkeeper failed to get the ball before it went spinning through.</p> + + +<h3>The Final Association Cup Tie of 1889.</h3> + +<p>This tie was decided at Hampden Park on the 9th February, 1889, +between the 3rd L.R.V. and Celtic, and ended in favour of the 3rd L.R.V. +by two goals to one. The same clubs, however, had previously met to decide +the contest, but both played under protest in consequence of the weather. +This naturally caused that additional excitement, which culminated at the final +meeting on Hampden Park that Saturday afternoon. The 3rd L.R.V. had +long worked for possession of the coveted prize, and twice it was within +their grasp, for they played and were defeated in the final ties on two +previous occasions—viz., in 1876 by the Queen's Park, who scored two +goals to none, and again in 1878 by the Vale of Leven, who overcame the +warriors by one to none. If ever a team deserved victory in this event it +was the 3rd Lanark Rifle Volunteers. The Celtic were more than foemen +worthy of their steel, and considering the fact that the 3rd L.R.V. had +come through the ties so creditably, and had that season vanquished the +crack English professional combination, the victory was a most popular one +all round. As for the Celtic, they are a young and powerful club, and can +afford to wait a season or so for victory, for you know "everything comes +to those who wait." The crowd was large, the weather fair, and the +enthusiasm great. The Volunteers played with the wind, and made their +first point out of a scrimmage about twenty minutes from the start, and +this was all the scoring in the first round. The play after this was very +even, and the Celts were showing off some grand combined efforts, but +were unfortunate at goal. At length, however, the Irishmen made a +brilliant sally on the Volunteers' stronghold, and Mr. M'Callum put the ball +between the posts. After this the play was so even that a draw seemed +inevitable, and it was only by the determined play of the Cathkin Park team +that at length the Celtic goal was taken for the second time by Mr. Oswald, +junior, who was ably assisted in the successful run by Messrs. Marshall and +Hannah. The Cup—that trophy which had cost some kind hearts (now +silent for ever), an unsatisfied longing, and a constant anguish of patience—was +safe to the old club at last! I accordingly give the players who took +part in the tie, and start with the 3rd L.R.V.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">{59}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>Downie (3rd L.R.V.).</h3> + +<p>Mr. Downie deserves credit for the manner in which he has kept goal for +the "warriors" during the past two seasons, when his club played and +defeated some of the best in Scotland and England. In this event he had +terrible work to perform, and got through it with much credit. So far as I +can remember—and it is, indeed, no stretch of imagination—the goal got +by Mr. M'Callum could not have been saved by any keeper, as it came out +of a scrimmage from the Celtic man's foot like a rocket. Mr. Downie is a +very neat kicker-out in front, and shows fine judgment with his hands in +clearing the ball away from a crowd of opposing forwards.</p> + + +<h3>A. Thompson.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Thompson is one of the best backs that last season produced, and had +it not been that the two Queen's Park men—Messrs. Arnott and Smellie—had +played together so well, and pleased the Committee of Selection in most +of the best matches, Mr. Thompson would have been in the great International. +As it was, he got the next best position, being chosen to play +against Wales. He is a rare tackler, sometimes a little rough, but the +finest kicker in front of a besieged goal I have ever seen. Sometimes in +the heat of a scrimmage he loses the ball, but has the knack of recovering +himself in an instant.</p> + + +<h3>J. Rae.</h3> + +<p>The Volunteers were remarkably well served with their backs in this tie, +and Mr. Rae made a capital companion to Mr. Thompson. He is scarcely +such an accomplished tackler, but for neat kicking and feeding the +forwards when they are playing an open game, I know none better. He +is a splendid man for judging distances, and if he is certain the ball is +nearer one of his companions than himself, gets close behind and backs up +at once. To see Mr. Rae placing the leather in front of his forwards in a +good match is a treat of no ordinary kind, and it may be mentioned that +he played against Wales last season.</p> + + +<h3>A. Lochhead.</h3> + +<p>The three half-backs in the present tie with which I have to deal were +Messrs, Auld, Lochhead, and M'Farlane. Mr. Lochhead has been long +one of the "shining lights" of the 3rd L.R.V., and while in some respects +inferior to Mr. Auld, has one grand virtue to recommend in a football +player—viz., patience. His perception is keen and decisive, and if he +imagines a daring forward on the other side can be successfully met without +close tackling, he never fails to out-manœuvre him, and let the +spectators see some rare half-back play. Mr. Lochhead took part in the +Welsh International in the spring.</p> + + +<h3>Mr. M'Farlane.</h3> + +<p>The 3rd L.R.V. were in perfect training condition in the tie, and well can +I remember both Auld and M'Farlane coming in for a large share of +hugging by excited partisans as they made their way up the steps towards +the pavilion of the Queen's Park Club that memorable Saturday afternoon. +Mr. M'Farlane is really a fine all-round player, and this season is keeping +up his form in a way that both astonishes and delights his old friends. His +"heading" in front of goal is very fine, and has saved many a shot from +taking effect.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">{60}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>J. Oswald, Junior.</h3> + +<p>No better pair of dribblers ever served a club than the two Oswalds—senior +and junior—last season, and had more genuine success in the games +in which they played. The forward combination, with these two men at +their best, was decidedly the most powerful in Scotland, and undoubtedly +won the match for the Volunteers against the Celtic. Mr. Oswald, junior, +however, was the better of the two, and the manner in which he scored +the second goal, which gave the Third the victory, was quite a treat to all +who saw the tie that day on Hampden Park.</p> + + +<h3>J. Oswald, Senior.</h3> + +<p>The senior Oswald, as he was called, to distinguish him from his companion +of the same name, played against England in the spring, and was +as good a dribbler, but not so fine a judge of a goalkeeper's ability to get +at the ball when the forwards were crowding round, and sending in shots +thick and fast. The passing among the forwards of the 3rd L.R.V. that +day was so good as to defy criticism, if that were possible, and Oswald, +senior, was no exception to the others. The pair, however, loved the +loaves and fishes of England better than the 3rd L.R.V., and are now +"o'er the Border and awa'."</p> + + +<h3>J. Hannah.</h3> + +<p>In some of the best games of the 3rd L.R.V. last season the passing and +following up between Mr. Hannah and Mr. Johnstone were not to be +beaten anywhere for splendid judgment and properly matured forward +play. There are what is known to the player as certain degrees of pluck +and endurance, and while I have in my mind's eye some forwards in other +clubs, including Mr. William Berry, the Queen's Park light-weight, who +must of necessity come under the first, I am inclined to rank Mr. Hannah +among the second. He is, however, a first-rate man.</p> + + +<h3>W. Johnstone.</h3> + +<p>Last in order of forwards, but by no means lacking in genuine ability, +with rare dribbling powers, comes the name of Mr. W. Johnstone. He +played a very steady game all through this tie, and was as fresh as paint +after the whistle sounded the finish. Although not such a determined +tackler as some of the other forwards not only in his own team, but in the +Celtic as well, he is the most earnest worker in the whole club, and in his +probationary days would practice unceasingly to attain perfection in certain +points of the game in which he was deficient. He played against Wales +in 1889, and in 1887 against Ireland.</p> + + +<h3>J. Kelly (Celtic).</h3> + +<p>Although Mr. Kelly is, so to speak, unknown to the game as a +goalkeeper, he promises to become a good man below the bar. The +ability of the Celtic goalkeeper, however, is certainly not equal to the back +and half-back play; and, while Kelly did very well in this match, his +duties were rendered less difficult by the splendid defence shown at back +by Mr. M'Keown, and the grand half-back efforts of Mr. M'Laren. He +has several good points, including the clever fisting-out of the ball, but is +not a strong kicker, and sometimes goes too far away from his charge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">{61}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>P. Gallacher.</h3> + +<p>When the Celtic were hard pressed on several occasions, Mr. Gallacher +always fell back on his goal, like the prudent general who covers his +retreat, and no man did more heading and breasting in running the ball out +that day. He wants the judgment of his companion in the same position, +but makes up for it by fearless and unceasing work. He was hard pressed +several times by Marshall and Oswald, sen., and had the worst of the +tackling, but he generally came up smiling, and renewed hostilities with +Spartan bravery.</p> + + +<h3>M. M'Keown.</h3> + +<p>Mr. M'Keown was decidedly the best back on the losing side that day, +and his defence near goal splendid. He is not, however, particularly careful +in his returns, and sometimes kicks over his own lines when hard +pressed, but there can be only one opinion as to his genuine ability in close +tackling—he can do it to perfection. During the game, even Marshall, +who is not afraid of anybody, sometimes steered clear of M'Keown by passing +up the ball to Johnstone instead of keeping possession to the last. He +played against Ireland the same year.</p> + + +<h3>W. Maley.</h3> + +<p>The Celtic had as their three half-backs in the contest under review +Messrs. W. Maley, J. M'Laren, and J. Kelly (the latter of whom has +already been mentioned in a previous article). Mr. W. Maley, if I am not +mistaken, is a young member of a very young club that has made a name +for itself in a couple of seasons. He has, however, a deal to learn before +he can be classed alongside Kelly and M'Laren. He is kind of slipshod in +his mode of tackling, wanting finish, but nevertheless a dangerous man to +meet in a charge.</p> + + +<h3>J. M'Laren.</h3> + +<p>The finest half-back of the Irish combination is undoubtedly Mr. J. +M'Laren, and in this tie his play was really magnificent. When the +Volunteers' forwards again and again got near the Celtic goal, he was the +first to checkmate them, and, not contented to work his own place +successfully, frequently went to the assistance of some of the forwards when +he thought they had more than enough to do. He played for his old club, +the Hibernian, against Wales in 1888, and in 1889 against England for +the Celtic.</p> + + +<h3>M. Dunbar.</h3> + +<p>Mr. Dunbar was one of the most active men in the Celtic forward +division in this match, and showed very good dribbling, but was easily +tackled when getting near goal, and more than once "removed" off the +ball by Auld and Lochhead. He is, however, a steady worker, and most +reliable when backing up. Mr. Dunbar, if I am not mistaken, was at one +time a member of the Cartvale, and played for Scotland against Ireland +for that club in 1886.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">{62}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>R. M'Callum.</h3> + +<p>In his general style of play Mr. M'Callum was not unlike Mr. William +M'Kinnon (Dumbarton), who flourished from 1881 to 1885, and was one +of the best forwards in that county. He was not such a tricky and +cunning tackler, however, but faced up to his man with a confidence that +betokened superiority. He was, like the rest of the Celtic forwards, +a good dribbler, and possessed considerable speed. For a young player he +was also very judicious in passing the ball, and during this contest he +helped to start some of the best runs of the day. He played against +Ireland, at Belfast, in 1888, and is now located in Blackburn, where he +partners Harry Campbell on the right wing of the Rovers.</p> + + +<h3>W. Groves.</h3> + +<p>It was in the final tie for the Scottish Challenge Cup between the +Hibernian and Dumbarton in 1887, which the crack Edinburgh team won +by two goals to one, that brought Mr. Groves into special notice, and it may +be, for aught I know, caused him to be carried off by the Celtic later on. +Like a good many other players, he varies a bit in his style. Some days he +is easily tackled; while at others not a single back or half-back on the +field has a chance with him, and it must be said of him that he is one of the +neatest dribblers of the day. He played against Wales in 1888.</p> + + +<h3>J. Coleman.</h3> + +<p>Among the forward division of the Celtic, Mr. Coleman was a decided +acquisition, and during that same season scored a lot of goals for the new +Irish combination, which came to the front with something like the rapidity +of "Jonah's gourd." A beautiful dribbler and runner, he made several grand +spurts towards the 3rd L.R.V. goal, but had a weakness for keeping the +ball too long, and was often tackled by the sure feet of Rae and Thomson. +In speed and general play he reminded me very much of Mr. William +Miller (3rd L.R.V.), an International against England as far back as 1876.</p> + + +<h3>T. Maley.</h3> + +<p>When the whole of the Celts were at their best, and this happened pretty +often last season in their Challenge Cup ties, Mr. T. Maley generally rose +to the occasion, and led his team brilliantly. His steady-going style is +much liked, not only by his colleagues, but spectators, and it is quite a rare +thing to see him grassed by an opponent. When approaching the goal +with the ball, he is like the priest who had a "wonderful way wid him"—slipping +through the backs in a manner that is sure to make the goalkeeper +gnash his teeth, and wish Maley was far enough away.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">{63}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V_THE_PIONEERS_OF_ASSOCIATION" id="V_THE_PIONEERS_OF_ASSOCIATION"></a><i>V.—THE PIONEERS OF ASSOCIATION +FOOTBALL IN SCOTLAND;</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: small">OR,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: smaller">"<i>THE CONQUEROR'S FOOTBALL BOOTS.</i>"</span></h2> + + +<p>My football boots are getting what might be called shabby genteel now, +and no wonder. If they could speak they would tell you many a strange +episode in the life of an Association football player, and how he kept his +place in a leading club for nearly a dozen years. They have been old and +dear friends, those well-worn boots, and although now somewhat curled up +at the toes, have kicked many a good goal out of a hot and exciting +scrummage in front of an opponent's upright posts, and even in an International +tussle; but now that they, like myself, have retired from active +duty, and may reasonably be supposed not to be encumbered with existing +prejudices, which in the nature of things might more or less interfere with +expressing an honest opinion about the Association football player of the +past or his colleagues and successors, I will introduce them to you, and in +figurative language allow them to tell their own unvarnished tale. My +last advice, however, to you, my old friends, before leaving you to the +tender mercies of a scribbler, is not to answer all the questions he thinks +proper to put. Please don't tell him what you heard or saw after leaving +the football field clinging to my sole and instep, of my love intrigues, my +stolen interviews with blue-eyed Annie, and when she jilted me and got +married to Charlie Quilter, who played "left wing" in the Flying Blues. +Charlie must have regretted what he did more than once.</p> + +<p>The Blues used to play us a couple of games in the year, and not long +before Charlie got married he was, as a matter of course, one of their +eleven. On that occasion I felt nettled to think that a big, broosy-faced, +lisping fellow like Charlie should have "put my eye out," and could not +resist the temptation of frequently crossing to his side during the game, +and "going" for him. Oh! how my old companions, my boots, behaved +on the occasion—the very laces almost burst with indignation; but Quilter, +poor soul, never gave a winch, and bore it with becoming fortitude. He +has now, like myself, got settled in life (I am a confirmed bachelor), and +we are still the best of friends, for that "blue-eyed Annie loved him, too," +was one of those things I could never forget. It is too bad, however, in +me to block the way with this dissertation, and not allow Mr. Boots to +begin. I shall leave the rest to him with confidence.</p> + +<p>Well, once upon a time (began Mr. Boots), I was a combination of +circumstances. That is to say, I went through many processes even before +I became mature leather, and one afternoon I was brought to a small +shoemaker's shop in Crosshill tied up in a bundle. There were lots of +cuttings in that bundle—butt, ben, wrapper, cordivan, kid, calf-skin, and +even sheep-skin—but I was then a shapeless piece of wrapper, kipp, and +calf-skin. When I was trysted there were few, if any, football boots made, +and the old man who was entrusted with my construction was a strange old +"cove." He could make a pair of ordinary boots with any one, but was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">{64}</a></span> +not so sure about me. I was ordered by a genteel, nice-looking lad, with +red cheeks and clear black eyes. He addressed the representative of St. +Crispin in a musical voice, but I then formed an opinion of my future +master, that he would be a little conceited and arrogant at times, and this +has proved correct. The instructions about covering my soles with bars +was specially impressed on the old man's memory, and every detail was +carried out to the letter. When we were completed, my brother and I, +you would have admired us. If it were possible to have anything handsome +in the boot line, except, perhaps, a tiny, fur-lined lady's slipper, it +was us. We were sewed with substantial rosen-end, the division between +the inseam and soles was filled up with real leather skivings, and not the +trashy "jump" which makes up the bulk of the soles of football boots +nowadays. The more, in fact, I think of it, the more I am convinced that +the present make of football boots is a new-fangled device in the shoemaking +trade, for are they not now got up of American leather, brass nails, and other +abominations, free of import duty! My master, I remember, came for me +(please consider that I am also representing my brother, for, like the +Siamese twins, the one can do nothing without the other) on a Saturday. +He told the old man that he was going to play a match with the Leven +Crowers that very afternoon, and must have me. I was barely finished, +but Tate's son got the bars put on all right, and I was handed over to the +tender mercies of my new master. He was quite delighted with my +appearance, and looked with pride, and even satisfaction, on my well-polished +uppers and wrapper soles. There was even a half-'un going at the +paying.</p> + +<p>The Leven Crowers were a young and powerful club, possessing +more speed in running than any real football ability at the time. The +club to which my master belonged was the first to introduce the new +ideas in the game, as they were then called, in Scottish soil, and +as there were only three clubs in existence at the time of which I am +referring, the contests, as a matter of course, were few and far between, +and, consequently, looked forward to with more than ordinary pleasure. +The other two clubs were the Greenvale and the Kilback, but they were +not of much account (so my master had often said, and he was supposed to +be a good judge). I heard him say the Conquerors had "licked" these +clubs over and over again, and that they weren't in the same street. When +I was being laced up, however, for the fray that afternoon in the old toll-house +on the road to Battlefield (the Conquerors had no such modern +requisite as a pavilion then), I heard Bob Gardens express quite a different +opinion about the Greenvale, and even go the length of saying that they +had a draw with them on the previous evening after a hard fight. This +demonstrated a fact that was useful to me in my subsequent career, viz., +never to credit what other folks (especially football players) said about the +ability of opponents in the heat of a tussle. Talking about the Leven +Crowers, they were not to be despised. Although the haughty Conquerors +had given them their first lesson in Association football, they were +fast coming up on them in some of the points of the game. I heard my +owner say that the first lesson was given at Alexandria, and on that +occasion the Crowers, who were then crack shinty players, arranged +themselves in the field as if for a match at that ancient Scottish game. +That they had not forgotten their first game with the Conquerors was +amply illustrated in the present, which, I might again repeat, was my +first outset in public life. I was stiff at first, and pressed my master's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">{65}</a></span> +instep rather hard shortly after the kick-off. The contest was played +on the Recreation Ground, and was witnessed by very few spectators. +True, there were certainly many choice spirits residing near the spot, who +came out to see us and enjoy a quiet outing, and have a friendly crack.</p> + +<p>Little did these club companions imagine that that small but enthusiastic +gathering of spectators was the harbinger of crowds composed of thousands +of excited spectators who now assemble to witness big Association matches +every Saturday, not only to see the Conquerors, but other clubs, very +slightly removed from them in ability, playing "Cup ties." The Crowers' +forwards showed great pace, and one of them, Will Cumming, repeatedly +got past me, despite the smart manœuvring of my master. Will, however, +was somewhat wild in his dribbling, and could not keep the ball close +enough to his toes. Jim Wild was my master's backer up on the occasion, +and as Jim was decidedly the finest dribbler that ever toed a ball, and kept +his place for ten years against all comers, afterwards the pair managed to +intercept Cumming before he got close enough on goal to make a shot. +The Crowers' goalkeeper was a good one, and could clear his place of +defence with great ability, but the backs were not of much account. Pate +M'Wherry and Luke M'Tavish did the work at half-back, but their kicking +was somewhat feeble when compared with those of the Conquerors, Tom +James and Willie Keith. The Conquerors were far too anxious to score, +and for some time kept up a close cannonade at their opponents' goal +without effect. Bob Prentice used his hands cleverly, and, though the goal +was again and again endangered, not one of the forwards on my master's +side could get the ball under the tape. A fine run was made by Wild, +Lucky, Grind, Short, and my master, and the ball brought up to within a +few feet of the Crowers' goal, but at the last second, Johnny Forrester, one +of their centre forwards, kicked it behind. This gave the Conquerors the +corner flag-kick. My master, who was quite an adept at corner flag-kicks, +was sent to the spot, and placed the ball in a good position, but Bob +Prentice got it up in his hands at a critical moment, and threw it clear. Good +runs were eventually made on both sides, and once the Crowers nearly +lowered our colours, but nothing was got by either, and the game was drawn. +In those days the rules observed were somewhat different from those in +vogue now. The game was far prettier. There was none of that heading +which forms such important factors in the style of modern playing. +When the ball was thrown in from the touch-line the rule insisted that it +had first to land on the ground before being touched, and consequently +head play was unnecessary, and dribbling was, as a matter of course, considered +the most important point, combined with taking smart possession of +the ball as soon as it touched the ground after being thrown in. My +master was smart at getting on the leather, and, next to Jim Wild, he was +the most accomplished dribbler in the Conquerors. If there is anyone +capable of telling what he could do, 'tis I. How he used to keep my toes +in a circle as he left the grass behind his heels, piloting the ball past the +opposing backs, I know to my loss, and a very great depreciation in +tear and wear. He was a veritable "dodger," this owner of mine. Never +afraid of a charge, he would, in order either to secure the ball or keep it, +attack the biggest man in an opposing team, aye, and knock him over, +too. Sometimes he lost his temper when things went against him, and, +while his remarks to an adversary were somewhat cutting and at times verging +on impertinence, they were always within the scope of "Parliamentary." +In after life, however, my master found several foemen worthy of his steel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">{66}</a></span> +amongst backs and half-backs in the Flying Blues, the Crowers, the +Cedargrove, Red Cross, and North Western, and he sometimes came off +second best.</p> + +<p>It is all very well to say that there were "great men in those days." So +there were, but the same remark can be made equally applicable now, for +they are even more common, and you find them scattered over the length +and breadth of the land. It would decidedly weary you, my friend and +reader, were I to detail all the games in which I have taken an active part, +and you will at once admit that I may succeed in pleasing you better if I +give a short sketch of the leading clubs and players who have wrought so +hard and done so much to make the Association game so popular. Jim +Wild has been mentioned in connection with his club (the Conquerors), but +it is necessary to give him a line or two more. There was no other Association +club in Scotland when the Conquerors were put into ship-shape order, +and consequently no opponents to play. They could not challenge themselves +to mortal combat, and there were none but Rugby clubs, whose +members treated the new order of things in football as childish amusement, +and unworthy of free-born Britons. "Give us," they said, "the exciting +runs, the glorious tackling, the manly maul, and the beautiful dropped +goal, and we will meet you a bit of the way, but not otherwise. We don't +believe in loafing about the field at times, when only one or two of the side +are engaged; we want to be active." "Well," said the Conquerors (one +of whom had been offered a place in the Twenty in the Rugby match +between Glasgow and Edinburgh), "you don't know Association rules, or +you would never make such absurd assertions about the new game. If +there is really any inactivity in football while being played, that inaction is +clearly shown in a Rugby maul, where the one half of the side are merely +spectators. Besides, your game is only half football; in fact, a combination +of football and handball knocked into one. Your run with the ball under +the arm is only a display of speed; it has nothing whatever to do with +football. We want the grand dribbling run with the ball at the toe, the +smart passing and middling of the Association, and we will enjoy it." +Such good-natured banter went on at first between two opposing interests, +but by and by the difference culminated into something more.</p> + +<p>As a sort of <i>quid pro quo</i> for the courtesy extended to an Association +player by the Rugby contingent in the Inter-city match, Tom Chaloner, +the very <i>beau ideal</i> of a Rugby player, was asked, and promised to play in +the first International Association match at Partick in 1872. Tom even +came out to the Recreation Ground at Crosshill, and practised with the +Conquerors as goalkeeper, and promised well in that position, but through +some cause or other he did not play when the eventful day came. If ever +a man could handle a ball and kick a goal as a quarter-back in a Rugby +game, it was Chaloner. He was the pride of all the Rugby clubs in the +country side, and was as well, indeed, if not better known in his brilliant +career as a cricketer. Who in Scotland could bat like Tom? He was +not a hitter to a particular side of the wickets; all was alike to him. +He could cut, drive, hit to long and square-leg, and oh! how far! He +would have made a grand Association football player, but he preferred to +stick to the Rugby style, and was equally successful, at least to his club's +satisfaction. The first match between England and Scotland at Partick, +nineteen years ago (which, by the way, is worthy of note, was played by +members of the Queen's Park exclusively), did a great deal to spread +Association rules in Glasgow and district, and, in fact, eventually all over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">{67}</a></span> +Scotland. Hitherto there used to be a couple of months of interval between +the end of the Rugby football season and the starting of athletics and +cricket, lasting from March till May, and as the football players of the +old dispensation were still in trim, but with exhausted fixtures, not a few +of them, belonging to two of the leading clubs, did not consider it <i>infra dig.</i> +to have a "go" at the new rules, "just to see how they could stand it."</p> + +<p>The outcome of this hastily-formed notion was that a sort of Nomadic +team, calling themselves the Western Pilgrims, was formed, and three or +four matches, and good ones, too, were played between them and the +Conquerors and also the Cedargrove. The Pilgrims showed themselves no +mean opponents in the new game, and, after holding their own with the +Cedargrove in a drawn game, had a good tussle with the Conquerors on the +recreation ground at the Park, and were only beaten by a goal to none, the +goal, I remember, being made in the last five minutes by Bob Gardens +(who could dribble and play forward as well as keep goal). A few of the +Pilgrims took kindly to the Association rules, and while that season lasted +two of the leading forwards joined the Cedargrove, and turned out capital +players. Another joined the Druids, and became a famous goalkeeper, +even going as far as playing for his country in the International match, and +the fourth turned out a leading man in the Holyrood Crescent. Talking +about the above goalkeeper, Aleck M'Gregor was one of the finest fellows +that ever stood with his back to a goal. There was the cheerful disposition, +the gentlemanly demeanour to opponents or associates whenever he +appeared on the field. His knowledge of the Rugby game made him a +most useful man at goal, where the keeper of that charge is the only man +under Association rules who is allowed to touch the ball with his hands. +With the ordinary goalkeeper the punt-out kick, when dexterously executed, +was considered the most effective mode of saving the ball from going under +the tape, when the use of the hands to knock it out was not deemed +necessary, but Aleck preferred the drop-kick, which is one of the redeeming +features in the Rugby style of play, and this he could do almost to perfection. +I have seen him (for I have, by-the-bye, taken part against him in +several matches) lift a ball after it had come pretty smartly from my right +toe, and dropping it on the ground before him, kick it as it rose, bounding +away over the heads of the Conquerors' forwards as they besieged the goal +like a hive of bees on a June morning. He had decidedly the advantage +over the modern "punter," inasmuch that the leather was always sure to +go higher out of reach when the place of defence was besieged, and farther +out of the way of lurking backs and half-backs, who, as a matter of course, +crowd down behind the forwards when an attack is made on an opponent's +stronghold.</p> + +<p>There were other instances which came to my knowledge (that is, if my +reader can imagine anything so queer as a pair of boots possessing such an +immensely human gift) of converts from Rugby to Association style of +play, or rather perverts, as they were designated, but enough has been +said to show how Association football gained a hold on the young and +rising generation, and how it spread all over the western and north-western +portion of the country, and, like the proverbial Eastern magician's +wand, caused goal-posts and corner-flags to spring up in every village and +hamlet with remarkable rapidity. Close to the shores of several Highland +lochs, where a big kick by a stalwart half-back endangers the ball being +swept away by the tide, one can see the game played of an evening by the +village youth with great earnestness of purpose. By and by the new rules<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">{68}</a></span> +made remarkable progress, and as the public liked the game, and deserted +the Rugby matches to see what they considered the most easily understood +rules, the breach between the rival contingents widened, and eventually +the Jews had no dealings with the Gentiles, and so they both continue +playing the games they consider the best.</p> + +<p>What changes have taken place in clubs and players during the last few +years! Faces, blithe, happy faces, now gone forever, can be remembered +by the old spectators, although the present scarcely ever heard their +names; but I will not go very far back. Poor Dixy (for he is dead now)—well +can I remember his first introduction to the Conquerors. My +master had been indulging, in company with Bob Gardens, Jim Wild, +Willie Keith, and others, in a punt about on the evening preceding a match +with the Red Cross, and, after shaking hands and passing the usual compliments, +the practice game was started, and in it the newcomer showed +well, and kicked cleverly with both feet. He was, however, just a shade +too slow, and I frequently tackled him, and secured the leather, giving it a +deal of "toe" after passing close in on goal. The club were badly off for +a goal-keeper after Willie Keith left for America, and, as John was not +backward in making a display of his ability, he offered to act as goal-keeper. +It would take too long to recount the games in which he and I +were engaged in the subsequent career of the Conquerors, but an incident +or two will not be considered out of place. If Dixy had one weakness more +than another it consisted in a lively sense of his own importance as a crack +goalkeeper, and the supposed invincible qualities of his club, which he +often declared could not be beaten. He improved wonderfully in his new +position, and, while playing some of the junior clubs, which were by this +time beginning to spring up, it was positively amusing to see how John +would advance quietly from his goal when it was besieged, and punt the +ball contemptuously away with quite a crowd of young ones close up, awe-stricken +at the agility shown by such a bulky form.</p> + +<p>A few of the Red Cross and Cedargrove forwards sometimes gave him a +fright, and in one match with the Leven Crowers he was fairly outwitted +by Boyd and Ned M'Donald in a cup tie. I fought hard in that memorable +battle myself, and never got such a saturation with water and mud in my +career; but we were beaten. I will not easily forget Dixy as he came to +the field on that occasion, carrying his umbrella to the goal-posts, and +laying it against the left one. He, poor fellow, expected his club would +have an easy victory, and this belief was shared in by not a few of the +eleven besides, including my master, who had, by the way, emerged into a +centre forward since the last match with the Kilmarackers, and as a consequence +he gave me a deal of extra work as a backer-up to Mat. Angus. +In fact, not long after I was carefully laced and ready for the fray that wet +afternoon, the Conqueror's eleven had a confab about the tactics they +should pursue, and Joe Sayler, our captain (who is now no more, and lost +to his club for ever), remarked it would take them all their time to beat the +Crowers. He had, I could see by his anxious looks, grave doubts on the +issue. At the outset of the game the rain poured down in torrents, and as +most of the play was on the Crowers' portion of the field, the umbrella was +put up, amid the laughter of the partisans of John's contingent and the +pent-up indignation of the followers of the Crowers, who mustered strong +on the occasion, and demonstrated a strength of lungs truly astonishing. +John, by and by, when the battle became hot, had to discard his old friend +and comforter, and work in front of his fortress in a way that he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">{69}</a></span> +never done before, and when the terrible tussle ended, the Conquerors were +beaten by two goals to one. When chaffed on the "umbrella incident" +ever afterwards Dixy was silent, and declared that in using it he did not +hold his opponents too cheaply, but simply with a desire to save himself from +a ducking. John was also a capital oarsman, and when he was suddenly +cut away in the pride of his manhood, he was barely 30 years of age. He +was greatly lamented, and his handsome figure is missed from the football field.</p> + +<p>John's death reminds me of a young and promising forward named +Smith, who used to play on the left wing of the Cedargrove in company +with a smart companion named Seward. Young Smith was a very +enthusiastic football player, and missed few, if any, practice games. +Poor lad, I met him twice in one season in matches with the Cedargrove, +and it took all my master knew to prevent him from getting clean past +the Conquerors' backs and scoring. He was a nice dribbler, and like +Fred Adamson (an old member of the same club), went straight ahead +with a splendid hold of the leather. Talking about Fred, I remember +that player, in company with Johnny M'Phedran and James Wilton, going +for big Thomas, who was then the Conquerors' captain, and played at half-back. +Thomas was an awful fellow to meet in a charge, and a hundred to +one was sure to send his opponent to grass. Johnny, however, who was a +little bandy-legged, held tenaciously to the ball, and while Thomas was +eagerly watching his opportunity, Fred sent him flat on his back, and the +ball was close on goal in an instant. There was a hard scrummage, and in +the nick of time, Joe Sayler (who was then the crack sprinter of the +Conquerors), dashed up and got the ball clear before it reached the keeper. +Poor Smith, he caught a severe cold one evening, and eventually succumbed +to a painful malady. The Cedargrove were at one time hard to beat. In +fact, in the early history of the Scottish Football Association Challenge +Cup, they pressed my master's club hard for the trophy, and were only +vanquished—after three games—by one goal to none.</p> + +<p>The Red Cross were also dangerous opponents, and possessed not a few +capital players. There were John Huxter, Sandy Kenneth, Jack Williams, +Joe Drummond, and Bill Millins. They were not easily beaten. Sandy +Kenneth, though rather a quiet-looking customer to meet in the street, +developed into one of the finest half-backs that Scotland ever produced. He +was always cool and collected, and, although by no means a very hard kicker, +could judge the ball to a hair-breadth. Sandy was especially clever in +tackling, which he could manage without deliberate charging. If the ball +got up close on the goal which he defended, he would follow the dribblers, +and with a clever manœuvre on the left foot, obtain possession, and after +nursing the ball for a few minutes, would, amid the applause of the spectators, +send it spinning down the field. Then there was Bill Summons. +He was rather a volatile customer, and a perfect football coquette. +There was scarcely a club of any pretensions in Glasgow but what +Bill had wooed. He, however, stuck well to the Red Cross, and did +some splendid service in their best matches, but eventually left them +and joined the Conquerors, who, by the way, were just a shade too +ready to take over the best men of other clubs by holding out tempting +baits in the shape of big matches. Bill, with all his faults, was a +grand back, and I question if anybody in Glasgow could make a finer kick +when he set his mind to it. He had his failing, to be sure, and who hasn't? +He was sometimes most erratic while playing important matches, and, +especially on a windy day, would make grave mistakes with too heavy +kicking.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">{70}</a></span></p> + +<p>Jack Huxter, too, of the Red Cross, was a very fine player, and a +"caution" to get past at back (poor fellow, he, too, like Dixy, has gone to +his account). He was a dangerous man to meet in the heat of a tussle near +the goal-line, and woe betide the daring forward who would attempt to take +the ball from Jack there. His only weakness was a frequent desire to "go" +for the man instead of the ball, and charging rather heavily. Although a +back, he was by no means an inferior dribbler, and possessing good speed, +sometimes astonished the members of his own club by the smart runs he +would now and again make in company with the forwards when the leather +was in an opponents' territory. He stuck like a veritable leech to the Red +Cross, and turned out most faithfully to all their important matches. I must +not forget Willie Millins, who was one of the neatest dribblers of his day. +He has given up football now. Getting a clear start, many an exciting and +clever run he made for the Red Cross. I heard my master say that in a +match for the Association Cup between his club and the Cedargrove, he once +made a goal after dribbling the ball almost the entire length of the field.</p> + +<p>Then there was a lot of smaller fry, including good players belonging to +the Dumbrook, North-Eastern, Gallowgate Rovers, the Locomotive +Slashers, Thornians, Northern Jumpers, Edinburgh Irishmen, Partick +Unfortunates, and last, though by no means least, the Flying Blues. There +was no club in Scotland, except, perhaps, the Vale Crowers, that had made +so much progress in the game as those Flying Blues, and few, if any, were +gifted with the same amount of self-confidence. The Blues, nevertheless, +had good reason to feel proud of some of their members, for they were +young and active, and the very ideal of smart football players. It was a +lucky thing for them when they migrated from the north and established +themselves in the old ground vacated by the Cedargrove. Had it not been +for that lucky arrangement, they might have wasted their football lives in +obscurity, and gone down to Association posterity "unhonoured and +unsung." Their success was as remarkable as it was swift and decisive. +Possessing any amount of pluck, they tackled all and sundry in the district, +and the second year, after gaining something like a first-class reputation, +won nearly every game they played. Their captain, Tom Vincent, was a +grand back, and, indeed, one of the crack men in that position, of whom +Scotland has now so many to select from; and then there was Bentback, +Bill Donoup, Jack Drummer, and Mat Neil, all fine players at their +respective positions. Never shall I forget the match between the Blues and +the Conquerors for the Association Cup a dozen years ago, about the last big +match in which I took an active part. My master's team had had bad +luck though, for after pressing the Flying Blues till within a few minutes of +the game, the Blues beat the Conquerors by one goal to none, Bill Donoup +sending the ball under goal at the last minute, although the story goes that +he had a bet of a "sov." that the Conquerors would win, and it was even +admitted that he was heard to say, when kicking the goal, "Here goes my +blooming sovereign!"</p> + +<p>Although now stowed away in the corner of a large chest, side by side +with jerseys, caps, knickerbockers, and other football requisites, as a +remnant of the glorious game, my master sometimes visits me to think over +the past, and I often hear him say that, although he does not play now, he +still goes to see some of the leading contests, and at them picks up many +queer stories of the modern players. Last year's crack men, as he sees +them crowding in his "mind's eye," are not, he says, unworthy representatives +of those of the past.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">{71}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI_HOW_CLUBS_WERE_STARTED" id="VI_HOW_CLUBS_WERE_STARTED"></a><i>VI.—HOW CLUBS WERE STARTED +LONG AGO.</i></h2> + + +<p>When the summer game of cricket was far more extensively played in +Glasgow and District than it is now, those who understood the feelings +and aspirations of young men engaged in it repeatedly considered the +question in all its aspects, and a combination of circumstances have +occurred within the last decade which had seriously affected that game. +The City of Glasgow could not, of course, afford to remain in a stationary +condition to suit the convenience of a few thousands of cricketers. New +streets had to be formed, new houses built all round, and with this advance +upon civilisation came the deadly blow to cricket—at least juvenile cricket—and +those clubs soon disappeared from the field. Ground after ground +was swallowed up, and on the scene of many a hot and exciting match +blocks of houses, railway stations, churches, and public works may now be +seen. The Scotch youth, and for that part of it (just to give the sentence +greater weight), the British youth, loves some kind of manly sport. +Cricket he could no longer play for want of good and level ground, but +then there was another game which, at least, could be played or learned +under easy circumstances, even on a quiet street or big "free coup," and +that was Association football. They soon took to it kindly, and many of +them struggled hard and procured a ground. Not one, of course, like +that on which they used to have their cricket matches long ago, but one on +which Farmer Lyon grazed his cows and sheep, and they had it for a +trifle. What did they care about ridges and furrows, or that it was a +difficult matter to see the lower goal-posts when you were at the east end? +Not a straw. The only matter which annoyed them (and this only +happened occasionally) was Lyon's bull. Their club colours were red +jerseys, with a small white stripe, and "Jock" (that was the animal's +name), used to scatter the lads about on the Friday evenings when they +were engaged in a big side. The players generally managed to clear out +in time, but the infuriated animal once goared the best ball the club had, +and next morning, as they had to play the "Invincible" of Glasgow +Green, a subscription had to be raised for a new one. Football can thus +be played under much more favourable conditions than cricket, or almost +any other out-door game, at less expense, and this, in a great measure at +least, is the secret of its popularity amongst the masses. It can also be +played under nearly every condition of the atmosphere. Nothing seems to +frighten the Scotch Association football player. Rain, hail, snow, and +even frost, is treated with cool indifference. In England the ball is quietly +laid aside with the advent of April and forgotten till the Autumn leaves +are yellow and sear, but in Scotland Association football seems to have no +recognised season at all, so far as the younger clubs and even a few of the +seniors are concerned. With the sun making one's hair stick to his head +with perspiration, and the thermometer at 90 degrees in the shade, they +play away in the summer-time, and at Christmas attempt to dribble in +half-a-foot of snow. Meantime the question about football being +blotted out can, I think, be easily answered in the negative, and upon +these will depend the future prospect of Association Football in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">{72}</a></span> +Scotland. There are, in fact, "breakers ahead," and a strong and determined +hand will have to take the wheel. The greatest of these is the +"professional" football player, and the next the "greed of gate-money." +"O! we never heard of a professional football player in Scotland," exclaims +a chorus of voices; "there is no such thing. It's only in England." My +remark, of course, is only beginning to be realised. The definition of +professional in athletics "is one who runs (plays) for gain." Everybody +knows what that means. If you receive any money whatever, directly or +indirectly, from your club (except out of the private purses of the members), +you are a professional. Are there not clubs, with great reputations, who +have such members? If these are allowed to continue on the club books +simply because they are good players, the committee are doing a great +injustice to the other members, it may be under a mistaken notion. Now, +as football has always been looked upon as a purely amateur game, and +played by young men for their own amusement, it is to be hoped that the +day is far distant when the professional football player, or even worse, the +professional football "loafer," who does not work, but preys upon his +fellow-members, will appear in a general form. In all conscience, if the +public wish to see professional football (and I know from experience they +don't), what would they think of the All-Scotland Eleven against the +Champion Eleven of England? That might sound all right, but with the +recollection of how professional athletics of all kinds (with the remarkable +exception of cricket) are now conducted, and their low associations, woe +betide football when the professional element is introduced. It will +assuredly be the signal for its decline and fall. As for the greed of gate-money, +of which some clubs are so fond, much might be said. When I +refer to the clubs who try to gather as much cash as they can during the +season in order to pay their legitimate obligations and meet the heavy item +of ground rent, I show up an honourable example, and one worthy of +imitation; but when I hear of clubs who have gathered ten, yea twenty +times more than is required for such purposes, and even get handsome +donations besides from their patrons, deep in debt at the end of the season, +I begin to wonder where all the money has gone. I ask a young gentleman +who has only lately become a member, and he tells me he knows +nothing about the finance committee, but throws out grave hints about +sordid motives and bare-faced applications for pecuniary assistance. In +this respect clubs must be above suspicion, if they want the delightful +game to hold its own and prosper. As a <i>quid pro quo</i> for this vicious +practice, however, there is no game whose players are so charitable as +those connected with Association Football. There is not a club in the +Association that is not ready to play a "Charity Match," and far more has +been given to the funds of charitable institutions by the actions of Association +football clubs than all the other games in Scotland put together.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">{73}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII_THE_GREAT_INTERNATIONAL" id="VII_THE_GREAT_INTERNATIONAL"></a><i>VII.—THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL;</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: small">OR,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: smaller"><i>NED DUNCAN'S DREAM.</i></span></h2> + + +<h3>Scotland v. America, 1901.</h3> + + +<p>While on holidays, enjoying myself at a quiet and beautiful sea-side +village on the shores of the Firth of Clyde, I received a note from a friend +reminding me that an old football chum was still on the sick list, and +making little or no progress towards recovery. In fact, his life, which had +recently been enfeebled by an incurable malady, was slowly but surely +drawing to a close. Last time I saw him he referred to the fact that he +had some MS. which he wished Mr. John M'Dowall, his successor in the +secretaryship of the S.F.A., and myself, to read over, and when this came +into my mind I resolved to repair to Glasgow at once, ere it might be too +late.</p> + +<p>It was just as well that I did, for poor Ned Duncan was fast sinking +when I got permission from his widowed mother to visit the bedside. Ned, +I may mention, was one of the most enthusiastic players of his day that +ever kicked a ball, but was obliged to give up practice in consequence of +the unfortunate circumstances I have just mentioned, and of late had only +been a spectator at the leading games. He received me that evening with +a kind smile of recognition, and his pale face beckoned me to come near. +I was certainly much touched with my old friend's appearance, and tried +as much as possible to cheer him, but it was of no use.</p> + +<p>He said he knew he was going to the silent land. The doctor, in fact, +had told him he had only a few days to live, and he was glad I had come +to bid him farewell, and take over some straggling notes he had compiled +last summer about the football of the future. "Going home one evening," +he continued, "after an International match, I fell into a deep sleep, and +had a remarkable dream. I thought I saw a great match between Scotland +and America. Real genuine players glided past, scrimmaging with each +other for the ball; thousands of spectators, new and beautiful youthful +faces, graced the area allotted to spectators; the hum of thousands of +excited voices greeted my ears, and"——Here poor Ned's voice failed.</p> + +<p>After a few minutes repose, the old player gasped, "But what need I +tell you more. Here is the MS., and make what use of it you like."</p> + +<p>My dear old friend is now under the turf he loved so well to play on +when in the zenith of his fame.</p> + +<p>Having eventually opened the packet, the first sentence which met my +eyes was "Ned Duncan's Dream; or, The Great International of 1901."</p> + +<p>I will, therefore, leave poor Ned to tell his own tale, and what he saw in +his vision, which at any rate has the merit of originality about it. As more +extraordinary dreams have come to pass, there is no saying what the +beginning of the twentieth century may bring forth, for International +football matches with Australia, America, and Canada have been talked +of, and some of them even played, during the past year or two, and may +become accomplished facts.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">{74}</a></span></p> + +<p>I must, however, return to the MS., which reads after the following +style:—</p> + +<p>"It was in April, 1901, on a Saturday afternoon, that the Yankees came +to Scotland to play a match with our crack Eleven. The Universal Postal +Service, which scattered letters all over the world at the rate of one half-penny +per ounce, conveyed a formal challenge from the Americans to +Scotland that the Yankees would be delighted to meet an eleven of that +country in an even game of football. The New World men of course +meant business, and our secretary, who was a capital fellow, much liked +by the Scottish Football Association for his kind and obliging disposition, +was instructed to accept the challenge and welcome the strangers to +Glasgow.</p> + +<p>"Previous to the time I speak of, the Americans had beaten the +Australians and Canadians, and were considered by their own friends +invincible even to the extent of a couple of goals. The Canadians, by the +aid of the Electric Express Line's fast steamers, had been able to leave +Montreal in the morning and return in the evening from New York, +defeated but not disgraced. The Australians were a little longer on the +way, as the improved appliances for driving ships had not yet attained that +perfection there which had been shown in most of the ports and rivers of +the British Isles. They were experimenting, however, and some good in +that direction was looked for daily, and a new Express Company floated. +The Americans had also beaten the Englishmen the previous year at New +York, and, as their own newspapers had it, 'came over to crow in the +Land o' Cakes.' The great shipping trade of the Clyde ere this was, so to +speak, causing a new order of things to arise all over the world. Large +and beautifully-built steel and bronze vessels left the Clyde every day for +all parts of the earth.</p> + +<p>"They had annihilated space and bridged the Atlantic in earnest, and +the 'electrics' (once called steamers) could go from Glasgow to New York +in little over twenty-four hours. Yes. 'Daily to New York, Montreal, +California, and New Mexico. Splendid accommodation for first-class +passengers: 120 knots per hour, and no vibration.' So read the advertisement +in the leading Glasgow newspapers. Why! what did it all mean? +One hundred knots per hour—3000 in twenty-four hours! To New York +in a day! I had certainly heard of the swallow taking an early breakfast +at the uttermost part of England and picking up a late dinner on the shores +of Africa, all in one day; but 120 knots an hour with an 'electric,'—it +was just enough for flesh and blood to comprehend at once.</p> + +<p>"'Well,' said a friend of mine with some experience in the marine +engineering line, 'I have long thought on electricity as the great motive +power of the future, provided it could be properly stored, and now you see +what it has come to.'</p> + +<p>"In fact, our coal supply—one of the sources of Britain's greatness—was +getting exhausted, and electrical appliances had become an absolute +necessity. The strain could no longer be borne of one huge vessel consuming +500 tons of coal in twenty-four hours, and those blessed electrics +were not introduced a moment too soon.</p> + +<p>"The learned men of France, who had long been working earnestly to +solve the problem of electric economy, were beaten in the race, and a +perfect system of stored electricity introduced and successfully applied to +the propulsion of ships, patented by Professor Scotland Thomson, nephew +of the late Sir William Thomson, of blessed memory.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">{75}</a></span></p> + +<p>"Lots of other remarkable events had been occurring in our history, but +none so marked as the introduction of the 'electrics.' The people of +Scotland had very nearly lost their individuality. Old Caledonia was to +be simply a name. Englishmen invaded Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, +and even <i>Ultima Thule</i>, and overran the country with their ideas of social +life. They made slow progress at first, but came in hordes, and the invasion +was irresistible. They, of course, introduced all their newfangled ideas +about games and pastimes, and compelled us to submit.</p> + +<p>"Parliament had got so mixed up and thoroughly disgusted with the +question of Irish Home Rule, which cropped up every session, that in +an evil mood it had threatened puir all Scotland with assimilation of the +Law of Jurisprudence, but failed. King Albert the First, however, had, +out of respect to the great city of Glasgow—the Second City in the Empire—created +his third son Duke of Glasgow, for you must know the House of +Peers was still extant, but greatly reformed and limited in power. It could +only veto a law passed by the Commons once, and there was no more about +the matter.</p> + +<p>"The match, you may be sure, was the general topic of conversation all +over Scotland several weeks before it came off, and on the Friday evening, +when the Americans arrived and put up at the Express Hotel, Glasgow, +the excitement was great. The preparations and arrangements for the +struggle were on a grand scale, and good weather alone was wanting to +make it a success. That evening several of the Scotch team strolled into +the billiard-room of the Express Hotel to welcome the young Americans, +and had a chat with them about football in general, and the spread of the +rules all over the world.</p> + +<p>"The eventful day at last dawned, and a finer April morning could not +have been desired. Play was announced to begin at 3.30 p.m., and long +before that time Bruce Park, Cathcart Road, was half-filled with spectators, +and presented a fine sight.</p> + +<p>"The crowd around the field was certainly the most remarkable that had +ever gathered together in Glasgow. As the game was no ordinary one, +they flocked from all quarters. Most of the towns in Scotland supplied +their quota to swell the multitude, and as railway travelling was cheap and +convenient now compared to the original football days of the Queen's Park, +Clydesdale, Vale of Leven, Rangers, Dumbarton, Granville, 3rd Lanark +Volunteers, Partick, Clyde, Alexandra Athletic (of which poor Duncan was +hon. secy.), and a host of other clubs, a two-hundred-mile journey, which +was easily accomplished in an hour, was considered next to nothing. +They were there—young men and maidens from London, Manchester, +Liverpool, Edinburgh, Blackburn, Darwen, Bolton, and Sheffield—all +bent on making a day of it. The road to Bruce Park, indeed, was +a sight to see, despite the fact that the Cathcart Railway carried its +thousands that afternoon to the south-side. There were not a few buxom +country girls in the crowd, enticed thither by no great love of the game—which, +of course, they did not understand—but by their sweethearts, +just to let the young persons of the place see that they had lads as well as +their neighbours. There was one winsome lassie among them, however, +who would have done credit to Burns' incomparable 'Queen o' the +Glen.'</p> + +<p>"Emma was the only sister of a young farmer in the district. It is a +mistaken notion to suppose that farmers in Scotland are by far too plodding +a class to indulge themselves in anything savouring of English games and +pastimes, particularly football, but this is a mistake. I know several<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">{76}</a></span> +farmers in the country who love the dribbling game dearly, and do their +best to promote its interests in the way of supplying ground to not a few +young clubs dotted over the country. In fact, Emma was the beauty of +the whole parish, and all the young men for miles around were well aware +of it. No one could deny it, and even the most unreasonable of fellows, +Charley M'Gowan, the schoolmaster, and Alfred Walker, the lawyer's clerk, +were forced to acknowledge it.</p> + +<p>"'Talk about Sydney's heavenly Geraldine,' said young M'Gowan to +me one afternoon on the road to practice, 'she beats her hollow.' +M'Gowan, however, was a bit of a cynic, and Emma soon cast him off for +Walker. He was a fine singer, and in after years, when he became a +confirmed bachelor, delighted to sing songs about the inconstancy of the +fair sex. He used to hum out Gœthe's 'Vanatos,' and more particularly +that verse with reference to the fickle fair ones, which ran</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'I set my heart upon woman next—<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Hurrah!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For her sweet sake was oft perplexed;<br /></span> +<span class="i6">But ah!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The false one looked for a daintier lot—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The constant one wearied me out and out—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The best was not easily got.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The Yankees, however, had a high opinion of our feminine beauty, and the +impressions made on the gallant youths that Saturday afternoon were of the +most favourable order. The Romans, in fact, were not more captivated +with the beauty of the Sabean maidens than were the young Americans +with the lovely Scottish girls who gave them such a hearty reception at +Bruce Park in April, 1901.</p> + +<p>"Walt Vanderbilt, their captain, was a fine-looking young fellow, about +25 years of age. Ere this the young Americans had completely discarded +whiskers, and Walt formed no exception to the rule, with his closely-shaven +cheeks and well-formed moustache. Good work in the field in the way of +practice had made Walt's form show complete development, and I am +inclined to think that a finer specimen of a football player never toed a +ball. The goalkeeper of the team, too, young Lincoln, was rather a nice-looking +fellow, nearly six feet high, and well-proportioned, with eyes +sparkling with humour, but he lacked the fine open countenance of his +captain.</p> + +<p>"The other members of the team were much of the ordinary type of +humanity, just like our average football club men, with any amount of +nerve and energy. If they felt excited at the magnitude of the work they +had in hand they concealed it well, and looked as if they were merely +entering the field to do a little practice. They wore the sign of the +American eagle, dotted over with the emblematical stars and stripes. Our +fellows had also an imposing appearance, with the lion-rampant on their +jerseys, and, although looking rather douce and uncertain about the game, +determination was depicted on every face.</p> + +<p>"The names of the gentlemen who entered the field were as under:—</p> + +<p>"<i>Scotland.</i>—F. Wallace (South-Side Swifts), goalkeeper; T. Glen +(Queen's Park), D. Smollet (Vale of Leven), backs; W. M'Millan +(Dumbarton), F. M'Neil (Rangers), half-backs; K. M'Geake (Pollokshields +Athletic), P. Livingstone (Kilmarnock), K. Watt (Edinburgh +Rovers), T. Stewart (Volunteer A.C.), T. D. Coats (Paisley Combination), +and G. F. Turnbull (Clyde), forwards.</p> + +<p>"<i>America.</i>—W. R. C. Lincoln (New York Caledonian), goalkeeper; V.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">{77}</a></span> +H. Grant (Texas Rovers), W. C. Vanderbilt (Hamilton State Swifts), +backs; J. H. Armstrong (Chicago Association), D. Steel (Nebraska +Electric), half-backs; D. C. Bramey (Victoria Boys), R. S. Chandler +(Utah Gentiles), P. Whitehouse (Newhaven), J. S. Bryan (Alaska +Pilgrims), W. D. Bangle (San Francisco Racers), and T. Lawrence +(Washington House), forwards.</p> + +<p>"<i>Umpires.</i>—J. W. Marindin (South Australia), and D. Y. Jones +(Canadian Association). <i>Referee.</i>—W. H. Littleton (English Association).</p> + +<p>"Before the game began, the Yankees offered to bet level money, and +some of their red-hot plungers even went the length of two to one on their +chances; but they were promptly told that the days of betting and wagering +at football matches, cricket, horse-racing, and all genuine sport, were +now numbered with the past in the United Kingdom.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, in fact, who loved and enjoyed sport for its own sake, and +for that part of it, ladies too, had voted betting 'low and unmanly,' and +even degrading, and as Parliament had been repeatedly petitioned on the +subject, a bill was almost unanimously passed in the dying year of the +nineteenth century abolishing betting.</p> + +<p>"The Loyal Irish Party (late Home Rulers), and the Rado-Toro +Democratic Party (led by Lord Randy Chapel-Mountain), whose hair was +beginning to get silvery-grey, and his long moustache to match, did not +even oppose the bill, and it passed. Never did a legislative enactment +work such improvement among the masses as this bill. It completely +banished all needy souls and black-legs from the arena of honest sport, +and left the field to those who came out of an afternoon and evening to +enjoy themselves in an honest way.</p> + +<p>"The coarse language, too, of which our forefathers justly complained +twenty years ago, had almost disappeared, whether through the effects of +the School Board, I would not like to say, but one could now take sweetheart +or wife to enjoy themselves, provided always, of course, the weather +was at all suitable.</p> + +<p>"As for professional football players, no such thing had been heard of +for years. They certainly died hard, but eventually no club would have +anything to do with them.</p> + +<p>"'What is that?' 'Oh, it's the bell to begin.'</p> + +<p>"Well, the game did begin in earnest, immediately after a fair lady had +thrown out the leather ball from the Grand Stand at the right-hand side of +the field. There was no tossing for choice of ends, for a new rule had +been just added to the revised code enacting in a most chivalrous way that +strangers or visitors be allowed to select the side of the ground they +preferred to play on for the first half-hour—for you must know, my readers, +the term now allowed for the game was one hour, and that when the ball +was kicked into touch, there was no throwing back into play with the +hands, but it was kicked from the touch-line straight out before play was +again resumed.</p> + +<p>"For some time the forwards kept the leather close to themselves, and +the Yankees on the left wing, by a fine piece of manœuvring, were successful +in getting it away, amid tremendous cheering. Chandler, who was one +of the fastest sprinters in the world, and had beaten the record in San +Francisco in the fall of last year, got through his men in brilliant form, and +came down on the goalkeeper like 'winkum.' Just as he was poising himself, +however, for a final shot, M'Neil deliberately crossed the field from +the opposite side, and after dodging about the young American, rushed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">{78}</a></span> +and took the leather away, and keeping it between his feet for a couple of +seconds, kicked it clear of the Scotch goal. A good deal of heading afterwards +occurred near the home goal—the ball getting close on the lines +several times, and even passing them. Many considered before the game +began that the Americans would never have a 'look in' at all, and great +was their dismay when they actually beheld their champions hotly pressed +on their own ground, and look like losing the day. With a brilliant +charge the Yankee forwards crowded round the Scotch sticks like a hive of +bees on a June morning, and a straight shot from the foot of D. Steel, who +rushed in from his place at half-back, caused the ball to glide past the +Scotch goalkeeper like a rocket.</p> + +<p>"This was the signal for tremendous excitement. Crowds of partisans +and friends who had come over with the strangers, and many enthusiastic +lovers of the game and fair play, raised a loud cheer, again and again +renewed, at this piece of grand play on the part of the Yankees. The +intensely interested Scotchmen, however, while they certainly admired the +pluck and fine play of the visitors, and cheered in a mild kind of a way, +even though an enemy wrung it from them, kept very quiet, and not a few +white faces might have been seen about the wire fence which kept +spectators and players apart on Bruce Park on that memorable day. +They, however, kept their own counsel, and quaintly said to the Yankees +who chaffed them on the point, that howling was a very good thing in a +way, but it should not be indulged in till people were out of the wood.</p> + +<p>"The teams then faced each other in midfield, and the ball had no +sooner left the Scotch captain's foot than it was taken away, and dribbled +down the centre by Bryan, Whitehouse, and Lawrence, and when half-time +was called the latter was just finishing a good shy, which sent the ball +over the bar. According to the new rules a quarter of an hour was allowed +as an interval, and during that time speculation ran high as to what was +destined to be the final issue.</p> + +<p>"To indulge for a moment at the idea of the Americans beating the +Scotch on their own ground in the great International was a sore point for +the bulk of the spectators with Scotch faces, but they said very little. +They had a secret hope that their champions would eventually pull off +the game, even though they had a goal to make up, and only half-an-hour +to do it. They had, it was remembered with pride and satisfaction, pulled +through many a doubtful match before, and Scotchmen, it was well known, +were not easily beaten.</p> + +<p>"The young lady again threw up the ball, and Tam Glen, getting a +good hold of it at his left foot, made one of the finest fly-kicks ever seen in +a match, and the forwards on the Scotch side following well up, completely +puzzled the Yankee backs and half-backs by their brilliant passing. Before +you could say Jack Robinson, M'Geake shied for the American goal, and +the ball knocked off the cap of the goalkeeper, and, hitting the bar, +bounded back into the field of play. A hard and exciting scrimmage +followed, and amid breathless excitement the Yankees cleared their goal. +Five minutes of very even play followed, and then the Scotchmen set their +teeth and made a desperate effort for victory.</p> + +<p>"Only ten minutes of the game now remained to the good, and there +was, you may be sure, no time to lose. One goal behind, and at the great +International, too! It would never do to allow America to whip creation, +even at football! One final effort; no, two final efforts, and it was done.</p> + +<p>"The Scotch captain was seen to whisper something to his team, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">{79}</a></span> +a few minutes the grandest run which was probably ever witnessed since +football became a scientific sport in the world, was started, and, before the +American backs, half-backs, and goalkeeper could realise their position, +the Scotchmen bore down on the visitors' goal, and literally dribbled the +ball clean through. This was, you may be sure, the signal for an outburst +of cheering, which must have been heard over the half of the big city of +Glasgow, which now contained over a million of inhabitants.</p> + +<p>"The game, however, was not yet won—it was only a tie—and when the +representatives of Brother Jonathan again started the ball only four minutes +remained, but it proved a bad four minutes for the representatives of the +stars and stripes. Another run, backed up by a shooter from the left foot +of Turnbull, settled the great International for that year at anyrate. Those +who had hitherto viewed the game in moody silence began to come out of +their shells (talking piscatorially) and join in the universal huzzah.</p> + +<p>"The Yanks were now fairly cowed, and when another grand piece of +play by Stewart, backed up at the proper moment by Watt, put a third +goal to the credit of the Scotchmen, the visitors, in the most gentlemanly +way, heartily joined in the cheering for the victors. When the referee's +whistle was sounded, the Scotchmen were declared the winners of a hard-fought +field by 3 goals to 1. The crowd completely besieged the pavilion +at Bruce Park at the close, and cheered lustily as the Scotch champions +made their way up the steps. Nor were the vanquished Americans forgotten. +They came in for a round of hearty cheers for their pluck.</p> + +<p>"There was a dinner given to the distinguished strangers in the evening, +and the usual complimentary toasts proposed and duly acknowledged; but, +as I was not present, I am unable to say who spoke best and gave the +most enjoyable song.</p> + +<p>"At anyrate, a happy evening was passed, and, after spending a day in +Glasgow, the Yankees sailed on the following Monday morning for New +York, where they duly arrived without any mishap, after the fastest passage +on record, having covered the distance from Greenock to Sandy Hook in +twenty-three hours fifty-nine and three-quarter minutes."</p> + +<p>Such is "<span class="smcap">Ned Duncan's Dream; or, the Great International.</span>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII_THE_PATRONS_SPECTATORS" id="VIII_THE_PATRONS_SPECTATORS"></a><i>VIII.—THE PATRONS, SPECTATORS, +AND POPULAR PLAYERS.</i></h2> + + +<p>They are to be found in all ranks and conditions of life, from the lord of +the manor down to the apprentice-artizan and newly-fledged young man +from shop and warehouse. Like love, football, for the time, at least, +levels all distinction; and albeit I know, for that of it, many a well-matched +pair, who have met for the first time on the grand stand at Hampden Park, +looking back with feelings of intense pleasure to the time when their +"infant love began." Were it not, in fact, that Caledonia is at times so +"stern and wild," and that football and frost can never flourish together, +the game would be far more extensively patronised by the fair sex. At a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">{80}</a></span> +cup tie or an International match, it is quite a common thing to see the +Convener of an adjacent county,<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> the city magnate, the suburban magistrate, +the Free Kirk minister, and the handsome matronly lady, standing +side by side with the horny-handed mechanic, the office-boy, the overgrown +schoolboy, and the Buchanan Street "swell." They all watch the game and +surroundings in their own particular way. I once heard a quaint, but nevertheless +true, idea of how some of the more familiar visitors give way to +a certain failing, which in itself can scarcely be called such, but is not +unfrequently looked upon with amazement by the stranger. The Scotchman, +it is said somewhere, is not so much respected for the manner in which he +goes about a thing as the way in which he does it, and the remark, when +applied to this particular case, will be all the more potent. Here it is:—"Where +are you going to howl to-morrow (the query is put on Friday), +Jack?" "Oh! the Queen's and Vale, of course; they will have a close +thing of it, and there will be rare fun," says Jack. "Old Anderson was +very indignant last Saturday, and declares that he will never stand near me +again at any such matches. He was quite ashamed of my howling, and +positively charges me with digging my thumbs into his ribs, and nearly +strangling his youngest son at every scrimmage near each goal." "It +serves you right, Tom. I was always afraid something of that kind would +happen; you shouldn't be so demonstrative." Tom was silent. He was +as jealous of his own propriety and good behaviour as anybody could be, but +being of a most excitable nature, he did things in the heat of a tussle for +which he was afterwards very sorry, and many ignored the fact that he was +an old Rangers man, who scored the first goal for that then young club +in a close and exciting game with the once powerful Clydesdale. +As the Association rules are very easily learned in theory, the great +bulk of the spectators show an acquaintance with them which is +pleasing to see, and when an assumed infringement takes place, it is +generally heralded from some part of the field by a partisan of the contending +elevens. The only apparently unintelligible point to them is the +"off-side" rule, and I have seen a goal kicked in this way hailed with +deafening cheers and waving of hats and handkerchiefs. These manifestations, +however, were turned into low growling when the leather was sent +away by a free kick. The ladies, too, talk about "free kicks," "corner-kicks," +"heading," "hands," "beautiful passing and dribbling," as if to +the manner born. I cannot, however, dismiss the subject of spectators +without referring to the use and abuse of a free and unrestrained vent to +pent-up feelings. There is the low, vulgar fellow, whose collarless neck +and general coarseness of exterior and language indicates that he possesses +all the vices but none of the virtues of the "honest working man." Work +he will not, except he is compelled, and although to "beg he is ashamed," +he would be the first to do a mean action if he had the opportunity. It is +he who, by his foul tongue and very breath, contaminates the atmosphere +he breathes, and brings some of the matches into disrepute. Unfortunately +he has paid his money at the gate (sometimes he gets over the fence), and +you can't turn him out; but he makes hundreds miserable. He is, in fact, +one of the "unimproving and irresponsible," and moral suasion has no +power over his hard and stony heart. Sometimes in an evil moment his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">{81}</a></span>vulgar remark is challenged by one of the players on the contending sides, +and this gives him an air of importance. There is nothing, however, which +shows a want of gentlemanly bearing in a team more clearly than paying +the least attention to exclamations from excited spectators. They should +treat them with silent indifference, and if needs be, contempt, and play +away as if there were nobody present at all. It is sometimes, nevertheless, +very hard for country clubs to come to Glasgow and play for the city +charities, and get howled at by this class of spectators at certain stages of +the game. The great bulk of those around, however, are indignant at such +conduct, and regret it all the more on account of being utterly unable to prevent +it. There is another spectator, too, who not unfrequently forgets himself, +and he is to be found on what might be termed the "touch-line" of society. +He is the fast young man, who considers you a perfect nonentity if you don't +bet. I don't mean betting on football pure and simple, for he only lays a few +"bobs" on it, but on the latest quotations for the Derby, the St. Leger, +the Waterloo Cup, or the University boat race. His "screw" is not very +big at the best, but he can always lay "half a sov." on the event, whether +his landlady's bill is paid or not, and touching that little account of Mr. +Strides, the tailor, why, he'll pay it when he "makes a pile." He thinks +too much of himself ever to get married, and the young ladies of his +acquaintance may indulge in a sigh of relief at escaping from the toils of +such a consummate fool. When he has something "on" a match, and +sees that it is lost, he not unfrequently opens out, and is not over choice in +his language. The game, however, goes on, and is greatly enjoyed by the +general spectator, despite such drawbacks, and if you happen to go to the +same locality on a similar occasion, you are all but sure to see old and +familiar faces crowding round the stand and area.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> The late lamented Mr. A. B. Stewart, Convener of the County of Bute, was an +enthusiastic admirer of the game, and many will miss his handsome firm and kindly +remark when future matches are played on the leading grounds in Scotland.</p></div> + +<p>The modern Association football player is a man of some ability. As a +rule he is temperate in his habits, with a good appetite, and sound in limb. +Long before he knew what football was, he was blessed with a large share +of health. When a boy at school he used to be remarkable for punctuality, +but occasionally got into trouble from neglected lessons, in consequence of +a weakness for indulging in out-door sports. He loved the rude style of +football, then played, dearly (he knew of nothing better), although goal-posts, +touch-lines, corner-flags, and other modern appliances were totally +unknown. As for "hacking," it was endured by all and sundry with the +air of martyrs. Why, if you had not nerve enough to "give and take" in +that line, your chance of getting near the "goal score" was remote indeed, +and you were looked upon as a coward and the verriest noodle. He, of +course, grows older, and by and by joins an average club, and gets on very +well. The crack football players, however, have many maturities. They +generally come slowly, but surely, and leave behind them powerful impressions. +They are like the occasional planets, not the stars which are seen +every evening if you care to look towards the "milky way." They are +mostly fine-looking fellows, with pleasant countenances and grandly-moulded +limbs. They have just passed a severe course of probation in the +football field, without even an outward trace of anxiety. The vagaries of +the game admit of no distinction of class. The crack player is, in fine, +found among all classes—in the gentleman's son, in the clerk at the desk, +and the lad in the workshop. There may be different ways of working +out the latent ability, but sooner or later it begins to show itself. Some +thought it was scarcely fair in the Duke of Wellington to say that +"Waterloo was won at Eton." There is not the least possibility of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">{82}</a></span> +doubt such a remark might be misunderstood, and many feel inclined to +charge the "Iron Duke" with ignoring the services rendered by the +non-commissioned officers and men of the British army, for everybody +knows that none but the sons of the opulent class can ever gain admittance +to Eton. It looked, in fact, very like the credit being given to the officers +for winning that great battle. Wellington, however, had his eye on the +football and cricket grounds when he spoke these words, and no doubt +intended to convey the idea that these games went a long way in bracing up +the nerve which served so well on the battle-field. Close adhesion to the +practice of any game really and sincerely creates fresh possibilities of that +perfection and discipline. And why should this not be so in football, +particularly as it is a game regulated by sharply-defined maxims? Everyone +can't be the captain of an eleven; and as for Wellington's remarks, the +most humble member of the team may show the greatest ability. You may +belong to the most "swellish" of clubs, and have a fair reputation, but +you are not chosen to play in the International. Your father may be +the "Great Mogul" himself, but that has no effect. The coveted place +can only be attained by merit, and this is one of the most successful and +meritorious traits in Scotch Association Football. You don't, as a rule, +even get a place now by reputation, and so much the better. When clubs +were few and good players fewer, you were not unfrequently favoured with +one, whether you deserved it or not, but now the matter is different, and +justly so, since we cannot go into a single town or village in Scotland +without seeing the practice ground and goal-posts of the now omnipresent +football club.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX_A_DREAM_OF_THE_PAST" id="IX_A_DREAM_OF_THE_PAST"></a><i>IX.—A DREAM OF THE PAST.</i></h2> + + +<p>I am getting old and stiff now, at least in a football sense, but have seen +and played in, perhaps, more big matches in my time than many will be +inclined to give me credit for now. Somehow or other the modern player +does not seem to go into the game for the pleasure it affords nearly so +heartily as his representative of yore, but it may be that the Compulsory +Clause in the Education Act has made him more refined, or, if you like it, +a good deal more cunning in hiding his animal spirits and exuberance of +innocent fun. Be that as it may, the Association Football of to-day does +not really possess the same charm to me as it did ten years ago.</p> + +<p>I was once a very fair player, but never considered sufficiently brilliant to +get my name handed down to posterity as the crack half-back of the +"Invincible Club" of bygone days, or proclaimed aloud in the secret +recesses of the great "houf" where football players now retire to spend a +social hour after finding themselves the victors of a hard-fought field. I +must admit, however, that I did some clever things which the newspapers +of that era ought to have at least given me a "puff" for, but they didn't; +in fact, I never, like Byron (Lord Byron, I mean), awoke one morning to +find myself famous, because my football was that of days long ago, in an +obscure (to football, at least) country town; and, besides, the game then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">{83}</a></span> +was conducted in rather a rude and undignified fashion. Talk about rules, +we had those which might, for all I know, have been framed by the "Chief +Souter of Selkirk" himself to suit the peculiar mode of playing on the +streets at Shrovetide (a practice still in vogue near that Border land). Our +captain knew nothing of such new-fangled devices as the Rugby code, and +far less of the Football Association. Ours, in brief, was a sort of +combination of both styles of play. To win a "hail," as it was termed, the +opposing side, with shoving, hacking, and other descriptions of horse-play, +had only to pass the ball over the line, and it was won. Touch-lines, +corner-flags, twenty-five flags, and even upright posts, and the usual +concomitants of the scientific game of to-day, were unknown. This +leads me, then, to the point of tracing the rise and progress of the game +in Scotland during the past dozen years, leaving its antiquity and +origin, about which there are mere surmises, an "open question." That it +was played, however, in Edinburgh and Glasgow at least twenty years ago, +under rules somewhat similar to those now adhered to by the followers of +the Rugby Union I can well remember, and this was the only kind of +football known by the young athletes of that time. Over a dozen years ago +many were the exciting contests engaged in by not a few of the clubs still in +existence.</p> + +<p>The oval ball, with its historical associations, has a charm for them. +They then talked about the Association style of play with something akin +to contempt. "What," they might have been heard to say, "is the fun of +looking at people 'bobbing' a ball about with their heads, and the half of +a team doing nothing, while a couple or so of the players are engaged at a +time? Give us the closely-packed maul, the exciting individual run, with +the ball under the arm, the gallant struggle to ground it over the opposing +line, and, above all, the beautifully dropped goal." "But nobody goes to +see your matches now," remarks a newly-fledged convert to the Association +style of play, who has come to see the "Inter-City," "they got disgusted +with your never-ending mauls and shoving matches, preferring to witness +scientific manipulation of the ball in dribbling, and passing with the feet." +"Pshaw! do you imagine we care a straw for gate-money? We play the +game for the love of it, and the genuine exercise it affords," retorts the old +Rugby adherent, "and respect it all the more on that account." "Oh! it +is all very well to tell one that, but don't your leading clubs still charge for +admission to their matches?" "Yes; but this is more in the way of keeping +out the roughs from the field than for gain." Such conversation I have +overheard myself, and none of the sides made much by it.</p> + +<p>Well can I remember the birth of Association Football in Scotland, and +look back to the time when there was not as many clubs as I could +count on the fingers of one hand. In 1870, a semi-International contest, +under Association rules, was played in London between Scotch men living +in England and an English Eleven, and continued till 1872, when, on +November 30th, the first real International match between England and +Scotland took place in Glasgow. In that same year, early in the season, +the celebrated Queen's Park Club (to whom Scotland owes the introduction +of the game), entered the lists for the English Challenge Cup, and were +drawn against the London Wanderers. It was at that point that the +matches which had hitherto been played in London between London +Scotchmen and Englishmen were given up in favour of an annual match +between Scotland and England, to be played alternately in London and +Glasgow, and, if possible, so to arrange the contest that the Association<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">{84}</a></span> +match might be played in England the same season that the Rugby match +would be played in Scotland, and <i>vice versa</i>. It might be as well here to +say that the celebrated Scotch club and the Wanderers, then in the zenith +of their fame, played a drawn game with no goals on either side, but finding +it too difficult a job to meet the Englishmen again, they scratched. Since +then, however, the Rugby and Association Internationals take place +regularly as each season comes round, in Scotland and England alternately. +It is a curious fact, and one worthy of record, that the Scottish Rugby +Football Union and the Scottish Football Association were both constituted +in the same year—viz., 1873. The Union was formed after the International +Rugby match at Glasgow, Dr. J. Chiene, of Edinburgh, being in +the chair on the occasion. The Scottish Football Association was formed +under the presidency of Mr. Robert Gardner, the once famous goalkeeper.</p> + +<p>The annual competition for the Association Cup, when the clubs who +entered for it the first year only numbered 16, were proceeded with in a +much more gentlemanly way than is the case now, but the reason is +obvious. Hitherto young and inexperienced clubs never dreamt of entering +against opponents with whom they knew they had no chance, and, +consequently, the competitions were left to be fought out among the cream +of exponents of the dribbling game. As each year came round, however, +and young clubs began to multiply exceedingly, many of them considered +they should have a shy at the "Cup," and as the entry-money for membership +to the Association was only a nominal sum, they competed, and were +never heard of after the first tie. No one who has watched the progress of +Association Football in Scotland can for a moment deny the fact that the +Challenge Cup has been the chief factor in assuring its popularity and +rapid development all over the Western District of Scotland, and when its +original promoters inaugurated the competition, it was done with the +honest conviction of spreading a knowledge of the Association rules, together +with generating a spirit of friendly rivalry amongst clubs.</p> + +<p>That it has been eminently successful in the former respect is admitted, +but I can't say the same thing so far as "friendly rivalry" is concerned, +and one has only to remember the manner in which some of the ties are +conducted to point out that the term "questionable conduct" would be more +appropriate. When I hear of men and lads deliberately kicking one +another, and charging wildly when the ball is about ten yards away in +front, I begin to consider that the time has positively arrived when the +Scottish Football Association, if it wishes to retain its hold, should +interfere, and make a selection of clubs to compete for the "blue ribbon" +of Association glory. Quadruple the subscriptions to the Association if +necessary, and, above all, revise the bye-laws in such a way that what is +known as a "rough game" would be impossible. It is but fair, however, +to the Scottish Football Association to state that they have long been alive +to the fact, and have since taken the matter up while deciding protests.</p> + +<p>The Association Rules, however, are immensely popular with the people, +and in some of the big matches it is quite a common thing to see 10,000 or +15,000 spectators. I have heard of such people as those who actually hate +cricket and football, and make it a constant aim to prevent those over +whom they have some influence from engaging in the manly sport. They +occasionally flit across one's path like an evil spirit, and disappear as +rapidly, but leave behind a chilling effect on the imagination, far more +intense than the terrible nightmare after a disastrous defeat. They cannot +see the fun of spending valuable time in such a way. If you follow one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">{85}</a></span> +those gentle "cads," however, at the close of an evening, he may be seen, +cue in hand, earnestly engaged at the billiard table. He is not in a happy +mood, for he is one of the losing side, and there is a wild look about his +eyes. He sometimes gets home rather early in the morning, and is not +particularly careful of his choice of companions at times. They are childish +amusements, these games at cricket and football, "and none but silly +people," he continues, "would ever think of engaging in, or even +encouraging, them any way."</p> + +<p>And another thing. There is a sort of prejudice to football, and, in fact, +to a lot of healthful out-door exercises, in Scotland, among the older +people, who can scarcely endure the thought of spending time under any +circumstances; and parents are often the cause of degenerating a kind +of deception more common than one would believe—viz., playing under +assumed names. Surely it is much better for the young men to spend a +spare afternoon on the football field, enjoying the fresh air, than being, +perhaps, engaged in questionable "time-smashing," in the way of playing +cards, draughts, or drinking. On asking a well-known dribbler the other +day how it came about that he played under a <i>nomme de guerre</i>, "Was he +afraid to let his real name be known?" The answer was conclusive. The +governor was sometimes inexorable, and treated him to a lecture on filial +obedience and the inevitable consequences of neglecting business. He +positively debarred him from playing again, but Tom was not to be done. +Taking advantage of the old fellow's absence from home, he yielded to the +solicitations of his captain, and played under an assumed name, dribbling +and passing in such beautiful form that thousands of spectators applauded +his efforts, and his side won in a canter. As the non-indulgent parent did +not observe Tom's name in the papers, his little deception was never found +out, and he continued doing duty for his club in this way for a couple of +seasons. And of the yet fine player who thinks he will retire as each +season comes round, something must also be said. His eye has not yet lost +the gleam of honest rivalry, and he snorts like the war-horse as each season +comes round to be in the thick of the fight. He retired, it may be, last +season, for good, as he thought, but the fascinations of the goal-posts and +flying corner-flags was too much for him as a spectator at the first big +game, and he yielded for another year, but it will be his last, for Maud, +his beloved and beautiful Maud, will claim him as her own before June. +"We have been long engaged," he is heard to say to an old club +companion, "but this blessed football, of which I am very fond, has +been the cause of putting off the marriage."</p> + +<p>I once knew a fine young fellow, a crack half-back, who was so anxious +to play in an "International," that he positively swore he would never get +married till he was one of the chosen team. He kept his word. He +played twice for his country, got married, and, as the "unexpected does +not always happen," is now the father of what may some day prove a race +of stalwart football players. His handsome, though now slightly-bent +form, is still often seen when a great event is being decided, accompanied +by his wife and children, and woe betide the captain of his former club if +he allows it to be beaten. "Well played; keep him off the ball, can't +you!" he is heard to exclaim, till he is red in the face, and he goes home +to dinner with something like an appetite.</p> + +<p>None but those who have positively come through all the grades of +football probation really know what amount of labour, to say nothing of +self-denial, is needed to make a crack back, half-back, or skilful forward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">{86}</a></span>. +Sometimes one has to be contented with a place in the Second Eleven for +years, before some incident, it may be, brings him to the front, and reveals +true merit. In football, of course, as in other things, I have found that the +best men were not always in their best places, and when this was the case, +what is known as favouritism came in bold relief, but in the end the club +in which such stupidity was rampant suffered very severely. It did all +very well when the club were engaged in ordinary contests with weaker +opponents, but it came out in some of the big events, in which the guilty +club predominated in the selection of men to represent a city, a university, +and even a country. Fortunately, however, I can honestly say that during +the last few years there has been little of this practised, and Scotch football +under both rules is all the better in consequence.</p> + +<p>While every enlightened mind is willing to go a long way in advocating +equality, the line must be drawn somewhere, and I am inclined to think at +that stage where gentlemanly feeling and courtesy are absent. A very +obscure individual may, by his conduct on the field, show that he at least +can be a gentleman. In all such manly sports social distinction ought to +be sunk, and that great and noble equality—that equality and love of +honest worth which is so dear to the Scotch (and let me also say English +heart) be ever remembered, when team meets team on the football field. +We are shown noble examples of how in days gone by, peer mingled with +peasant on the cricket field, strove with each other on the curling pond, +and why should not such things exist in football? Let me hope that as +each succeeding season comes round the noble winter game will in proportion +show greater improvement, both in club and individual integrity, as +well as higher scale of moral worth.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X_THE_DUEL_NEAR_THE_FOOTBALL" id="X_THE_DUEL_NEAR_THE_FOOTBALL"></a><i>X.—THE DUEL NEAR THE FOOTBALL +FIELD, AND THE CAUSE OF IT.</i></h2> + + +<p>"And you tell me, Frank, that the old ground is at last cut up to form a +railway embankment?" said Bob Smith to Frank Green (whose sister, by +the way, had got married to Pate Brown last season), as they met one +evening at Crosshill.</p> + +<p>"They will be long in finding a ground like Hampden Park, I'm +thinking," replied Green, with the recollections of pleasant games and +glorious victories for the Black-and-Whites, to say nothing of numerous +gains to Scotland in matches with England and Wales.</p> + +<p>Since this meeting of Bob and Frank, however, the said Black-and-Whites +have got pretty far forward with a new ground quite close to +Hampden Park, and it is now being levelled up and put into condition. +The railway embankment referred to is part of the Cathcart Railway, +which will assist very considerably in opening up rapid communication +between Glasgow and the whole of the suburban burghs lying south.</p> + +<p>While referring to the Southern Suburbs, which, it may be mentioned, +are closely associated with the rise and progress of Association Football, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">{87}</a></span> +cannot refrain from alluding to several genial souls who have helped to +make them what they are. None, however, is entitled to claim more +consideration and credit than Provost Goodfellow, of Suburbopolis, whose +official life, so to speak, has been spent in the cause of suburban organisation, +accompanied, of course, with a due regard for Association Football.</p> + +<p>You must know, my brave Scotch readers, and those hailing from South +of the Tweed, that the Provost of a Scotch burgh or town occupies the +exact position of the English Mayor. He is the head of the municipality, +and is, in fact, a kind of ruler of all he surveys, but about his "right to +dispute," particularly when the November election comes on, why that is +purely a matter of opinion.</p> + +<p>Well, the ruler of Suburbopolis was not a despotic man. He was +certainly a little pedantic, and who, I should like to know, would not be +inclined to lean that way if they had taken part in a great annexation fight +with the chiefs of the big bouncing city of Glasgow, and beaten them too?</p> + +<p>Some years ago, it may be briefly explained, the Glasgow authorities +devised a scheme, whereby all the suburban burghs were to be taken under +the wing of Glasgow and lose their entire independence, and Suburbopolis, +being close on the touch-line, was to be attacked first. Glasgow, in fact, +was to act as the veritable annaconda, and swallow it up, but she didn't.</p> + +<p>Scotch Radicals, talking politically, had not hitherto much faith in what +they considered an effete hereditary legislature, such as the House of +Lords, but if there was one thing more than another calculated to bring +about a Conservative reaction among the Glasgow suburban authorities, it +was the attention paid to their vested interests by the Peers.</p> + +<p>The Commons had spurned their entreaties to maintain independence +with scorn, and even relegated them to Bumbledom, but their lordships, to +whom the case was appealed, literally strangled the said annaconda before +she began to devour, and Suburbopolis, along with other five thriving burghs, +were saved from municipal death, and still retain their Provosts. Provost +Goodfellow was a most genial soul, and particularly fond of Association +Football.</p> + +<p>He could talk about dribbling, passing, and backing-up, as if to the +manner born. The only thing, in fact, which he did not fully understand +was the "off-side rule," and many of greater pretentions were as far at sea +regarding that said rule as the worthy Provost. He was the life and soul +of Charity Cup Ties, and never failed to turn out to patronise them. Even +the charming young ladies of the family (for you must know his honour had +three handsome daughters) knew a good deal about the rules, and had +several excited discussions with their brother Archie (who was a member of +the Camphill), and Bob Lambert (of the Black-and-Whites), as to the +respective merits of sundry clubs.</p> + +<p>These young ladies, too, had a long string of admirers, and no family +acquaintance was more eagerly sought after than that of the Goodfellows. +Suburbopolis, however, was by no means devoid of a galaxy of feminine +beauty and well-developed male forms, who might have been seen of an +evening leaving the handsome villas and terraces around the Park (for +which the inhabitants were not taxed).</p> + +<p>There were, of course, the families of Colonel Black (an old warrior, +who had been through the Crimea and Indian Mutiny), the Redpath girls, +whose mother was a widow, the Snodgrass young ladies (three in number), +the Misses Bland, residing at Jessimine Lodge, and, of course, many more +lesser luminaries. The Colonel's daughters, or "Golden Slippers," as one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">{88}</a></span> +of them was called by several members of the Camphill, who had caught +her in the act of watching a practice game on the eve of a big Cup Tie, +wearing a pair of fur-lined slippers, and had her heart set on the Camphill +beating the Black-and-Whites, was, indeed, the most handsome girl +in the burgh.</p> + +<p>I would not dare to attempt a pen-and-ink sketch. It would fail in its +effect. It's all very good for you fellows who have no soul for feminine +loveliness to talk about girls, like babies, being all pretty much alike, but +you are wrong—entirely wrong. Jenny was, in fine, a "bonnie, bonnie +lass," and scores of young fellows, I know, would have gone considerably +out of their way to have received "ae blink o' her bonnie black e'e." +Emma, although scarcely so tall, was very like her sister, only shorter in +the temper.</p> + +<p>After sundry matches at the field, Jack Black used to take a few of his +companions up to the Hillhouse, and the young ladies received them +graciously—congratulating them when they won their matches, and +"chaffing" them unmercifully when they lost.</p> + +<p>There were at least three suitors for the hand of Jenny, but one of them +resided in London, and the other at Skyview Villa, a couple of hundred +yards from Hillhouse. It can be easily imagined that the local man had +the advantage in the courtship, being, as the special correspondent always +prides himself in adding to his communications, "on the spot."</p> + +<p>Bob Lambert was, to be sure, a welcome visitor at Jenny's residence, and +a fast companion of her brother Jack, and what was more, Bob was quite a +favourite with the old Colonel, who admired his fine appearance in the +football field, and the brilliant manner in which he could "back-up" when +that was needed to win a game. Bob, I must confess, was really a nice-looking +fellow, with black curly hair, and a good broad chest. His +features were well formed, and he possessed penetrating dark grey eyes. +There was one thing, however, which told against Bob in many ways, and +that was his hasty temper. He could brook no rival in his position as the +best forward in the Black-and-Whites, and a word or two from the captain +at a practice game was sure to upset him. He sometimes, in fact, took the +pet altogether.</p> + +<p>Once, when playing a Cup Tie with the Athletic Park, he met his match +in Charlie Walker (another of Jenny's sweethearts), who played at half-back, +and the work done all through that eventful match was seen between +the pair. Talk about coming in contact with "mother earth," why that +was positively child's play when the two met.</p> + +<p>Walker was also a powerful fellow, and it was a case of Greek meeting +Greek. "Bumping at Oxford," to use an aquatic term, why it was +nothing! At one time Bob was seen tossed up in the air as if from the +horns of an infuriated bull, and at another Charlie was observed lying on +the field at Bob's feet. What did they care about the ball being fifty yards +off? Not a straw, so long as they tackled and kept each other away from +it. "That's not football," says one, "it is horse play." "Never mind +about football in a Cup Tie," says another, "let the heaviest team win; go +into the fellow." "Oh! gentlemen, gentlemen, fie, fie, Association +Football is an amateur game, and as long as I play it," said the captain, +"there shall be no cruelty done on either side."</p> + +<p>Little did the spectators know the real cause of the inordinate tackling +done by Bob and Charlie, but the secret soon came out. The pair had +previously been rivals for the hand of Jenny Black, and Bob was looked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">{89}</a></span> +upon as the winner. At least Charlie had not been seen at the Black's +Villa for two or three months, and before this he always made it his house +of call. But what about Harry Carts, Jenny's English sweetheart? Why, +I had almost forgotten him.</p> + +<p>A team of Cantabs had played the Black-and-Whites just a year previously, +and Harry was one of them. He had been invited to spend an +evening at the Colonel's house, and had fallen desperately in love with the +bonnie Scotch lassie. Bob was also specially invited and was present that +evening, and although trying to be as affable as possible to the friendly +stranger and opponent, could barely hide his jealousy when the gallant +English forward kissed the lovely girl's ruby lips in a game at forfeits.</p> + +<p>Bob said nothing about it to Jenny, but Emma, the youngest sister, +whispered to her brother Jack that Bob's eyes had a wild look that evening. +The matter, however, was soon forgotten, as Harry Carts left Glasgow the +next evening for London, after his gallant team had played a drawn game +with the Scotch Black-and-Whites—the first one ending in that way, be it +observed, that had ever been played between them and an English team +on Scottish ground in the memory of the proverbial "oldest inhabitant."</p> + +<p>Harry Carts, to give him his due, was one of the best Association football +players ever England produced. When Mr. C. W. Alcock and a few +choice spirits in London, it is true, first opened the eyes of many football +players to the value of the Association rules, and inaugurated the Football +Association in 1863, Harry was a mere child. Appearing at college, however, +he soon showed a liking for the dribbling game, and never lost a +moment in doing his best to acquire everything he was likely to know +about it.</p> + +<p>Just the season before our story opens, he had been chosen from an +imposing array of names sent in by his club, and also the branch Associations, +for an honourable place in the "Great International." His +superiority, in fact, put his place beyond doubt, and he stood to represent +his country first, and club afterwards, in a tussle which proved disastrous +to England; but it was admitted by all who witnessed the match that +Harry was one of the best men on the Field, and, in company with his +half-back, showed the best form and pluck—the victorious Scotchmen +notwithstanding. How the pair above mentioned tackled and passed up, +to say nothing of backing and nursing the ball, I know full well, for I saw +the game. Harry and his companion, in fact, were again and again +cheered for their magnificent dribbling, and when the eventful game was +over Harry was carried shoulder-high, in real Scotch form, to the Black-and-White's +pavilion.</p> + +<p>The incident did not escape Jenny and her sister, who were standing on +the gravelled walk in front of the pavilion. Jenny was sympathetic when +she saw the handsome young Englishman cheered by the excited crowd, +and when the excitement culminated into carrying him shoulder-high to +the pavilion, a brilliant flash from her eye told the tale of regard. The +young lady, despite assertions to the contrary, must have at least admired +the young Englishman; and among the blithe and gentle faces who swept +their cambric handkerchiefs over their heads, none were more demonstrative +than the Black girls. They saw, with something akin to pride, Harry let +gently down at the pavilion door, followed by their brother Jack, Jim +Wallace, and Bill M'Clelland, all of whom had done great work in the +big match.</p> + +<p>Harry did not lose sight of the handsome face which had haunted him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">{90}</a></span> +all the previous summer, notwithstanding his flirtation with the Italian +girls in Venice. Venice, beautiful Venice! It was in thy classic city, +close to the scene of the great Italian poet's labours and triumphs, that +poor Jack Vincent (who used to play left wing in the Swifts) was found +drowned, after attending a ball. Poor Jack, I think even now I can see +his handsome, but withal, comical face, when he used to dodge sundry +half-backs while playing for his club. Poor fellow! grave hints were held +out at the time that he had met with foul play, but nothing more was ever +heard about the matter, and Jack's friends never got any satisfaction.</p> + +<p>I am, however, going off the line with my brief story. Carts, in fact, +felt Jenny's face haunting him wherever he went, and on the earliest +opportunity came back to Scotland, asked the dear little girl to be his +wife, got the crusty old Colonel's consent, and the pair were all but +apparently engaged to be married at an early date. Harry was splendid +company either on the field, at the Black-and-White's room in Battlefield +Hotel, or at the villa. He could sing a good song, tell a good story, and +crack a wild joke. Harry used to sing a new song about football, the +chorus of which jingled out:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In measured blow, the dancing feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now moving slow, now galloping fleet;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a leap and a curl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a sweep and a twirl."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He declared that the song was original, but Archie, who was a bit of a +book-worm, and never neglected taking in the "Monthlies," expressed +grave misgivings about having seen something like it applied to a skater in +"Scribner's Magazine."</p> + +<p>Bob Lambert and Charlie Walker, the other two young fellows who +were looked upon as Jenny's admirers, were terribly shaken in heart and +spirit when they heard of her flirtation with the handsome young Englishman; +but such a thing as an engagement between them was never for a +moment entertained. Bob was too much a man of the world to suppose +that Jenny would ever give him up for another; and poor, soft-headed +Charlie, why, he was sure the Colonel's favourite daughter loved him still.</p> + +<p>Matters went on in this way for some time. The football season was +now about closed, as the month of May was at hand, and all the big +matches had been lost and won, including the Challenge Cup Tie, which +Dumbarton had carried off. For several evenings Bob and Charlie had not +come across one another (although Charlie was also a member of the +Black-and-Whites, as well as the Athletic Park). Bob had blamed Charlie +for telling some stories about a fine young girl whom the former had +promised to make his wife a year previously. The poor girl, it was hinted, +had been jilted to such an extent by Bob, that she had broken her heart, +and pined away and died.</p> + +<p>One evening the pair met at the entrance to the pavilion on Hampden +Park, where a lot of the players were lounging about smoking, after having +done with their sides. Most of the club fellows knew that Lambert and +Walker had not spoken to each other for a long time, even to the extent of +exchanging the usual salutations about the weather. They were, therefore, +much astonished to see them in earnest conversation. Menacing looks +were exchanged, and something like curses—not deep, perhaps, but loud—were +heard from the rivals' lips.</p> + +<p>The fact was, the men had arranged to settle their "little difference" +with swords. What do you think of that, my nineteenth century in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">{91}</a></span>telligent +reader, with all your boasted approach to civilisation and sacred +respect for life? Why, a cold-blooded duel with swords, and in the French +fashion, too! Both hot-headed youths knew comparatively little about +the handling of the chosen weapons, nothing more, indeed, than what they +received while training in the Volunteers; but it was a "point of honour," +and they would do their best.</p> + +<p>Several of the Black-and-Whites, who had heard about the proposed +"meeting," had a secret consultation with Ned M'Gill and Davie +Merricks, who, it was whispered, had taken the friendly job of +"seconds," and the whole affair was "adjusted." With swords this was +impossible, and they resolved to resort to the respectable and honourable +weapon, the revolver.</p> + +<p>The two men who were to face each other in terrible earnest, you may +be sure, slept little or none during the preceding night. "Four o'clock +sharp, mind, at the grass field, near Hagg's Castle," said the brave seconds, +"and it will be all over in a few minutes." Charlie shuddered when he +heard the last words (which, by the way, were deliberately intended for +him).</p> + +<p>"<i>A few minutes, and all will be over</i>," Charlie muttered; "what if I +should be killed?" His very teeth (which he used to whiten with cigar +ashes, and was so proud about), were chattering. Thousands of ideas +floated across his heated imagination. He saw his past life before him, +and the only consolation, if it could be called one, lay in the thought that, +should it come to the worst, Jenny Black's eyes would be dimmed with +tears at his misfortune. He felt sure the dear lassie loved him, and he +would brave death a thousand times rather than endure the anguish of +seeing her married to a useless fellow like Bob Lambert.</p> + +<p>Bob, on the other hand, was really a cool and determined fellow; and +while Charlie was in the throes speculating about probable dissolution +before the morrow's sun should rise, Bob was actually priding himself on +superior ability in handling a revolver. He was, in fact, far too arrogant a +man to imagine that <i>he</i> could be shot by a silly boy like Walker. He had +made up his mind to shoot straight when the signal fell, and indulged in +the devilish pleasure it would afford him to read a "true and particular +account" of the duel in the Glasgow evening papers, if good luck would +favour him in escaping to the Continent.</p> + +<p>"These fellows are not going to come up to the scratch," said Ned +M'Gill to the other honourable gent—as they passed the Clydesdale Cricket +Ground a few minutes to four o'clock on that memorable morning. Ned, +however, was wrong. Through the grey dawn a muffled figure was +observed crossing the Pollokshields Athletic Club's Park, and making direct +for the old castle. Almost simultaneously came a second individual from +the vicinity of Crossmyloof, smoking a cigar. There was no doubt about +it, for on closer inspection the figure was that of Lambert, who generally +indulged in a good cigar, as he had a friend in the Anchor Line who was +always supplying him with "weeds."</p> + +<p>A very short time sufficed to measure the distance, but the would-be +<i>murderers</i>, no doubt, considered it an age. When the seconds advanced +along with their men to the fatal spot, and placed them twenty paces apart, +Charlie put one in mind of the poor misguided boy in "The Rivals." His +hand shook, and his knees almost touched one another.</p> + +<p><i>The signal was given</i>, and bang went the revolvers from both sides. +None of the young men, however, seemed to have been hit; and while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">{92}</a></span> +Charlie was almost sinking on the ground from excitement, Bob might have +been seen examining his weapon with suspicion, at the same time casting a +glance at his rival and wondering why he did not fall. A second or two +more, and the latter fired another shot, and this time poor Charlie dropped +his pistol and fell back on the grass.</p> + +<p>Bob was satisfied he had done the business now, and taking the advice +of Davie Merricks, he fled for his life; getting the early train for Greenock +and thence per steamer "Golden Eagle," to the Isle of Man.</p> + +<p>The "seconds" (and a few strange figures that were seen lurking about) +of course, lifted the supposed dying man from the grass, and as his "life's +blood ebbed away," they whispered about being willing to fill a last +request. Poor Charlie's brow was covered with blood, and as he himself +expressed the terrible sensation of "feeling a pistol ball bobbing about in +his brain," arrangements were hastily made for having him consigned to +relatives. Accordingly his lodgings were sought after and easily found by +the excited hansom driver who had taken them near the fatal spot.</p> + +<p>All the time the affair was going on the driver threw out grave hints +about reporting the whole matter to the police. When they reached +Greenfield Avenue, however, there was still some life in Charlie, but he +said he "knew he was dying," and forgave everybody who had taken +part in the rascally business.</p> + +<p>Higgins, the hansom driver, was as good as his word, and after leaving +the place, went direct to the Suburbopolis Police Office, and got the whole +matter reported. Not very long after the police surrounded the house in +Greenfield Avenue, and Provost Goodfellow (who, it may be remarked, +was the only magistrate at home when the affair took place, and had to be +aroused for the purpose), came in all haste to take the "dying deposition." +Meanwhile Dr. Barrister, one of the best of the local surgeons, was in +attendance.</p> + +<p>The doctor, however, suspecting something soon after feeling the +supposed wounded man's pulse, and judge of the surprise, to say nothing +of indignation, when the doctor, and then the Provost, began to indulge in +a hearty fit of unrestrained laughter. The "seconds" knew their business +well, for they had <i>loaded the weapons with blank cartridges and a few drops +of bullock's blood</i>, and some of the contents of Bob's pistol had hit Charlie +on the brow.</p> + +<p>Poor Charlie, he was so terribly shaken and nervous after being hit that +he was long in getting the better of the fright. Like the French prisoner +whom the cruel authorities of the "Inquisition" determined should be experimented +upon as a victim of imagination in the way of supposed bleeding +to death, Charlie, although he had not received a scratch, thought he was +dying fast, till the doctor informed him of the imaginary wound.</p> + +<p>A few days afterwards the affair was "hushed up," and nobody was +better pleased when he heard the true state of matters than Bob Lambert +himself. His friend Jim Campbell had sent a letter to Douglas Post +Office, to be called for, under a fictitious name, and Bob soon returned +to Glasgow.</p> + +<p>When little Jenny Black was told the same morning of the duel, that +Charlie Walker had been shot by Bob Lambert, she fainted clean away, +and afterwards refused to be comforted. "To think that she, a poor weak +girl, should have been the cause of such a terrible tragedy," she was heard +to say to her sister, "I'm afraid I'll never get over it." When the true +state of matters, however, was revealed, and the whole affair brought up in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">{93}</a></span> +its real light, it afforded immense merriment all over Suburbopolis, and +when football players met to spend a social hour, the duel between Bob +Lambert and Charlie Walker is, of course, alluded to as a standard joke.</p> + +<p>A few months afterwards there was a nice wedding at Colonel Black's +villa, and strange as it may seem, both Lambert and Walker were there, +together with quite a crowd of football players and their sweethearts.</p> + +<p>The reader will, of course, easily make out who wore the bridal dress, +and looked lovely in it, too. Surprise, however, not, it is to be hoped, +altogether unmixed with satisfaction, will be expressed, when the bride-groom +appears in the person of Charlie Walker, Jenny's own love. Harry +Carts, the handsome Englishman, she certainly admired, but did not +actually love sufficiently to make a husband of. He, in fact, seemed to +have been too fond of company, and in correspondence a coldness had +sprung up between them, and ended in two parting letters.</p> + +<p>Jenny loved Charlie Walker best, and accordingly gave him her heart +and hand. "What he had suffered for her sake," the young lady was +heard to express to a confidant, "no one but himself knew." They are, +however, now a happy pair, and when Cup Ties and big matches are being +played near Suburbopolis, you will be sure to see Charlie and his handsome +wife on the field.</p> + +<p>As for Bob Lambert, who was forgiven, he became more of a man in +subduing his temper and general disposition, and one evening told his old +rival that he would never forget till his dying day—"<span class="smcap">The Duel near +the Football Field</span>."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI_THE_FINAL_TIE_FOR_THE_ASSOCIATION" id="XI_THE_FINAL_TIE_FOR_THE_ASSOCIATION"></a><i>XI.—THE FINAL TIE FOR THE ASSOCIATION +CHALLENGE CUP—1889-90.</i></h2> + + +<h3>TWO MEMORABLE MATCHES.</h3> + + +<p>A couple of matches had to played before the final tie for the Association +Challenge Cup was decided, and at the earnest request of numerous friends +I have reproduced my articles on both games, which appeared in the Daily +Mail, and trust they will be considered worthy a place in the volume. +The following is the</p> + + +<h3>First Match.</h3> + +<p>This important contest, which had to be postponed the previous +Saturday in consequence of the dense fog which enveloped the city and +suburbs in semi-darkness, came off at Ibrox Park, and resulted in a draw—each +side scoring a goal. Early in the forenoon the weather in every +particular looked like a counterpart of the previous Saturday, and it was +not till well on in the day that the Association Committee finally decided +to go on with the match. Even with this short notice, combined with the +fact that heavy rain came on and continued till well on in the second half,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">{94}</a></span> +the attendance of spectators was large, about 11,000, and this is borne out +by the cash lifted at the gate, some £500. Of this the Association gets a +third, and the other two-thirds are equally divided between the contending +teams. The proceeds of the stand, however, went to the Rangers' funds, +as that club gave their ground free of charge to the Association to play off +the tie. Paisley Road and Govan Road presented a scene to be +remembered from two o'clock till well on for 3.30 <span class="smcap lowercase">P.M.</span>, being thronged +with vehicles of every kind, from the carriage and pair, the hansom and +cab, down to the modest van. Pedestrians, too, were numerous, and on +the Govan Road the Vale of Clyde Tramway Company, with extra cars, +reaped a good harvest. On the way down, and in the field itself, the +usual good-natured banter was largely indulged in, and as football +enthusiasts, like the rest of impatient spectators, are only human, they were +in better temper at the start of the contest than was the case at the finish. +The meeting of the Queen's Park and Vale of Leven, in fact, revived old +times among the once brilliant players of both clubs, many of whom were +present on Saturday to "fight their battles o'er again." "Dae ye ken," +said an old man as the game proceeded, "I wis present at old Hampden +Park on the wet Hogmanay afternoon long ago, when the Vale licked the +Queen's by two to one in a Cup tie, and I wish'd ye'd a' seen the Queen's +Park committee men and their supporters that day when the bare fac' wis +kent. I'm thinkin' they didna craw sae crouse, and maybe they'll get a +fricht the noo." When the Vale scored their goal a wag, primed with a +fair-sized pocket pistol, no doubt containing the best—well, every public-house +salesman will tell you at anyrate, it is the "best," and charge for it, +too, as "special"—began to lilt a verse of the popular pantomime song, +"Their funeral's to-morrow," hinting heavily about the decline and fall of +the Queen's Park. Many saw the point, and laughed; while others gave +the jolly fellow a look that betokened contempt and dismay. "Wait till +the second half," said a quiet supporter of the senior club, "and ye'll see +what they can dae; they're only making some fun." In pressing forward, +leaning against the pailings, were not a few critical rivet boys and iron-workers, +whose running comments were amusing in the extreme. Of some +young fellows who came down from the city dressed up in style, one of the +"black squad" was heard to say, "Don't they look blooming 'swells,' +with their gloves and G.O.M. collars, and you wid think that the whole +landed property about is theirs, even to Ibrox Park itself. Crush up, Bob. +We've paid our money as well as the lot, and must get share of the view. +Crush up." "Man, jock, they've got a new ile for training and rubbin' +up the fitballers noo. It's whit they ca' herbuline, and it keeps out the +cauld and warms ye unca' much; but the smell's sae strong that it +nearly blin's ye." No doubt some kind of specific was required +on such a trying day as Saturday, for it was indeed a clear case of +illustrating the old adage, when exclusively applied to man, about the +survival of the fittest. There is this about Ibrox Park, however, which +certainly recommends it to the impartial spectator—fine even turf, without +a flaw, and no advantage even to the home club itself when playing +matches. It is well sheltered, and the arrangements for the big crowd +were ample, and well carried out by the Rangers' committee and the +Scottish Football Association, for whom Mr John M'Dowall, the secretary, +acted with much credit. The Govan policemen (at least most of them) +love a good game at football as dearly as the old Highland landlady lo'ed a +lord, and what is more, their respected chief shows them a good example,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">{95}</a></span> +as he is generally to be found at Ibrox Park, in company with other burgh +officials, when there is a good thing on. The early editions of the evening +papers were largely in request, not by any means for the purpose of reading, +as all attention was directed to the game, and in the anxiety to see the +players before the contest began, but for the sole purpose of being "sat +on." The supply was soon exhausted, and one speculative newsboy, taking +in the situation at a glance, disappeared for a short time, but came up +smiling towards the grand stand ten minutes afterwards with a bundle of +brown paper wrappers, which he disposed of like penny pies at twopence +per sheet. The judges of the game had very difficult duties to perform, and +to their credit be it said they did the work without fear or favour, and we +are quite certain gave general satisfaction to the players. The spectators, +however, treated the unfavourable conditions of the atmosphere with +indifference, and even contempt, and long before the time announced for +the kick-off they crowded around the pailing and surroundings to get a good +view of the game. In consequence of the wet weather very few ladies were +present compared with what has turned out at previous finals. The Vale of +Leven emerged from the pavilion first, and were well received. A few +minutes afterwards came the Queen's Park, who were also loudly cheered +with cries of "Good old Q.P." The toss between the two captains was +watched with much earnestness, and when the Leven team ranged themselves +in front of the ball from the gate end, it became apparent that they +had won. The Queen's Park, by Hamilton, kicked off against the wind, +and a short run by Berry was successful in sending the ball so near the Vale +of Leven goal that one of the strangers put it behind, and gave the Queen's +Park a corner-flag kick. This was followed by a close scrimmage, in +which the ball came near Whitelaw, who sent it down the field. A +"foul," however, by Paton gave the Queen's Park a lift, and in a second +scrimmage the ball was again put behind the lines. Another corner-flag +kick was the consequence, and it took the Queen's Park well in on goal, +where the tackling was very severe. The ball again bobbed about the +posts, but the Vale men showed splendid back play on the slippery +ground, and sent it clear. After this Bruce and M'Millan had +a good run on the left for the Vale of Leven, and the former +had a shy that went past the left post. The kick out by Gillespie +was followed up by a steady run on the part of Allan, Berry, and +Gulliland, and the former shied wide past the right post. After the kick +out, the Queen's Park kept up the pressure, and it was some time before +the ball emerged from Vale of Leven territory, which it did from the foot +of Rankin. Some even play ensued, and then the Vale had a run by the +right forwards, and, in kicking clear, Arnott slipped a bit, and the ball, +getting the upper of his boot, rolled over the lines and gave the Vale of +Leven a corner-flag kick. It was taken by M'Lachlan, but he cut the +distance too fine, and the ball rolled harmlessly over the bar. In turn, +Gillespie's kick-out was followed by a run on the part of Sellar and +Hamilton, and a "hand" by one of the Vale of Leven backs gave +Smellie a chance of doing something with a free kick. It was very +hard work, however, for both, and the opinion began to gain ground that +the team who could keep up their stamina longest would be the winners. +The ground, in fact, was a bit treacherous, and in some cases when the +ball landed, after a long kick, it bounded clean over the heads of the +backs, and some mis-kicks now and again occurred. Seven minutes from +half-time, the Vale men made a smart spurt, and, after some clever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">{96}</a></span> +passing, the ball was taken possession of by M'Lachlan, who jumped in +and headed it between the posts—just a few inches from the right side—amid +cheers and counter cheers. The teams then faced up in the centre, +and, from a good start, the Queen's Park got up to their opponents' lines, +and Berry just missed the goal by a foot. After this the Vale of Leven had +a good run down on the Queen's Park lines, and a fast shy by Osborne was +caught up and punted out by Gillespie, and another immediately afterwards, +from the foot of Bruce, was cleared by Smellie. The half-time signal, +however, was given, leaving the Vale of Leven one goal ahead. The +strangers had now the kick-off, and made considerable use of it, for the +forwards backed up well, and a slip by one of the half-backs of the Queen's +Park gave the Vale of Leven a corner-flag kick. The ball was fairly +managed, but Bruce, who had it at his toe, was tackled by Smellie, and +sent down the field. The Queen's Park had now a brilliant turn at the +Leven goal, and several hard shies at the posts were cleverly returned by +the backs. The Queen's men, however, kept pressing on, and had a corner-flag +kick, which was taken by Sellar, and splendidly sent out by Wilson. +The play after this was straggling a bit, and falls were frequent in Vale of +Leven territory, but the Queen's men were very unlucky at goal, and could +not get the ball through—Gulliland, with a hard shy, only missing by a +shave. The ball eventually passed the Leven lines in a scrimmage not +long afterwards, and as it was put over by one of the defenders, another +corner-flag kick was the consequence. Time was now wearing on, and do +all they could, with hemming in their opponents and making innumerable shies +at goal, the Queen's Park could not score, and a corner-flag kick did not +mend matters. After this the Vale team improved very much in their forward +play, and M'Lachlan and Bruce again had a fine run up the field, and as Arnott, +in tackling, let the ball go over the lines, the Leven team had a corner-flag kick. +The shot from the pavilion end was very well taken by one of the half-backs +(M'Nicol), and the Queen's Park goal had a narrow shave, as the ball +was caught by Robertson in the nick of time and cleared. The Queen's +Park were soon at it again, however, and not only drove their powerful +opponents off, but completely invaded their stronghold. Crowding round +Allan, Berry, Gulliland, Sellar, Hamilton, and even the Queen's half-backs +had shies at the Leven goal, but Wilson saved brilliantly. When time +was drawing to a close the excitement became very intense, and while the +friends of the Vale of Leven were jubilant and hopeful about the issue, the +partisans of the senior club, who came to see their favourites conquer, were +proportionately sad and crest-fallen. "They cannot do it now," said a +chorus of voices well up on the stand, "but see this, boys," remarked an +old football follower, as Arnott rolled up the sleeves of his jersey with a +determination which gave new life to the game; and as it has been said +frequently before that the Queen's Park can rise to a great occasion, +assuredly they did on Ibrox Park on Saturday. One minute or so more +and all would be over. Pressing their opponents very hard with shots +at goal, corner-flag kicks, scrimmages almost under the goalkeeper's feet, +they were again and again repulsed by grand work on the part of Wilson, +and as the ball emerged out of the pack after a free kick it was sent a bit +down the field towards the Queen's Park half-backs. Here Bruce, the +most prominent forward of the country club, got possession, and was about +to beat Stewart, when Arnott and Smellie came to the rescue, and the ball +was immediately sent back to the Vale goal, where, after a terrible scrimmage, +from a "free kick," it was put between the posts by Smellie. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">{97}</a></span> +vision of a glorious victory for the Q.P. had by that time faded away like +a dream, and a crowd of the senior club's followers had actually left +Ibrox Park in disgust, when a tremendous cheer burst forth from the +ground signalling a point for the Queen's Park, who had "turned" the +doubtful day again. The scene which followed was truly exciting. The +Q.P. followers gave vent to their strained feelings with an outburst of +cheering which must have been heard in some of the neighbouring police +burghs, including Partick on the other side of the river, while those of the +Vale kept quiet in disappointment. The teams then began the struggle +anew, and from the kick off the Vale of Leven men made a grand run up +on the Queen's Park goal, and had a couple of corner-flag kicks in succession, +but the Queen's Park backs sent the ball clear, and a few seconds +afterwards the whistle sounded, leaving one of the most remarkable +games ever played in the final tie for the Association Challenge Cup +drawn, with one goal all. The following are the teams that played in +both games:—Queen's Park—Goal, Gillespie; backs, Arnott and Smellie; +half-backs, M'Ara, Stewart, and Robertson; forwards, Gulliland, Berry, +J. Hamilton, Allan, and Sellar. Vale of Leven—Goal, Wilson; backs, +Whitelaw and Murray; half-backs, Osborne, M'Nicol, and Sharp; forwards, +M'Lachlan, Rankin, James Patton, Bruce, and M'Millan.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>Second Match.</h3> + +<p>The destiny of the Challenge Cup has at length been decided for the +season, and the Queen's Park are the conquerors after one of the finest +games ever seen on Ibrox Park—the victory being the narrow one of two +goals to one. The game, it may be remembered, was drawn on the +previous Saturday, when each side had scored a goal, and, strange as it +may seem, the Queen's Park only saved themselves then, as they have done +now, towards the close of the contest, and converted what looked like a +defeat into a victory. Between 12,000 and 13,000 spectators were present, +and as the weather was fine the match was a most enjoyable one. The +cash drawn at the gate amounted to fully £600, and, as on the previous +meeting, will be equally apportioned among the two clubs and the +Association. The city cabbies made a day of it, and pocketed a good +round sum. They handled the ribbons with a dexterity which in some +cases was really alarming, and threatened the lieges with accident. +"Drive us to Ibrox Park, mind, in ten minutes, or we'll be late for the +kick-off," and the promise of an extra sixpence did the business, although +Jehu's old friend and brother must be passed on the road. In some cases +this was overdone, and a horseless machine with only one wheel might have +been seen near Bellahouston Academy, awaiting "alterations and repairs," and +on the same road some "spills" also occurred. The remarks round the +pavilion, stand, and approaches were, as usual, both instructive and +amusing, and let the impartial spectator know how the land lay, and the +kind of company he was for the moment keeping. All sorts and conditions +of men and boys were there to see the match. A hasty glance, in fact, +revealed the astonishing fact that nearly all classes in the country were represented—city +magnates, iron-masters, shipbuilders, ministers of religion, +doctors, schoolmasters, clerks, mechanics of all kinds, and a much larger +contingent of ladies than we have seen on any previous occasion. From<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">{98}</a></span> +the cheers and counter cheers which greeted the goal-scoring by the senior +club it was apparent that their followers were in the majority, but when the +young Vale of Leven got the first point, the cheers which followed +showed that they had also a large number of partisans, who honestly +believed in the club's ability to win the cup. In the first round, +indeed, the Vale players showed much better combination all over than +the Q.P., and reminded many of the Vale of yore. The second half, +however, revealed the senior club at their best, and from the manner in +which they acted together and kept up their staying powers, they really +deserved to win. As we have already said, the gossip among the spectators +was both bright and original. A demonstrative supporter of the +senior club was rather personal with his remarks, and was asked by a lover +of the game, but not a partisan of either club, to keep quiet "and not let +everybody know he was a born fool." "Oh! yes; it's all very fine, but +the band at Alexandria 'ill no play at the station yet: the Vale canna' win +noo," said he, as the Queen's team put the ball through a second time. A +well dressed young fellow on the stand near the press table was very funny, +and if ever a man enjoyed the game it was he. In the exuberance of his +joy at the Q.P. scoring, he danced on the little spot allotted to him on the +stand, and in doing so nearly overbalanced himself. "Ye'll be the better +o' a half yin after that narrow escape," said one of his friends, handing him +a bottle. After he had swallowed a fair amount of the liquor he stole a +hasty glance at the bottle, and found to his disgust he had been drinking +"The Vale of Leven blend." "It's a' richt," said his country friend, +"ye'll maybe need it a' yet; the Vale are not beaten the noo; the Queen's +man tak' anither goal before that occurs," and so they did. "Oh! a' +say," remarked a born East-Ender, for whom we are perfectly certain the +Clyde and Thistle, according to his self-importance at any rate, had played +their best on Barrowfield and Beechwood, "look at that; it's no' fair +to gie the Vale a free kick for that; it's the auld way; gie't ta the +yin that mak's the maist noise." "Yes," said another, who looked +every inch a dyer from the celebrated football county of Dumbarton, +and maybe the Vale of Leven district itself, "did ever ye see the likes +o' that, and frae sic a swell club, tae?" as Robertson bowled over +Bruce on the grass, and cleared the ball away. Wilson, the Vale of Leven +goalkeeper, came in for a fair share of praise; and so did Arnott, Smellie, +Sellar, Gulliland, and Gillespie for their brilliant play, but many were in +ecstacy about young Wilson. "His mither 'ill be a proud woman the day +when she kens how well he kept goal for the Vale; there's nae doubt +about it, Wilson's the coming man between the sticks for the International +on Hampden Park on 5th April next," said a red-faced man, wearing a +glengarry. Old and respected members of both clubs were again present +to cheer on their successors to victory, and we observed several original +members of the once-famous Clydesdale, including two who took part in +the first final tie for the cup on old Hampden Park. Several old Rangers +were present, too, who remembered well the series of exciting matches +played by them against the Vale of Leven, when no fewer than three hard +battles had to be fought before the destiny of the cup was settled for the +year. The sad news, too, was announced in the papers of the sudden +death of another famous forward (Mr. J. R. Wilson), who took part in the +first final tie between the Queen's Park and Clydesdale on behalf of the +latter club. Many of the "Old Brigade" viewed the contest with mixed +feelings. "You seem excited, Bob," said a friend to an old Q.P., and no <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">{99}</a></span> +wonder; time is fleeting fast; the game will be done in a quarter of an +hour, and, dear me, the Queen's have not even scored. "Not at all, not +at all," said the Q.P. old player, tearing at his moustache in a manner that +threatened that hirsute appendage with instant annihilation, "I think they +will, at anyrate, make it a draw, for see how they press the Vale now. +Oh! they've done it; see that," as Hamilton sent the ball between the +posts. "The extra half-hour is sure to be played now," said another, +as the Vale of Leven men brought down the ball to mid-field, and +kicked off. There was, indeed, great excitement, and as the Queen's Park +again and again pressed their opponents, and finally scored a second goal, +it was a dozen times intensified, and the subsequent play made the Q.P. +men more bold and determined. The Vale of Leven, as on the previous +occasion, appeared in the field of play first, and had a punt about with the +ball for a few minutes, when their opponents emerged from the pavilion +and had some practice round the upper goal, while the umpires and the +referee were arranging the preliminaries. The visitors won the toss, and +played with what little wind there was in their favour. Hamilton kicked +off, and Berry followed his forward companion, but Murray turned the ball, +and M'Millan and Bruce had a nice run, and caused the ball to get near +the Queen's Park goal, but Smellie caught it on the rise and sent it down +the field. It was taken up on the left side, and Sellar ended a brilliant +run by passing the leather fairly across the goal to Gulliland, and that +player made a rare shot at goal, but Wilson was on the alert, and caught +the ball very smartly, and sent it out. Here a close scrimmage was +followed by another shot on the part of Allan, but the ball went over the +lines. After the kick-out, the Vale of Leven men made a fine run up on +the Queen's Park goal, and M'Lachlan had a long shy that caused +Gillespie to throw away the ball in a hurry. The strangers played well +together, and had by far the best of it, and made the Q.P. backs work +about as they had never done before. Paton had another shy, and then the +left outside forward had one that came so close on the bar that Gillespie +had again to chuck out in double quick time. After this, Gulliland had a +fast run down the field, and ended the run with a parting shot that +went past on the right post. Some even play then occurred, but the +Leven forwards manœuvred together better than those of the Queen's +Park, and a fine piece of passing by Sharp, Osborne, and Bruce ended +by the latter making a shy that touched the tips of Gillespie's fingers and +went through the goal, close to the post. The point was so smartly +made that it fairly took away the breath from the Queen's Park +friends, and caused the faces of the supporters of the country club to beam +with delight, while the cheering for the then successful team was long +and loud. The players then faced up in mid-field and renewed the battle, +and not very long thereafter the Queen's Park gained their first corner-flag +kick, but it was a poor one for Sellar, and the ball was soon cleared away +by the Vale of Leven backs. The Queen's team, however, kept well in +front of their opponents' goal, and another corner-flag kick was succeeded +by an exciting scrimmage, and then a shy by Gulliland was cleverly cleared +away by Wilson. When half-time came, however, the Leven men were +swarming round the Q.P. posts. The contest was then renewed in terrible +earnest, and the Queen's Park, with one goal against them, had the wind +in their favour now. The Vale of Leven, however, had the kick-off, but +the ball was at once returned by M'Ara, and the Queen's Park found themselves +right in front of the Leven goal, where one of the backs fouled the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">{100}</a></span> +ball close on the right post. The shy was taken by Allan, and the ball hit +the bar, but after an exciting scrimmage it was cleared by the Vale backs. +The Queen's Park, however, were soon on it again, and the next five minutes' +play was nearly disastrous to the Leven team, as no fewer than five corner-flag +kicks were given to the Queen's Park, in consequence of kicking behind +on the part of Leven men. The defence, however, was excellent, and +by slow degrees the ball was worked clear, and M'Lachlan had a run +down on the Glasgow club's goal, where the whistle of the referee told the +spectators that the dashing forward was off-side. He did not seem to hear +the whistle a bit, but coolly went up to the Queen's Park posts and kicked +the ball through without the least opposition. The kick-out in front was +followed by a fine run on the part of Gulliland and Berry, but Whitelaw +managed to tackle the Q.P. young forward, and the ball was soon sent +back. It did not go far, however, for the Q.P. forwards kept it among +them for a time. The Leven men had now a good run on the left by +Sharp, and Stewart sent the ball behind his own goal. Rankin took the +corner-flag kick, but Arnott got on the leather in an instant, and sent it +spinning up the field by one of his famous returns. From this point till +the call of time the Queen's Park were fairly in it, and played, perhaps, as +they had never done before. Defeat stared them in the face, and the +game was fast drawing to a close. Barely a quarter of an hour and the +destiny of the cup would be settled. As on the previous Saturday, however, +the Queen's men played worthy of a great occasion, and won the +trophy. Pressing their opponents up on the goal, they kept them there for +a time, and although the ball was seen to go out and in among the +shoal of busy feet a few yards from the posts, Wilson and the backs +cleared brilliantly. At length, however, Allan had a corner-flag kick, +which was managed so neatly that Hamilton got the ball in a good position +and headed it through. This gave new life to the senior club and their +supporters, and the cheering was again renewed when a few minutes after +the next kick-off the Queen's Park drove the Vale team before them, and +again had hot work near Wilson. The Queen's half-backs, who had +hitherto not acted so well together in the earlier stages of the game, +metaphorically speaking, "came out of their shells," and, along with the +forwards, took an active part in the siege. Shots were aimed thick and +fast at the goalkeeper, and at length Stewart, with a shooter, sent the ball +spinning through, making the second goal for the Queen's Park. The +teams then faced up in the centre, and the tremendous cheering which +greeted the scoring of the second goal had scarcely died away when the Vale +team made one last but brilliant effort to equalise, but they were driven on +by Smellie and Arnott, and at length the whistle sounded, leaving the Queen's +Park the winners of a match in every way worthy of the final tie for the +Challenge Cup by two goals to one. Although the strain now and again +was pretty heavy on the players when at close quarters, the contest all +through was conducted in the most friendly way, and showed a marked +contrast to some final ties played a few years ago. It may also be +mentioned that the premier club have not held the trophy since 1885-86, +when they defeated Renton by three goals to one; but of the seventeen +matches played in the final the Queen's Park have carried off no fewer +than nine, while the Vale come next with three.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class='center'><i>H. Nisbet & Co., Printers, 25 Jamaica Street, Glasgow.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 271px;"> +<img src="images/illus099.jpg" width="271" height="350" alt="Forsyth's "Acm[=e] Shirt"" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: x-large"><b>THOMAS NAISMITH</b></span></p> + +<p class='center'><b>(Formerly of Thomas Naismith & Co.)</b></p> + +<p class='center'>Respectfully intimates that he has Opened +those Central Premises,</p> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: large">NO. 2 DUNLOP ST.</span></p> + +<p class='center'>With a Fresh Stock of</p> + +<p class='center' style="font-size: large;">Glass, China, Earthenware, and +Ornamental Goods.</p> + +<p class='center'><b>Direct from the Factories.</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center'><b>Established 50 Years.</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: x-large">JOHN KINNAIRD.</span></p> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: large">DYER,</span></p> + +<p class='center'>94 Canning St., 285 Garscube Road, 176 Main St., +Anderston, 71 Paisley Road, West, and +808 Govan Road, Govan.</p> + +<p class='center'><b>Works: Springfield Road.</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p>Gentlemen's Suits Cleaned from 2s. 10d. 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DOW, having removed to more central premises, has much pleasure in again +thanking his numerous patrons in all parts of Scotland for the large measure of +support accorded him during past seasons, and would again call the attention of +Committees and others to his large and choice selection of Gold and Silver Badges, +Medals, and Athletic Prizes. Committees are cordially invited to inspect his Stock +and compare with any others before placing their orders. The style, finish, and +general excellency of his designs are unsurpassed, and taking quality, etc., into +consideration, the prices will be found the cheapest in the Trade.</p> + +<p class='center'>New Designs always being added.</p> + +<p>Special designs to order, and estimates given. Samples forwarded on request. +Inscriptions at specially low rates.</p> + +<p class='center'>Estimates and Designs furnished for Silver and Electro-Plated +Challenge Cups.</p> + +<p class='center'>FOOTBALL AND TRAVELLING BAGS AT LOWEST PRICES.</p> + +<p class='center'>Splendid Selection of Electro-Plate Goods, Marble Clocks, &c., suitable for +Athletic Prizes and Presentations.</p> + +<p class='center'><i>Patronized by over 200 Associations and Clubs.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: large">THE ACKNOWLEDGED<br /></span> +<span style="font-size: x-large">CYCLING OUTFITTERS</span></p> + +<p>Suits to Order from 21/ to 50/ in a Shade of Surges, Vicunas, Tweeds, and +Worsteds.</p> + +<p>C.T.C. CLOTH, all pure Wool and thoroughly shrunk, 35/ the Suit to Order, +with Cap.</p> + +<p>All inside Trimmings pure Wool.</p> + +<p>Suiting and Fitting by practical Cyclists.</p> + +<p>Club Secretaries or unattached riders respectfully requested to write for +samples, and compare prices.</p> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: large">Forms of Self-Measurement Sent,</span></p> + +<p>or Clubs waited on by one of our representatives if an Order for three or more Suits, +fifty miles from Glasgow.</p> + +<p>NOTE.—Gentlemen should be very careful in ordering a Cycling or any other +suit to know that they are not made under the sweating System (we have reason +to believe many of them are), the dangers of which are well-known.</p> + +<p>All garments made by us are made by our own Tailors, in our own work-rooms, +adjoining our warehouses.</p> + +<p class='center'><i>Private Fit-on Rooms, and all accessories to a large Tailoring Business.</i></p> + +<p class='center'>Waterproof Cape, Leggings, and Cap, 12s. 6d. the lot. Can go in the +smallest space.</p> + +<p class='center'>Hygienic Underwear, Cycling Hose to match Uniform, etc., etc.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: x-large">PENMANS',</span></p> + +<p class='center'><span style="font-size: large">101, 103, 105, 107, & 109 Canning St., Bridgeton,</span></p> + +<p class='center'>And 122 MAIN STREET, ANDERSTON, GLASGOW.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Scottish Football Reminiscences and +Sketches, by David Drummond Bone + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCOTTISH FOOTBALL REMINISCENCES *** + +***** This file should be named 28028-h.htm or 28028-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/2/28028/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Susan Skinner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from Google Books.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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