This week is the 140th anniversary of the first international football match, Scotland v England, played in Glasgow on 30 November 1872. To mark the event, here are a few little-known facts about the game, which finished 0-0:
Read the full story of the match in my book, First Elevens. Order now for Christmas!
- The Scotland team wore blue jerseys and white knickerbockers with blue and white hooped socks. These were the colours of Queen's Park FC, whose committee selected the team and made all the arrangements for the game as the Scottish FA had not yet been formed. To distinguish the jerseys, a red lion rampant was embroidered onto the chest by Marion Wotherspoon, sister of one of the Scotland players. Unfortunately, if the pictures of the game are accurate, she sewed them on back to front.
- Although all of the Scotland players were members of Queen's Park, two of them had to travel from England specially for the game. They were the brothers Robert and James Smith, who were founding members of the club in 1867 but had since moved to London and were now playing for South Norwood. In fact, they turned out for their London club in the FA Cup the week before and the week after the international.
- Two of the England players, Frederick Chappell and Arnold Kirke Smith, had previously played for Scotland against England in the series of unofficial internationals that preceded this match.
- A photographer was asked to attend the ground but left as the players refused to commit to buy his prints. Therefore the only images of the match are the engravings which appeared in The Graphic two weeks later. They were drawn by William Ralston, a young Glasgow artist who went on to a successful career with Punch.
- The attendance is often quoted as four thousand, but some contemporary newspapers gave a figure of 2,500 which seems more likely. The gate receipts were just under £103, which equates to just over two thousand admissions at a shilling each. Ladies were admitted free.
- Both teams changed goalkeepers at half-time. Robert Barker started in goal for England but changed places at the break with William Maynard. For Scotland, team captain Robert Gardner moved upfield for a while with Robert Smith going between the sticks, but Gardner reverted to his original position during the second half.
- After the match, the teams enjoyed dinner at Carrick's Royal Hotel in George Square, where the lengthy toast list included the Sheffield FA and the Scotland rugby team.
Read the full story of the match in my book, First Elevens. Order now for Christmas!
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