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SPORTS HISTORY BLOG

Over 250 articles on all aspects of Scottish sport

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by guest blogger Douglas Gorman

Scotland had three great Junior  football internationalists in the early post-War period: Bert McNab (Petershill), Davie Mair (Stonehouse Violet) and Willie Niven (Irvine Meadow XI). 
   Their combined Junior Scotland careers stretched from 1948 to 1955 and overlapped between 1951 and 1954.
   In the 16 matches played by Scotland from 23 December 1950 to 12 February 1955 at least one of the trio was in the team and they all captained the team in a total of at least ten matches. Bert McNab’s 13 matches against international opposition has yet to be beaten.
   
You can read Douglas Gorman's account of their careers and achievements by clicking here.

1 Comments
Douglas Gorman - 8 years ago
As this article was posted I learnt of the sad passing of Jimmy Sievewright (Baillieston, Kilsyth Rangers and Junior Scotland). My article was on three Junior internationalists who had played together. Jimmy was very close to playing alongside the trio of McNab, Mair and Niven. The nearest he got was being in the same team as Bert McNab and Davie Mair on two occasions and just Bert McNab once.

In all, Jimmy played for Junior Scotland in nine matches and all against International opposition. He was on the winning side in all but one match. He made his Junior Scotland debut as a Baillieston player playing two matches in 1954 before moving to Kilsyth Rangers. He captained the team in four matches. He played in 7 successive internationals and but for injury forcing him out of matches against the Republic of Ireland in 1956 and 1957 it would have been eleven consecutive matches in all games from 1953/54 to 1956/57 seasons inclusive.

Jimmy was a key member of the Kilsyth Rangers team that won the Junior Cup in 1955. He was ruled out by injury in the drawn final against Duntocher Hibs but returned for the replay.

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All blog posts, unless stated, are written by Andy Mitchell.