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SPORTS HISTORY BLOG

Over 250 articles on all aspects of Scottish sport

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KB footballers in about 1886, with James Young Smart (circled) in the back row.

One of the pioneers of Danish football was a man from Dundee who was top scorer in the country's first football league. James Young Smart, a player and administrator with Strathmore FC, went to Copenhagen in 1885 and made a huge impact through his skills on and off the field.
   Smart's influence was recalled when Queen's Park went on tour to Copenhagen in 1898. Scottish Sport magazine carried an interview with former player Alexander Hamilton, in which he stated that the honour of introducing the game in Denmark belonged to a former Dundee Strathmore player called JT Smart (they got his middle initial wrong). See Matt McDowell's fascinating research paper and an article on the Scottish Football Museum website.
   However, although Smart was an important figure he was not the actual founder of the game in Denmark. The first football was a birthday gift in 1878 for Johannes Juhl Raahauge, whose father was a merchant based in Hull; he then introduced the sport to his fellow students at Sorø Academy. And in 1879, KB (Kjøbenhavns  Boldklub) took up association football, three years after being founded as a multisport club, 
   James Young Smart was born in Dundee in 1862, the eldest surviving son of a jute mill manager. In the summer of 1878 he was elected secretary and treasurer of Strathmore FC, aged just 16, and played regularly for them over the next few years, rising to become club president in 1882. Strathmore had been founded early in 1877, named in honour of its patron the Earl of Strathmore, and its ground was at Rollo's Pier, off Magdalen Yard Road at the west end of the city.
    He remained still president until he left Dundee to go abroad, as reported in the Evening Telegraph on 18 February 1885: 'On Monday evening a number of gentlemen met in the Queen's Hotel and entertained Mr J.Y. Smart to supper on the occasion of his leaving Dundee for Copenhagen.'
   Soon after he arrived in Denmark, he joined KB and gained quite a reputation for his skills. An early history of Danish football said Smart was: 'an excellent player in almost every position… a crowd favourite, especially among the boys, jovial and playful, teaching them tricks and ball skills.'
   In the winter of 1886–87, he helped to translate the laws of association football from English into Danish, working with Ludwig Sylow and other KB committee members.
   In 1888, KB instigated the country's first knockout cup competition, and won it convincingly with Smart in the forefront. Then a year later, he was the top scorer in Denmark's first league tournament in 1889-90, scoring 12 times for KB although they finished second behind Akademisk. The following season, KB did win the league and Smart showed his versatility by sometimes playing in goal.
   Even after he left Denmark he was not forgotten and the creative Danish midfielder August Lindgren, who played in the 1908 Olympics, was nicknamed 'Smart' in tribute to the Scot.
​   In 1892, Smart went to New York for a while, then returned to Dundee to join the family business at Rosebank jute mill. He kept up his football interest as a member of Dundee FC's match committee, helping out in December 1898 when the club got going again after liquidation, and in December 1899 his sisters ran a stall at the football club's fundraising bazaar.
   Thereafter, things get a bit hazy. His father had died in 1896 and in March 1900 the Dundee Courier carried a company advert to announce that Mr James Young Smart was no longer employed at Rosebank mill. Although he was still listed as a jute factory manager in the 1901 census, there is nothing to indicate that he was still involved in the family business; yet his brother and two sisters were directors.
   It appears his life had started to go into a downward spiral and Smart died at Duke Street Hospital, Glasgow in 1921, age 59 and unmarried. The death certificate gave his usual residence as the Great Eastern Hotel, politely known as a 'working man's hostel' but in reality a doss-house; cause of death was myocardial degeneration and chronic nervous congestion (ie heart disease and stroke). It was a sorry end for a Scottish sporting pioneer whose impact on Danish football is remembered to this day.
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In 1898, Queen's Park visited Denmark to play exhibition matches, the first Scottish club to make an overseas trip.


​James Young Smart

Born 18 March 1862 in Dundee
Died 8 May 1921 in Glasgow

Update: in June 2026, a remarkable medal which was won by James Young Smart came up at auction. It was awarded for his success in Denmark in season 1887-88, and after fierce bidding it sold for well over the pre-sale estimate, realising 1600 euros plus commission.
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The Simmath Press is a name to conjure with for Scottish football historians. This obscure Dundee publisher was responsible for many of the earliest attempts at chronicling the story of our football clubs, with a prolific output in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
   Their little handbooks and histories are invaluable records of many of Scotland's smaller teams, not just for the text but also the rare photos of matches and players. A considerable effort must have gone into compiling the booklets, but almost all of them have no credited author.
   Simmath Press should be celebrated for its efforts, yet the company remains an enigma, long since disappeared, and their publications are now hard to come by. I decided to look into their own story, as the company deserves considerable credit.
   The earliest mention I could find in the press was in 1923, when the Simmath Press was acquired by Valentines of Dundee to specialise in the production of guidebooks, illustrated with Valentines views. Clearly it had been operating before then, and it reverted to a separate company four years later when the firm was sold on an amicable basis. Described as fine art printers, Simmath Press was based at 17 Roseangle, Dundee, where it remained until 1949.
   The managing director was JPP Simpson, and the other directors were Duncan G Brown (assistant manager) and William B Dickie junior, a solicitor.
  I have not been able to establish how the company got its name, but presumably the first half came from the Sim of Simpson. He was an interesting character in himself: James Palermo Parkes Simpson (1890-1963) was a WW1 navy veteran from Broughty Ferry, known as Captain Simpson, who had a number of outside interests. He tried (and failed) to build an upmarket hotel near his home in Errol, founded the Dundee Cat and Dog Home in 1937 and was a prize-winning pig breeder. But it appears most of his time was occupied in publishing.   
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And what of their publications? Simmath had a business model based on providing a client with free copies of a booklet to sell, in return for an official endorsement that allowed the company to keep the advertising revenue. Their principal customers were local councils who wanted municipal guidebooks to promote tourism, and these appear frequently on the market.
   However, they also ventured into sport, and the 1920s saw Simmath produce booklets for Scottish cricket clubs including Aberdeenshire, Clackmannan and Perthshire, then in the 1930s they moved into fox-hunting, with the renowned writer John Fairfax-Blakeborough compiling guides to Dumfriesshire, Lincolnshire and Northumbria. There was also a Simmath guide to the 1931 Open Golf Championship, held nearby at Carnoustie, and regional golf guides for counties as far apart as Fife and Somerset. The only football booklet that I know of at this stage was Tales from Tynecastle, which I have already digitised on this site.
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Simmath appeared to be prospering and in 1939 branched out into neon lighting for advertising signs, although the war soon put a stop to that. Their output in the war years included air raid precaution guides.
   The post-war years brought a huge boom in football attendances, and around 1948 someone at Simmath had the bright idea to approach football clubs. It was an immediate success: clubs the length of Scotland soon had a history booklet, produced in a standardised yet well-written format, illustrated with team groups and action photos. The 'Through the Years' series must have sold well, as the following season came the follow-up, with club handbooks.
   The clubs were largely east coast, reflecting the company's home base in Dundee, but although Glasgow was not touched the range extended as far west as Kilmarnock and up to Inverness. They include unexpected teams such as Peterhead and Brechin City, the latter being one of the few to credit an author, George Cumming.
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When there was not enough advertising business for a specific club, they were grouped together in regional guides, such as Fife, Angus or the Highland League. There was even a handbook for Dundee junior clubs.
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As the project ran out of steam, the company moved into national Scottish football yearbooks, the final output I know of being a large format hardback issue for 1953-54.
   Simmath Press, by this time, had moved into expanded premises in Hawkhill, and the original building in Roseangle was sold in 1949 to Dundee Art Society, who are still there today. According to press reports, the company had 30 employees at the time and aimed to bring this up to 100, but I have not been able to establish what happened after the mid-1950s. The last mention I can find of them was in 1955, agreeing a contract to publishing housing tenancy agreement booklets.
   The legacy of Simmath Press remains, however. Sold locally, few copies of their Scottish football handbooks now exist and most of them are not even in the National Library of Scotland, yet the company's prolific output represents a hugely important contribution to the history of our game. Some of their photos, in particular the action shots, are almost the only pictorial record of that era. Written and compiled anonymously, the Simmath football guides are lively and informative, a long-forgotten snapshot of the post-war boom years. 

A Simmath Press football bibliography

'Through the Years' series of club histories (1948): Aberdeen, Alloa, Brechin City, Cowdenbeath, Dundee, Dundee Utd, East Fife, Falkirk, Forfar Athletic, Hibernian, Hearts, Kilmarnock, Montrose, St Johnstone, Stirling Albion; Highland League (reprinted 1952)

Handbooks 1949-50: Aberdeen, Dundee, Forfar Athletic, Hearts, Hibernian, Stirling Albion; Fifeshire Football Clubs

Handbooks 1950-51: Airdrieonians, Alloa, Dundee, Forfar Athletic, Hearts, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Peterhead, St Johnstone, Stirling Albion; Angus Football Clubs, Inverness and District clubs, North of Scotland clubs; Dundee Junior Football; Scottish League.

Handbooks 1951-52: Hearts/Hibernian (joint), Stirling Albion, Fifeshire Football Clubs, Raith Rovers Supporters' Club Silver Jubilee, Scottish League.

Handbooks 1952-53: Raith Rovers, Scottish League.

Handbooks 1953-54: Raith Rovers, Scottish League (hardback).

Tales from Tynecastle (1928).

This may not be a complete list, please let me know of any other editions.
   
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It is one of the curiosities of Scotland's sporting annals that an activity as popular as hockey has such a limited historical record. At a national level hockey has a proud heritage that even extends to the Olympic Games, but the club game has operated somewhat below the radar for too long.
   As a former player myself (goalkeeper for school and university seconds) I've got more than a passing interest in hockey, so it was a great pleasure this week to receive a new history of Dundee Wanderers, one of Scotland's most successful clubs, who are celebrating their 80th anniversary. Written by Richard Miller - who is also a prolific cricket writer - it is a lively jaunt through eighty years of action, anecdotes, including European campaigns and club tours, with numerous illustrations old and new. There is an excellent and informative section on the club's select band of male and female internationalists.
   Published in paperback and running to 120 pages, it has been distributed free to club members but is also available to anyone else for £10 plus postage. Full details are on the club website.
   As far as I know, Wanderers are just the fourth Scottish club to produce a history, the others being Dunfermline Carnegie, ICI Grangemouth and Edinburgh Northern/Grange. All of them were printed in small numbers and are hard to find.
   The bibliography of Scottish hockey can be found here: http://www.scottishsporthistory.com/hockey-books.html
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On today's anniversary of the Tay Bridge Disaster in 1879, it is worth recalling the football connection. One of the first men on the scene in an official capacity was the President of the Football Association, Major Francis Marindin, who had a professional role as an inspector of railways. Here is an edited extract from my biography of Lord Kinnaird, First Lord of Football:
   An eventful Old Etonian winter tour to Scotland started at Hampden Park, Glasgow. Arthur Kinnaird had not been back to the ground since playing for Wanderers in a 5-0 drubbing from Queen’s Park in 1875, and while it was not such a crushing defeat this time, again his team conceded five. The opposition was Vale of Leven, who chose to play at Hampden because of the status of a match which brought together the winners of the Scottish Cup and the FA Cup, but driving wind and rain kept the crowd down to just 800. The Vale team had the advantage of the strong wind at their backs to pile on the pressure, and built a 4-0 half-time lead. After the break, as the pitch turned into a quagmire, the Etonians exploited the conditions for their own benefit, scoring two quick goals before a defensive blunder let in the Vale for a fifth, and it ended 5-2. The visitors still drew praise in the press: 'The Etonian players are the best exponents of the game seen in Scotland, and under different weather circumstances would prove a good match for their Scotch opponents.'
   The storm was gathering so much momentum that the following evening (28 December) it caused one of Britain’s worst railway accidents, the Tay Bridge Disaster.  Over 70 train passengers were killed as the bridge collapsed in the wind, which brought an unexpected summons for Major Marindin, who had played in goal as Etonian captain at Hampden. On retiring from the army he had become an investigating officer of railways with the Board of Trade, and was a regular visitor to Scotland on railway business (he had actually inspected the Tay Bridge before it opened in the summer of 1878). He could hardly have been closer to the scene of the disaster, as after the match in Glasgow, Arthur Kinnaird had invited him (and possibly the rest of the team as well) to stay for a couple of nights at his family home, Rossie Priory. It is just ten miles west of the bridge’s northern landfall. On hearing the tragic news, Marindin set off immediately for Dundee to launch the official investigation, ducking out of the rest of the tour. He spent the next few weeks in the city undertaking boat trips to inspect the damage and submitting evidence to the inquiry. 
   Meanwhile, the football tour continued. Kinnaird took over as Old Etonian captain and travelled with the rest of the team to Edinburgh where, with a local man as substitute goalkeeper, they faced a city select on 30 December and won 4-3.


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