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SPORTS HISTORY BLOG

Over 250 articles on all aspects of Scottish sport

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An important sporting anniversary has gone entirely unmarked in the media today. On 9 July 1862, 150 years ago today, the first ever sporting contest between England and Scotland on equal terms took place. It was the Elcho Shield match between shooting eights at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting at Wimbledon.
   The editor of the Volunteer Service Gazette appointed two captains: Lord Bury for England and Captain Horatio Ross for Scotland. This inspired Lord Elcho, a Scottish peer, to donate the Elcho Challenge Shield (pictured). The first match was won by England by 166 points (890 to 724), and Scotland won for the first time in 1864, the same year that a second international contest was first held, twenty a side, known as the Volunteer Match.
   NB There is a link between the Elcho Shield and the early football internationals, as Wingfield Malcolm MP, who played football for Scotland in 1870, was an enthusiastic volunteer and shot for Scotland in 1869, and was non-playing captain in 1876.
   To read more, see these links: National Rifle Club of Scotland and English Eight Club. 
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It is something of an achievement to play for Scotland - but only rare talents are given the honour in two sports. I was checking recently for double internationals at football and cricket, and there are a few anomalies because of the sometimes dubious status of the Scotland cricket team.
   Scot Symon won one cap for the football team, against Hungary in 1938, and famously took 5 wickets for 33 runs while bowling against the Australians earlier that year. That match against Australia was at Dundee's Forthill ground on 4-5 August, and he also played in a one-day match at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow on 6 August, taking 3 for 44.
   In an earlier era, John Macdonald (Edinburgh University and Queen's Park) won one cap at football against England in 1886, having already played cricket for Scotland against the Australians in September 1880; he also represented his country against the Gentlemen of Philadelphia in 1884.
   Moving to the modern era, Hearts striker Donald Ford played three times for Scotland in 1973-74, twice coming on as a sub for Denis Law and finally making a start against Wales. He was a member of our World Cup squad in West Germany but didn't get a game. A talented cricketer with West Lothian, his only appearance with a Scotland XI was a 40-overs trial match against Worcestershire in 1980, and although he was a member of our B&H Cup squad that year he didn't play.
   The trouble with all the above cricket matches is that none of them is formally considered a 'first class' match.
   Which brings us to the only football international to have played for Scotland in a first class cricket match. Andy Goram won 43 caps in goal for Scotland between 1985 and 1998, when he famously walked out just before the World Cup. He played five times for Scotland at cricket from 1989 to 1991, and two of those games are considered first class: they were both against Ireland, on 8-10 July 1989 and 22-24 July 1991. By then, he had signed for Rangers and Walter Smith made it clear that he had to hang up his bat and focus on the footie. He was rumoured to be contemplating a comeback with Uddingston CC this summer at the age of 48, so there is life left in the Goalie yet.
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Photo of William Ker c1876 (copyright)

One of the most satisfying aspects of research into the early footballers is discovering their families, and I was particularly lucky to make contact with direct descendants of William Ker (above), who played for Scotland in the 1872 international then emigrated the following year.

   My breakthrough was in finding that William and his younger brother George both went to the Yakima Valley in Washington State, where there is now a local history website [link] with pictures of them both. From there I managed to trace their family trees down to the present generation and gain access to a number of excellent photos, some of which are in my book. They even had a letter to William from Queen's Park FC in 1874! 

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