SPORTS HISTORY BLOG
Over 250 articles on all aspects of Scottish sport
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There is always something emotive about the gravestones of great sportsmen, and the discovery of Andrew Watson's last resting place was no exception.
On the morning of this week's England v Scotland match, I travelled out to the leafy London suburbs. Armed with a detailed site plan, courtesy of the helpful staff at Richmond Cemetery, it didn't take long to find his grave. The cemetery is tidy but other than sports historians nobody seems to have paid any attention to this nondescript plot in section 4.
After the joy of discovery, the next thing to stand out was the detail on the headstone: his name and life dates. Having only pinpointed his death a few months ago, the date of birth was a revelation: 24 May 1856. All published sources until now have stated 18 May 1857, but I have long suspected this was false as his age in censuses and documentation always indicated he was a year older. Here was proof that the later date was a guess that had become accepted 'truth'.
I placed a Scottish saltire flag and a few flowers on the grave to commemorate his place in Scottish football history. But I have a strong feeling that Andrew Watson deserves more, a prominent and permanent memorial that truly recognises his place in sporting history as the first black international footballer, the first black administrator (he was secretary of Queen's Park) and possibly the first black professional player (at Bootle).
On the morning of this week's England v Scotland match, I travelled out to the leafy London suburbs. Armed with a detailed site plan, courtesy of the helpful staff at Richmond Cemetery, it didn't take long to find his grave. The cemetery is tidy but other than sports historians nobody seems to have paid any attention to this nondescript plot in section 4.
After the joy of discovery, the next thing to stand out was the detail on the headstone: his name and life dates. Having only pinpointed his death a few months ago, the date of birth was a revelation: 24 May 1856. All published sources until now have stated 18 May 1857, but I have long suspected this was false as his age in censuses and documentation always indicated he was a year older. Here was proof that the later date was a guess that had become accepted 'truth'.
I placed a Scottish saltire flag and a few flowers on the grave to commemorate his place in Scottish football history. But I have a strong feeling that Andrew Watson deserves more, a prominent and permanent memorial that truly recognises his place in sporting history as the first black international footballer, the first black administrator (he was secretary of Queen's Park) and possibly the first black professional player (at Bootle).
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Since Andy Murray's amazing victory at Wimbledon, there has been much comment about him being the first Scots-born men's singles winner since Harold Mahony in 1896. But Mahony's birth in Edinburgh was almost an accident, as his family was Irish and this was essentially a holiday home.
Another Wimbledon champion who could be said to have a stronger Scottish link was the little known Herbert Lawford, who won the singles title in 1887. Born in Bayswater in 1851, there is no doubt he was English, being brought up in London and educated at Repton, but he began a lifelong attachment to Scotland when he concluded his schooling at Edinburgh Academy in 1868. He then developed his sporting skills while studying at Edinburgh University between 1868 and 1870, in the university cricket team (he also played cricket for Edinburgh Academicals), and practising his court skills at the Rose Street Racket Court. This was several years before lawn tennis was even invented, but he took up the 'new' game with considerable success after returning to London for a career on the Stock Exchange. He first entered Wimbledon in 1878 and is noted as the first player to introduce topspin, beating Ernest Renshaw in five sets in the 1887 final as well as reaching five other singles finals from 1880 to 1888. He was clearly one of the top players of his day.
Among other achievements as a sporting all-rounder, he turned out at least once for the famous Wanderers football club.
What makes his connection to Scotland much stronger is that he retained a close affinity to the country. He visited regularly and was a shooting tenant of Lauriston Castle near Montrose from the mid 1890s, eventually retiring in 1909 to Aberdeenshire. He bought a house called Drumnagesk at Dess, near Aboyne, where he spent the rest of his life, adding to his sporting interests by joining Aboyne Curling Club. He died there in 1925, aged 73.
Another Wimbledon champion who could be said to have a stronger Scottish link was the little known Herbert Lawford, who won the singles title in 1887. Born in Bayswater in 1851, there is no doubt he was English, being brought up in London and educated at Repton, but he began a lifelong attachment to Scotland when he concluded his schooling at Edinburgh Academy in 1868. He then developed his sporting skills while studying at Edinburgh University between 1868 and 1870, in the university cricket team (he also played cricket for Edinburgh Academicals), and practising his court skills at the Rose Street Racket Court. This was several years before lawn tennis was even invented, but he took up the 'new' game with considerable success after returning to London for a career on the Stock Exchange. He first entered Wimbledon in 1878 and is noted as the first player to introduce topspin, beating Ernest Renshaw in five sets in the 1887 final as well as reaching five other singles finals from 1880 to 1888. He was clearly one of the top players of his day.
Among other achievements as a sporting all-rounder, he turned out at least once for the famous Wanderers football club.
What makes his connection to Scotland much stronger is that he retained a close affinity to the country. He visited regularly and was a shooting tenant of Lauriston Castle near Montrose from the mid 1890s, eventually retiring in 1909 to Aberdeenshire. He bought a house called Drumnagesk at Dess, near Aboyne, where he spent the rest of his life, adding to his sporting interests by joining Aboyne Curling Club. He died there in 1925, aged 73.
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There has been a notable movement in the last few years to rediscover the last resting places of famous Scottish footballers, and I have to applaud, in particular, the efforts of supporters at Celtic and Rangers in researching and recognising the pioneers of those clubs.
This week the excellent Celtic Graves Society is co-ordinating a 125th anniversary celebration of the club's first match in 1888 by arranging for flowers to be placed on the graves of the eleven players in that match. Easier said than done: while eight of the players can be found within a few miles of Glasgow, the other three are in Brooklyn, Pennsylvania and Prague. Read about it at the Celtic Graves website or follow @celticgraves on twitter for updates and photos.
Meanwhile on the other side of Glasgow, the fine work of the Gallant Pioneers website continues to promote the early history of Rangers. They have a regular Founders Trail to visit key places, and make the point - which applies to so many clubs: 'We were told often enough that people just weren't interested in the history of the Club but time and again the supporters have proved them wrong.'
And just to prove how much interest there is, Gary Ralston's book on the Gallant Pioneers has just been republished in paperback by the author and is now selling briskly on Amazon.
Regular visitors to this blog will know I've long had a similar interest in early Scotland internationalists, particularly those who played in the first match in 1872. Pictured above are two gravestones, for Joe Taylor (left) in Glasgow, and JJ Thomson in London. I've now located ten out of the eleven players, although not all have a headstone.
The team captain, Robert Gardner, continues to elude me. He died in 1887 away from home, in South Queensferry, while working on the Forth Bridge project, and there is no record of a local burial. Chances are, therefore, that he was taken back to Glasgow but I have scoured the available burial records (on barely legible microfilm in the Mitchell Library) without success. It's a challenge, certainly, but when I do find him I will be making sure he is properly commemorated.
Out of interest, here are the final resting places of the other ten, starting with those in Scotland:
James Smith (1876): Urquhart Old Cemetery, Elgin.
Joseph Taylor (1888): Cathcart Cemetery, Glasgow.
David Wotherspoon (1906): Southern Necropolis, Glasgow.
Alexander Rhind (1923): Tomnahurich Cemetery, Inverness.
William Muir Mackinnon (1942): Westburn Cemetery, Cambuslang.
Elsewhere:
Robert Leckie (1886): Olifants Bosch, South Africa.
James Biggar Weir (1889): Warrina, South Australia.
Robert Smith (1914): Graceland Cemetery, Chicago.
James John Thomson (1915): East Finchley Cemetery, London.
William Ker (1925): Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington DC.
The full stories of why they were in those far-flung places can, of course, be read in my book First Elevens: the birth of international football
This week the excellent Celtic Graves Society is co-ordinating a 125th anniversary celebration of the club's first match in 1888 by arranging for flowers to be placed on the graves of the eleven players in that match. Easier said than done: while eight of the players can be found within a few miles of Glasgow, the other three are in Brooklyn, Pennsylvania and Prague. Read about it at the Celtic Graves website or follow @celticgraves on twitter for updates and photos.
Meanwhile on the other side of Glasgow, the fine work of the Gallant Pioneers website continues to promote the early history of Rangers. They have a regular Founders Trail to visit key places, and make the point - which applies to so many clubs: 'We were told often enough that people just weren't interested in the history of the Club but time and again the supporters have proved them wrong.'
And just to prove how much interest there is, Gary Ralston's book on the Gallant Pioneers has just been republished in paperback by the author and is now selling briskly on Amazon.
Regular visitors to this blog will know I've long had a similar interest in early Scotland internationalists, particularly those who played in the first match in 1872. Pictured above are two gravestones, for Joe Taylor (left) in Glasgow, and JJ Thomson in London. I've now located ten out of the eleven players, although not all have a headstone.
The team captain, Robert Gardner, continues to elude me. He died in 1887 away from home, in South Queensferry, while working on the Forth Bridge project, and there is no record of a local burial. Chances are, therefore, that he was taken back to Glasgow but I have scoured the available burial records (on barely legible microfilm in the Mitchell Library) without success. It's a challenge, certainly, but when I do find him I will be making sure he is properly commemorated.
Out of interest, here are the final resting places of the other ten, starting with those in Scotland:
James Smith (1876): Urquhart Old Cemetery, Elgin.
Joseph Taylor (1888): Cathcart Cemetery, Glasgow.
David Wotherspoon (1906): Southern Necropolis, Glasgow.
Alexander Rhind (1923): Tomnahurich Cemetery, Inverness.
William Muir Mackinnon (1942): Westburn Cemetery, Cambuslang.
Elsewhere:
Robert Leckie (1886): Olifants Bosch, South Africa.
James Biggar Weir (1889): Warrina, South Australia.
Robert Smith (1914): Graceland Cemetery, Chicago.
James John Thomson (1915): East Finchley Cemetery, London.
William Ker (1925): Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington DC.
The full stories of why they were in those far-flung places can, of course, be read in my book First Elevens: the birth of international football
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There's often something unexpected when researching old footballers, but I had never come across the Fremantle Lumpers' Union before now. But they helped to solve a mystery that has been challenging me recently: what happened to Charles Winton Heggie?
Heggie was a Rangers forward in the 1880s, not one of the greats but he had a fine eye for goal and was duly selected to play for Scotland against Ireland in March 1886. He was the outstanding player in a 7-2 victory, scoring no less than four of Scotland's goals - yet he was never capped again. He wound down his career at St Bernard's in Edinburgh, and was also an occasional referee, but there was no indication as to what happened to him after that. With an unusual name, it was little difficulty to confirm his date of birth (26 September 1862), a marriage in 1886 to Mary McIntosh, and a son William born in 1889. The family were in the 1891 census in Glasgow, with the father recorded as a spirit shopman. I subsequently tracked Mary Heggie and young William to Detroit in the USA, and it seemed they emigrated around 1892. But where was Charlie? There were no death or census records here or in the USA, and he seemed to have simply vanished.
The breakthrough came in an entirely unexpected location, and it was thanks to a memorial advert placed by the good old Fremantle Lumpers' Union in the Western Australian newspaper: 'The members of the above Union are respectfully invited to follow the remains of their late comrade, Mr Charles Winton Heggie, of Wharf Street, Queen's Park, and formerly of Cottesloe, to the place of interment, the Presbyterian Cemetery, Karrakatta.' He had died in Perth, Australia, on 15 July 1925, and I soon found further death notices inserted by his wife - but not his first wife. It all became clear, Heggie had deserted Mary or perhaps the other way round, and both had emigrated in opposite directions to the other side of the world. Once in Australia, he remarried a woman called Emily Perkin in 1906, and started a second family.
All the remained was to find out what a Lumper is, or was. It's not hard to guess, they lump things around at the docks in Fremantle, the seaport next to Perth, and it seems they were quite a big thing in that part of the world. I've yet to find out what Heggie's exact role was with them, but the mystery of what happened to another Scotland international has finally been put to rest.
Heggie was a Rangers forward in the 1880s, not one of the greats but he had a fine eye for goal and was duly selected to play for Scotland against Ireland in March 1886. He was the outstanding player in a 7-2 victory, scoring no less than four of Scotland's goals - yet he was never capped again. He wound down his career at St Bernard's in Edinburgh, and was also an occasional referee, but there was no indication as to what happened to him after that. With an unusual name, it was little difficulty to confirm his date of birth (26 September 1862), a marriage in 1886 to Mary McIntosh, and a son William born in 1889. The family were in the 1891 census in Glasgow, with the father recorded as a spirit shopman. I subsequently tracked Mary Heggie and young William to Detroit in the USA, and it seemed they emigrated around 1892. But where was Charlie? There were no death or census records here or in the USA, and he seemed to have simply vanished.
The breakthrough came in an entirely unexpected location, and it was thanks to a memorial advert placed by the good old Fremantle Lumpers' Union in the Western Australian newspaper: 'The members of the above Union are respectfully invited to follow the remains of their late comrade, Mr Charles Winton Heggie, of Wharf Street, Queen's Park, and formerly of Cottesloe, to the place of interment, the Presbyterian Cemetery, Karrakatta.' He had died in Perth, Australia, on 15 July 1925, and I soon found further death notices inserted by his wife - but not his first wife. It all became clear, Heggie had deserted Mary or perhaps the other way round, and both had emigrated in opposite directions to the other side of the world. Once in Australia, he remarried a woman called Emily Perkin in 1906, and started a second family.
All the remained was to find out what a Lumper is, or was. It's not hard to guess, they lump things around at the docks in Fremantle, the seaport next to Perth, and it seems they were quite a big thing in that part of the world. I've yet to find out what Heggie's exact role was with them, but the mystery of what happened to another Scotland international has finally been put to rest.
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Sad to hear of the death today of Mike Denness, the only Scots-born cricketer to captain England. I met him once at the ceremony when he was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, a fascinating and friendly man, and I'm glad to say I voted for him as a member of the selection panel.
While the obituaries will inevitably focus on his cricket career with Kent and England, and his subsequent role as a referee, it should not be forgotten that he learned the game in Scotland and was capped by his native country 19 times between 1959 and 1967. He was a 15-year-old pupil at Ayr Academy when he made his debut for Ayr Cricket Club in 1956, and is pictured here (front row, first left) with the Ayr team that was Western Union champions in 1960. He was only 18 when he made his debut for Scotland in 1959, playing against India, Ireland, Warwickshire and MCC that summer, and his final appearance was at Edgbaston against Warwickshire in August 1967 - two years before his England test debut.
Others will no doubt be much better placed than me to write about his life and achievements, but I hope his contribution to Scottish sport is not forgotten.
While the obituaries will inevitably focus on his cricket career with Kent and England, and his subsequent role as a referee, it should not be forgotten that he learned the game in Scotland and was capped by his native country 19 times between 1959 and 1967. He was a 15-year-old pupil at Ayr Academy when he made his debut for Ayr Cricket Club in 1956, and is pictured here (front row, first left) with the Ayr team that was Western Union champions in 1960. He was only 18 when he made his debut for Scotland in 1959, playing against India, Ireland, Warwickshire and MCC that summer, and his final appearance was at Edgbaston against Warwickshire in August 1967 - two years before his England test debut.
Others will no doubt be much better placed than me to write about his life and achievements, but I hope his contribution to Scottish sport is not forgotten.
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Andrew Watson (front left) with the Corinthians in 1885
My story on Andrew Watson is published in the Scotsman newspaper today, revealing for the first time what became of the pioneering black Scottish football player.
For many years it had been thought he died in Australia in 1902, but there has never been any documentary evidence to back that up. I decided to start from scratch, examining his life step by step, but the biggest and most obvious clue was that he showed up in a search in the 1911 census. The fact that he had a wife and two children - not the same wife and children he had 20 years earlier - just made the research more challenging and interesting. I found his first wife had died age 22, leaving their son and daughter to be brought up in Glasgow with their grandparents. Watson married again, had two more children, and lived in Liverpool and finally London, where he died in 1921.
A fascinating element of his story is that he was the product of a Scottish planter and a Guyanan woman. His father, Peter Miller Watson, was a former slave owner who was compensated by the British Government for the freedom of his slaves in the 1830s; so when he left £35,000 in his will to Andrew Watson and his sister Annetta, giving them financial security for life, much of their fortune derived from the misery of slavery. Little is known about his mother, whose name is given as Anna Rose on his first marriage certificate and Hannah Rose on his second; but as one of his father's wealthy business associates was called Peter Rose, possibly she was linked to his household.
I have yet to visit Watson's grave, but will do so next time I am in London. Meanwhile, if anyone else would like to go to Richmond Cemetery and take a photo or leave a bunch of flowers, it is in Section 4, grave plot No 6321.
For many years it had been thought he died in Australia in 1902, but there has never been any documentary evidence to back that up. I decided to start from scratch, examining his life step by step, but the biggest and most obvious clue was that he showed up in a search in the 1911 census. The fact that he had a wife and two children - not the same wife and children he had 20 years earlier - just made the research more challenging and interesting. I found his first wife had died age 22, leaving their son and daughter to be brought up in Glasgow with their grandparents. Watson married again, had two more children, and lived in Liverpool and finally London, where he died in 1921.
A fascinating element of his story is that he was the product of a Scottish planter and a Guyanan woman. His father, Peter Miller Watson, was a former slave owner who was compensated by the British Government for the freedom of his slaves in the 1830s; so when he left £35,000 in his will to Andrew Watson and his sister Annetta, giving them financial security for life, much of their fortune derived from the misery of slavery. Little is known about his mother, whose name is given as Anna Rose on his first marriage certificate and Hannah Rose on his second; but as one of his father's wealthy business associates was called Peter Rose, possibly she was linked to his household.
I have yet to visit Watson's grave, but will do so next time I am in London. Meanwhile, if anyone else would like to go to Richmond Cemetery and take a photo or leave a bunch of flowers, it is in Section 4, grave plot No 6321.
Queen's Park in 1880-81: Andrew Watson is back left.
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With Scotland due to travel to Wembley in August as part of the Football Association's 150th birthday celebrations, it is worth marking the anniversary of the first time our national team headed for London.
On 8 March 1873, 140 years ago today, Queen's Park FC selected the team as the Scottish FA had still not been formed (that would come just a week later). There was only enough money in the kitty to pay the rail fares for seven players and an umpire, so four more had to be recruited locally. One of them, Robert Smith, was an obvious choice as he was a founding member of Queen's Park and had moved to London; he had also played in the first game in November. The others were John Blackburn and Henry Renny-Tailyour of the Royal Engineers - the latter already having played for Scotland at rugby - and Arthur Kinnaird, a young aristocratic banker from a Scottish family.
The combination was not a great success, with the newcomers not familiar with Queen's Park's passing style, and England won the game 4-2. The Scots learned their lesson and not until 1896 would they again select any players based in England. It was largely a period of complete domination for Scotland, and England only won one of the next 14 matches between the nations.
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I came across this great caricature from 1877 in the Bailie, a Glasgow magazine which profiled prominent and influential citizens each week. It shows William Dick, who was at that time the secretary of the Scottish Football Association. He was not in the top rank of players, but set a high standard as an administrator before his early death aged just 29. See my earlier post [click on link] for pictures of his magnificent memorial in Glasgow Necropolis.
It set me trawling through the volumes of the Bailie in Glasgow's Mitchell Library, to see which other football personalities were featured. There were not many, and no more until 1883 when 23 players were pictured as 'Football Favourites', a print I would dearly love to obtain. The Scotland national team was shown in 1886, SFA president Crerar a couple of years later, and SFA secretary JK McDowall in 1895.
It set me trawling through the volumes of the Bailie in Glasgow's Mitchell Library, to see which other football personalities were featured. There were not many, and no more until 1883 when 23 players were pictured as 'Football Favourites', a print I would dearly love to obtain. The Scotland national team was shown in 1886, SFA president Crerar a couple of years later, and SFA secretary JK McDowall in 1895.
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I'm currently doing a lot of research into early Scotland international footballers, and have invested in a membership of ancestry.com as well as using a variety of other online sources. It's a long slog, following clues and cross-checking details, but I'm making good progress.
Every now and then I find something that really stands out, and I was particularly taken by the above census return from a household in Liverpool in 1891. Staying with a Mrs Hughes, a widow, at 26 Coniston Street are six young men, all from Scotland, and all described as 'labourers'. But that masks their true vocation: they are all players for Everton Football Club, who would win the Football League championship in 1890/91; three of them were good enough to play for Scotland. The players are Duncan McLean, Daniel Doyle, James A McMillan (the three internationalists), Daniel Kirkwood, Alexander Brady and Patrick Gordon. Dan Doyle is perhaps the most famous of them, as after he captained Everton that season to their league title, he moved to Celtic where he won a further four league championships and nine Scotland caps.
More satisfying for me was that this entry led me to other genealogical records which enabled me to pinpoint McLean and McMillan, two Scotland players who had previously been utterly elusive. Duncan McLean was born on 20 January 1868 in Renton, and died there on 17 November 1941. James Andrew McMillan was born in Bonhill on 11 April 1869, and died in Bootle on 20 February 1937.
A similar discovery in the city of Liverpool which helped my research was from 1911. Two young Scots, described helpfully as professional footballers with Liverpool FC, are boarding with a tobacconist called William P Dunlop in Walton Breck Road, right outside Anfield. The players are John McConnell and Donald McKinley, and while the former returned north after two seasons, the latter became a Liverpool legend staying for almost two decades, winning two Scotland caps into the bargain. What makes the entry really interesting, however, is the tobacconist.
William Dunlop had also played for Scotland during a great Liverpool career, having joined the club in 1894 following spells with various Scottish clubs including Kilmarnock and Abercorn. His age (37) and middle initial (P) did not fit with the usual identification of him as born in 1871 with a middle name of Theodore. A bit of investigation confirmed that he was actually William Peden Dunlop, born in Hurlford on 11 August 1874. He died in Stanhope, County Durham, on 28 November 1941.
Every now and then I find something that really stands out, and I was particularly taken by the above census return from a household in Liverpool in 1891. Staying with a Mrs Hughes, a widow, at 26 Coniston Street are six young men, all from Scotland, and all described as 'labourers'. But that masks their true vocation: they are all players for Everton Football Club, who would win the Football League championship in 1890/91; three of them were good enough to play for Scotland. The players are Duncan McLean, Daniel Doyle, James A McMillan (the three internationalists), Daniel Kirkwood, Alexander Brady and Patrick Gordon. Dan Doyle is perhaps the most famous of them, as after he captained Everton that season to their league title, he moved to Celtic where he won a further four league championships and nine Scotland caps.
More satisfying for me was that this entry led me to other genealogical records which enabled me to pinpoint McLean and McMillan, two Scotland players who had previously been utterly elusive. Duncan McLean was born on 20 January 1868 in Renton, and died there on 17 November 1941. James Andrew McMillan was born in Bonhill on 11 April 1869, and died in Bootle on 20 February 1937.
A similar discovery in the city of Liverpool which helped my research was from 1911. Two young Scots, described helpfully as professional footballers with Liverpool FC, are boarding with a tobacconist called William P Dunlop in Walton Breck Road, right outside Anfield. The players are John McConnell and Donald McKinley, and while the former returned north after two seasons, the latter became a Liverpool legend staying for almost two decades, winning two Scotland caps into the bargain. What makes the entry really interesting, however, is the tobacconist.
William Dunlop had also played for Scotland during a great Liverpool career, having joined the club in 1894 following spells with various Scottish clubs including Kilmarnock and Abercorn. His age (37) and middle initial (P) did not fit with the usual identification of him as born in 1871 with a middle name of Theodore. A bit of investigation confirmed that he was actually William Peden Dunlop, born in Hurlford on 11 August 1874. He died in Stanhope, County Durham, on 28 November 1941.
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There was precious little Christmas spirit at the Scottish Football Association in 1888. Justice was meted out swiftly to two players from Third Lanark and Abercorn who traded blows on the pitch, and got a criminal record into the bargain.
It was a sorry end to an epic Scottish Cup clash between two of Scotland's strongest sides, Third Lanark and Abercorn, who met in the fifth round of the cup. Thirds won 5-4 on 24 November but the Paisley side protested to the SFA that the game had finished in darkness, and were granted a replay. On 8 December the sides drew 2-2, and a week later it was again 2-2. The tie therefore went to a fourth match, played at neutral Ibrox on 22 December. This time Thirds came out on top, winning 3-1, but the notable feature of the game came just before the end, described in the press as 'a somewhat unseemly incident':
Lochhead of the Volunteers and Buchanan of the Abercorn engaged in a stand-up fight, the result being one black eye in favour of the Third man. Buchanan expressed great annoyance at his 'facial decoration', remarking that it looked bad at this season of the year. For that little bit of by-play - which was very much appreciated by a portion of the crowd - both players were ordered off the field, and in all probability will be suspended by the Association on Tuesday evening.
Astonishingly enough, there was indeed an SFA meeting on Tuesday, Christmas Day, although 'there was a general regret that the members should have been called together on Christmas night, and an attempt was made to get through the business quickly'. A variety of business included the disciplinary issue of the cup-tie: Buchanan and Lochhead, who indulged in a 'free fight' last Saturday in the match, Abercorn v Third Lanark, were suspended for a month. The latter wrote apologising and, though the Association thanked him for his letter, they were sorry to come to the conclusion that he ought to be punished in the manner described.
That was not the end of their troubles, by any means. In a rare intervention by the courts into football business, the two players appeared in Govan Magistrates Court on 28 December: Robert Buchanan, residing in Greenock, and a member of the Paisley Abercorn Football Club, and Alexander Lochhead, a member of the Third Lanark Club, were charged at Govan with fighting with each other during a football match, which was witnessed by 5,000 persons. The Magistrate said the public went to see football and not fights, and fined Buchanan 2 guineas, or thirty days, and Lochhead 30s, or twenty days.
Presumably both players paid up rather than go to prison, but despite the shame and financial loss, it all ended well. Alex Lochhead (pictured above) was back in the Third Lanark side by the time they won the Scottish Cup in February 1889, defeating an upstart new club called Celtic in the final. And in April, having been forgiven by the SFA, he was capped for Scotland against Wales. Robert Buchanan also came good, and he too won a Scotland cap against Wales, scoring one of the goals in a 4-3 victory in 1891.
In these days when the SFA boasts of its Fast Track Tribunals to deal swiftly with players who step out of line, it is worth remembering that in the Victorian era their officials would happily give up their Christmas dinner to see that justice was done.
It was a sorry end to an epic Scottish Cup clash between two of Scotland's strongest sides, Third Lanark and Abercorn, who met in the fifth round of the cup. Thirds won 5-4 on 24 November but the Paisley side protested to the SFA that the game had finished in darkness, and were granted a replay. On 8 December the sides drew 2-2, and a week later it was again 2-2. The tie therefore went to a fourth match, played at neutral Ibrox on 22 December. This time Thirds came out on top, winning 3-1, but the notable feature of the game came just before the end, described in the press as 'a somewhat unseemly incident':
Lochhead of the Volunteers and Buchanan of the Abercorn engaged in a stand-up fight, the result being one black eye in favour of the Third man. Buchanan expressed great annoyance at his 'facial decoration', remarking that it looked bad at this season of the year. For that little bit of by-play - which was very much appreciated by a portion of the crowd - both players were ordered off the field, and in all probability will be suspended by the Association on Tuesday evening.
Astonishingly enough, there was indeed an SFA meeting on Tuesday, Christmas Day, although 'there was a general regret that the members should have been called together on Christmas night, and an attempt was made to get through the business quickly'. A variety of business included the disciplinary issue of the cup-tie: Buchanan and Lochhead, who indulged in a 'free fight' last Saturday in the match, Abercorn v Third Lanark, were suspended for a month. The latter wrote apologising and, though the Association thanked him for his letter, they were sorry to come to the conclusion that he ought to be punished in the manner described.
That was not the end of their troubles, by any means. In a rare intervention by the courts into football business, the two players appeared in Govan Magistrates Court on 28 December: Robert Buchanan, residing in Greenock, and a member of the Paisley Abercorn Football Club, and Alexander Lochhead, a member of the Third Lanark Club, were charged at Govan with fighting with each other during a football match, which was witnessed by 5,000 persons. The Magistrate said the public went to see football and not fights, and fined Buchanan 2 guineas, or thirty days, and Lochhead 30s, or twenty days.
Presumably both players paid up rather than go to prison, but despite the shame and financial loss, it all ended well. Alex Lochhead (pictured above) was back in the Third Lanark side by the time they won the Scottish Cup in February 1889, defeating an upstart new club called Celtic in the final. And in April, having been forgiven by the SFA, he was capped for Scotland against Wales. Robert Buchanan also came good, and he too won a Scotland cap against Wales, scoring one of the goals in a 4-3 victory in 1891.
In these days when the SFA boasts of its Fast Track Tribunals to deal swiftly with players who step out of line, it is worth remembering that in the Victorian era their officials would happily give up their Christmas dinner to see that justice was done.
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Author
All blog posts, unless stated, are written by Andy Mitchell.