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The 'foreigners' who played for Scotland

10/7/2021

8 Comments

 
Did you hear the one about the Englishman and the Irishman who played for Scotland against Wales? It sounds crazy but it actually happened in 1898.
   At a time when the Scottish FA only selected players born north of the border, William Watson and James McKee helped Scotland to a 5-2 win over Wales. Watson was in goal, while McKee scored two of the goals.
   What was not reported at the time, and has only recently come to light, was that they were not Scottish: Watson was born in South Shields, while McKee first saw the day in County Down.  Both moved to Lanarkshire as boys and had effectively 'gone native'.
   This is one of the discoveries I made while researching 'The Men who made Scotland', my new Who's Who of Scotland Internationalists.
Picture
William Watson (back row, second from right) with a victorious but unidentified five-a-side team and its prizes. Maybe Dykehead or East Stirlingshire (courtesy of Bill Aitchison)
William Watson was born in Westoe, South Shields, in 1873 and moved to Shotts with his mother and brothers in the 1880s after the death of his father. He became a goalkeeper with local team Dykehead then signed for East Stirlingshire in 1895, helping the team to the Scottish Qualifying Cup final. By now he was living in Falkirk, where he got married, started a family and was working as a miner. He joined the town’s other team, Falkirk FC in 1897.
   James McKee, meanwhile, had been born in Moira, County Down in 1871. He was still an infant when his family moved to Shotts, and was brought up in the same area as Watson, also playing for Dykehead. He went on to a reasonably successful career as a goal-scoring centre forward, while never hitting the heights: he joined Hearts in 1895 but played just a couple of first team games (scoring in both), moved to Darwen in the English second division a year later, and came back to Scotland with East Stirlingshire in 1897.
   Both players benefited from the SFA's policy in the late 19th century of putting out three distinct elevens for the home international series, with the players chosen to face Ireland and Wales regarded as 'second strings', often provincial players who were not really good enough to face England but deserving of recognition nonetheless. It was an era when players from Montrose, Alloa and East Stirlingshire could play for Scotland.
   This reflected the standard of Watson and McKee, who had both won county caps for Stirlingshire, which put them in the reckoning for international honours. They were duly selected for an international trial at Cathkin in early March 1898 and although McKee had to withdraw through injury, when the selectors announced the team to face Wales, both were included.
Picture
Willie Watson's secret revealed in the Evening Citizen in April 1961 (courtesy Bill Aitchison)
Scotland's internationals in 1898 were played on three consecutive weekends, with Scotland using a total of 28 players. The series starting in Motherwell on 19 March with eight debutants in the line-up against Wales: William Watson (Falkirk); Nicol Smith (Rangers), Matthew Scott (Airdrieonians, captain); William Thomson (Dumbarton), Alex Christie (Queen's Park), Peter Campbell (Morton); James Gillespie (Third Lanark), James Miller (Rangers), James McKee (East Stirlingshire), Hugh Morgan (St Mirren), Robert Findlay (Kilmarnock).
   The game drew a small crowd of around 3,500 to Fir Park, and they saw a comfortable victory for the home team. Scotland went four goals up, two from Gillespie and two from McKee, before the Welsh got one back just before half-time through the delightfully named Thomas Thomas. In the second half Gillespie completed his hat-trick and Morgan-Owen scored from a corner to make it 5-2.
   Only two of the Scotland eleven would win a second cap that season (Thomson faced Ireland and Miller played against England) and most would never be selected again, including Watson, McKee and hat-trick hero Gillespie.
   For Watson, indeed, this was almost his final football act. He gave up the game in the summer of 1898 and returned to Shotts, where he lived with his wife and a large family, employed as a hewer down the coal mine. It was heavy work which probably contributed to his early death of chronic bronchitis in 1929, aged 56.
Picture
James McKee pictured towards the end of his career at New Brompton (Gillingham)
   McKee, however, had plenty to look forward to. He won the Scottish Qualifying Cup with East Stirlingshire and signed for Bolton Wanderers in 1900 where he was first choice centre forward. In three years he played 81 first division matches, scoring 19 goals, then joined Luton Town for a year, and spent two seasons at New Brompton (Gillingham). He retired from playing in 1906 and returned to Scotland, working as a miner in Harthill where he spent the rest of his life. He never married and was a keen supporter of the local junior team, Polkemmet. 
Picture
McKee revealed his Irish birth in the Sunday Post of 29 March 1942 (British Newspaper Archive)
A few years before his death in 1949, McKee told the press that he was the only Irishman to have played for Scotland, but the remark does not seem to have been followed up.
   Watson and McKee stand out as there were remarkably few exceptions to the requirement for Scotland players to be born in Scotland, apart from a few 'colonial' caps like Alex Bell (South Africa), Andrew Watson (Guyana) and Eadie Fraser and Joe Kennaway (both Canada).
   In fact, in almost a hundred years between the formation of the Scottish FA in 1873 and the change to eligibility rules in 1971, there were only two other 'rest-of-UK' players.  Willie Maley of Celtic, born in Newry, was capped twice in 1893 thanks to a Scottish family background. The other was Jimmy Wardhaugh of Hearts, who played twice for Scotland in the 1950s despite being born on the wrong side of the Berwickshire border.

   This makes it all the more astonishing that two non-Scots played in the same match. There can be little doubt that neither Watson nor McKee would have been capped had the SFA selectors known they were 'foreign'.
8 Comments
Douglas Gorman
15/7/2021 06:22:21 pm

A great article, Andy.

The stories of William Watson and James McKee are amazing! Assuming they knew at that time their own places of birth then they both did very well to keep it secret for so long!

I understand that in Jimmy Wardhaugh’s case the SFA and FA agreed that the River Tweed was the boundary between the two associations and with his birthplace of Marshall Meadows being north of the Tweed albeit in England meant that Jimmy was Scottish.

I am sure I read that players like John Hewie, born in South Africa, who came from countries in the British Empire then the Football Association had first choice as to whether to play them in international matches. I wonder if that is correct? I imagine at the time the FA would have been watching John Hewie at Charlton Athletic as one of the best full backs in English football but Scotland got him.

In 1939, and although not official international matches, the SFA chose Englishman Willie Lyon to captain the SFA touring party on its 14-match tour to North America. The SFA chose him because he was an established club captain, he was liked and respected by team mates and opponents alike and was a sporting player.

Reply
Andy Mitchell
24/7/2021 10:53:46 am

Thanks for the comments. The Jimmy Wardhaugh case is misleading as, although he himself claimed his birthplace was Marshall Meadows, he was actually born in Berwick High Street (ie Marygate). I've never heard of any 'north of the Tweed' agreement between the SFA and the FA, otherwise Trevor Steven would also have been eligible for Scotland.

Reply
Douglas Gorman
24/7/2021 12:21:59 pm

When Jimmy Wardhaugh was selected to play for the Scottish League the Berwickshire News and General Advertiser (Tuesday 23 January 1951) reported:

“The story was going round that S.F.A. selectors needn’t bother about Wardhaugh, as he was born in Berwick – and, therefore, an Englishman. I asked Jimmy himself. He said “I am a Scot. I was born in the hamlet of Marshall Meadows, about three miles north of Berwick – Well inside the Border!” suggesting that he was using the Tweed as the boundary. Certainly “Ayont [Beyond] the Tweed” was a common phrase to describe Scotland in football terms.

Further investigation by the newspaper found that at Marshall Meadows the farmhouse was in England but the cottage was in Scotland! Jimmy, it was claimed, was born in the cottage and a few yards inside the recognised Scottish Border!

Reply
Andy Mitchell
24/7/2021 12:45:16 pm

Yes, I know all that. But his birth certificate states the High Street. So Marshall Meadows is a bit of a red herring.

Reply
Lee Hancox
8/11/2021 01:35:30 pm

William Watson my Great Great Grandfather. Fascinating information that I am adding to my family tree as I work through the family lineage.

Reply
Elizabeth Watson
4/5/2022 12:45:51 pm

William Watson was my Great Grandfather my nephew Lee Hancox is doing our family tree.

Reply
Thomas Watson
28/1/2024 06:16:47 pm

He was my grandad my father was Robert Hay Watson i had a twin brother who died of silent pneumonia and an older brother called Robert my mother was Violet Kelly from Innerleithen Peeblesshire I’m

Reply
Thomas Kelly Watson link
29/1/2024 11:31:46 am

Like to hear what your nephew has found

Reply

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    All blog posts, unless stated, are written by Andy Mitchell, who is researching Scottish sport on a regular basis.