Scottish Football Reminiscences and Sketches Part 5

~George Ker (Queen's Park).~

A sketch of an International, cup tie, or, in fact, a first-cla.s.s contest of any kind ten years ago, would be altogether incomplete without some reference to Mr. George Ker, now abroad. From 1880 to 1883 he was Scotland's best centre forward, and the originator of what is now known in football parlance as the "cannon shot" at goal. Many players have since tried it, and made fairly good attempts, but Ker alone could do it to perfection. In this International he gave the Englishmen a taste of his ability in this line. He pa.s.sed Mr. Greenwood, the English extreme back, and when fairly in front watched how the goalkeeper (Mr.

Swepstone) would take in the situation. Ker spun the ball hard from his toe at the proper moment, and sent in a "flyer," which took effect. I am all but certain that if a vote were taken among players and spectators about the place to be a.s.signed to centre forwards, Ker would come out the admitted chief. International honours were his thrice against England.

~W. Harrower (Queen's Park).~

The Queen's Park had no fewer than five forwards in this season's International, and Mr. Harrower was one. He played in the company of Mr.

Ker, and the central division of the Scottish team was unusually strong. In fact, I distinctly remember some remarks made at the meeting of the a.s.sociation, at which I was present, about the combination at that point being the most powerful ever sent out by Scotland. Mr.

Harrower was really a beautiful dribbler, not easily knocked off his pins, and the most unselfish player I ever saw. He has the credit of earning the first goal got for Scotland in the match under notice, and was in the best of form the whole of that season. He took a leading part in the hard work of the Queen's Park for five years.

~A Narrow Shave in the 1885 International.~

There are yet other two Internationals, which introduce new faces into the field of play, and the first is that of 1885 at Kennington Oval, London, and ended in a tie, each side scoring one goal. Kennington Oval--in the winter time, at anyrate--is to football in London what Hampden Park is to Scotland in general and Glasgow in particular. The weather was delightful on that afternoon (Sat.u.r.day, 21st March), and the spectators mustered in considerable force. Not, of course, so largely as we can show in Glasgow, for it takes an enormous amount of attraction to gather a big crowd in London. There was little or no wind to interfere with the play, and as both teams were in the pink of condition, it was an ill.u.s.tration of Greek meeting Greek in the open. The Scotchmen, however, were the first to make matters exciting by scoring a smart goal from the foot of Mr. Lindsay, and this was all the effective work done in the first round. The second forty-five minutes of the play was also of a very give-and-take order, and once Mr. Allan hit the English goal bar with a hard shot, but the ball rebounded into play, and was eventually sent behind. Towards the close, however, the Englishmen, led by Messrs. Bambridge, Cobbald, and Brown made a fine run, and the former put the game square for England. The contest, therefore, as I have already indicated, ended in a tie. As in all the other events that I have already touched upon, many of the players are now scattered far and wide. Some have given the game up altogether, while others are still playing on, and doing football duty as well, if not better, than ever they did before. Taking the eleven in the order of positions, I shall begin with

~J. Macaulay (Dumbarton).~

Among the brilliant array of goalkeepers who have sprung up to distinguish themselves during the past ten years, none deserves a more kindly notice in any football reminiscences than Mr. Macaulay. The present match was the third he stood sentinel before Scotland's stronghold, and he also played in '86 and '87. His first was at Sheffield in 1883, when I saw him save several splendid s.h.i.+es from the feet of the English forwards, and it is something to add of him that he was included in the Scotch teams who never lost a match with England. In the 1885 contest he kept goal in his best form, and was frequently cheered for the manner in which he got out the ball and dodged the English forwards. Mr. Macaulay was very quiet and unostentatious in his manner, and did his work brilliantly. He returned to Scotland the other day from abroad, and may yet play for some of our leading clubs.

~Walter Arnott (Queen's Park).~

Second in the order of teams, but premier in all that pertains to back play, comes the name of Mr. Arnott. Out of all the fine players who acted as extreme backs, none has done better work for his club and, let me say, International matches. It is all very well to say that there were giants in those days, but you all know what befell Goliath, and I cannot help saying that if you were to ask me candidly (taking the question in an all-round way) who was the best back you ever saw, I should have no hesitation in answering that it was Walter Arnott. In the words of the old English ballad, "he feared no foe," and never in the history of football of the present time has such a brilliant man arisen.

He has so many remarkable points that I cannot tell them in a brief notice, but as he is still playing well, spectators are at one in admitting his grand ability.

~M. Paton (Dumbarton).~

The match under review was Mr. Paton's second appearance against England, and he acquitted himself very well. Somehow or other the committee of selection in International matches, while they honestly do their duty, sometimes move in a mysterious way, and the selection of Mr.

Paton to stand alongside Mr. Arnott in this contest was, at the time, considered somewhat risky. Not by any means because Mr. Paton was not a good back, but in consequence of the diversity of play shown by the pair. Mr. Paton was nothing if he was not allowed a little lat.i.tude, and in some of the matches he came off with flying colours. Arnott and he, however, acted well together. To give Mr. Paton his due, he was a most gentlemanly young fellow, and did his very best for the game.

~J. J. Gow (Queen's Park).~

It has just occurred to me, and I can't see how the ill.u.s.tration might not with equal force be applied to football as in the honest range of every-day life, that if a "round-robin" were sent about the clubs that tackled the Q.P. in their best matches in the past decade, I am certain that the verdict about the man who was most feared in all the elevens, the name of Mr. J. J. Gow would come out first. He was, in fine, a half-back that the Q.P. had reason to feel proud. Half-backs might come and go--as they undoubtedly did--but Gow seemed in his football career to go on for ever. The most mysterious thing about him was that he was always in the same form, and never had any practice. Football at half-back seemed to come to him by nature, and cost him no effort. He could return splendidly, but at close tackling, and in clearing the ball away, he was sometimes a little slack, and had to make it up by sheer force of hard work.

~Alexander Hamilton (Queen's Park).~

Not long ago, while "doing" a match at Hampden Park (I think it was Q.P.

v. Battlefield, in the Glasgow Cup), I met my old friend in the pavilion looking on and enjoying the sport. Like the M'Neils, the Hamiltons are a football family, and while Mr. James, who is now an active member of the present Q.P., will come under my pen later on, I have only at present to deal with Mr. Alexander. Well, he was something in his day, and by no means to be despised as a forward. He was not a fast dribbler, but when hard work was required, and wasn't it just in the great match against the professional Preston North End, when the Q.P. were able to hold their own, Mr. Hamilton never played better in his life.

~William Sellar (Queen's Park).~

I have for the most part been dealing with the past, and it is no force of imagination to come straight to the living present, and add that a better left-wing player never appeared in any club or combination of players than Mr. William Sellar. He has a style of his own which is, to give the Battlefield its due, peculiar to that club's ability in the dribbling game. Mr. Sellar did not learn all his football in the Queen's Park, but really perfected his style on Hampden Park, and he is undoubtedly, at the present time, the most brilliant forward in Scotland. Gentlemanly in every sense of the word, Sellar is the fairest player that ever faced an opponent, and no man is more respected on the field. In addition to this contest, he played against England in 1886, 1887, and 1888. It may be mentioned that in 1890, in playing against the 3rd L.R.V., he played from the left in a style never excelled by any forward.

~Joseph Lindsay (Dumbarton).~

Before this date, Mr. Joseph Lindsay was what might be called an old hand at Internationals, as he had appeared before England in 1881 and 1884, and Wales in 1880, 1881, 1884, and 1885. It is not too much to say of him that he was the most dangerous forward (to an opponent, I mean) of his day, and if the backs were in any way slack, Lindsay "spread dismay around," as he was a dead shot at goal, and rarely, if ever, missed a chance if he got within a dozen yards of the sticks. Lindsay was the best forward in many respects that ever toed a ball for Dumbarton. He was, however, sorely tried in the finis.h.i.+ng year of his football life, and in many of the leading matches so closely watched by the opposing backs that he was sometimes fairly done for, and could not get the ball away.

~David S. Allan (Queen's Park).~

Like Sir Roger de Coverley's definition of a great ethical question to one of his numerous friends, "that much might be said of one point," the ill.u.s.tration holds good when applied to Mr. David Allan. Popularity has its duties as well as its privileges, and there is not a single forward in broad Scotland who is so popular and so much beloved by club companions and opponents alike as Mr. Allan. He is, in fine, the most useful man in the Queen's Park, and while all of us seem to grow older as each season comes round, Allan has always that juvenile look which undoubtedly betokens an easy and contented mind. He is not what might be called a brilliant and showy forward, but I'll back him to do the best hour and a half of heavy work in the world without any outward sign of fatigue. I verily believe if Allan were forced to do it, he could play in any part of the field with a few minutes' notice.

~R. Calderwood (Cartvale).~

In consequence of Mr. R. M. Christie, who had played in the International, of the previous year, meeting with an accident in one of the trial matches, Mr. Calderwood did duty as left-wing forward in this match, and played very creditably. He was by far the best man in the young Cartvale, and a finer country player never came under the eye of an International referee. He was a veritable dodger among the opposing backs, and in this contest gave the Englishmen, but more particularly the Walters and Amos, a lot of trouble. He played a fine game in combination with the rest of the Scottish forwards. In the same season Mr. Calderwood played against Wales in the Princ.i.p.ality.

~The Final a.s.sociation Cup Tie of 1886.~

The clubs left in the final tie for possession of the Blue Ribbon of a.s.sociation football glory in this season were the Queen's Park and Renton. Queen's Park led off by scoring from the foot of Mr. Lambie, and this was all the effective work till ends were changed, when the Renton team made a brilliant charge on the Queen's Park goal, and forced the ball through in a scrimmage. The play immediately after this was so even that a draw looked certain, but the Queen's Park eventually a.s.sumed command, and scored other two goals (one by Mr. Hamilton and another by Mr. Allan), and won a hard contest by three goals to one. As most of the Renton players who took part in the match were considered famous in their day, and have not been already introduced to you, I shall give short sketches of their style of play. So far as the Queen's Park team are concerned, however, I have only to deal with new faces in Messrs. R.

M. Christie, G. Somerville, and J. A. Lambie, as all the other eight (Messrs. Campbell, Watson, Gow, Harrower, Hamilton, Arnott, Allan, and Gillespie) have already been disposed of in the present volume.

~J. A. Lindsay.~

Somehow or other the Renton Club were never very strong in goalkeeping when the perfect form of their forward division was taken into account, but Mr. J. A. Lindsay was decidedly their best. He had what might be called his good and bad days, however, and while he was always clever with his feet, he sometimes misjudged the ball and allowed a "soft thing" to take effect. In the present contest he had hot work in keeping the Q.P. forwards clear. Mr. Lindsay showed such brilliant form in the trial matches of 1888 that he was chosen to represent Scotland on Hampden Park. He was somewhat unfortunate there, however, as England revenged Bannockburn to the extent of five goals to none.

~A. Hannah.~

Who does not remember Mr. Hannah's fine fly-kick and powerful tackling?

In meeting and judging the ball in the air he rivalled the great Q.P.

back himself, but wanted the ability to follow up an advantage. In nearly all the matches in which he took part that season, Hannah worked hard and earnest. He had a peculiar way of turning round to an opponent and taking the ball away from him with the side of the foot, and no man in the Renton team was more feared by an opponent than Hannah. He never played against England, but in 1888 was picked out to represent Scotland against Wales.

~A. M'Call.~

In this tie Mr. Hannah had as his companion at extreme back Mr. A.

M'Call. In some of the earlier matches in which the latter appeared he was a wild tackler and erratic in charging--rather going for the man, and never minding the ball--but by and by he mellowed down, and returned the leather beautifully from a besieged goal. I remember seeing him in several of the leading games that same year, and he showed a neatness of style which won for him golden opinions. He played against Ireland in 1888.

~R. Kelso.~

Mr. Kelso was a tower of strength to the Renton team at half-back, and did his duty in this contest. Rather a shade rough on an opponent at times, Mr. Kelso could also be generous to the foe when he liked, and sometimes made a brilliant hit at half-back by clearing away the ball from the feet of an opponent, just when the latter was poising for a shot at goal. Like Mr. Leitch Keir, of Dumbarton, he was, and is, a magnificent half-back, and had International honours against England in 1887 and 1888.

~D. M'Kechnie.~

In connection with Mr. M'Kechnie's name in juxtaposition with Renton's crack half-back, I must honestly confess I am like Cuddie Headrigg--"Between the deil and the deep sea." I can only remember seeing him twice. I come to the conclusion, then, that he must have been a subst.i.tute, and if I am wrong in my supposition I shall be glad to stand corrected. He was at any rate not sufficiently brilliant to get his name handed down to posterity, although it must be said of him that he was a fair average player, and did very well in this game.