| Match Pictures | Matches:1917 – 1918 | Pictures:1917 Pics – 1918 Pics |
Trivia
- Monday's Glasgow Herald report of this match downplays Celtic's four goal win, while damning debutant Dugald Livingstone with faint praise, but is more enthusiastic about their Glasgow neighbours and singles out another debutant, Englishman Arthur Dixon as key man for Rangers. Dixon was signed by manager William Wilton and would stay at Ibrox for many years, later becoming Bill Struth's assistant. LINK
- This season's League is without Dundee, Aberdeen and Raith Rovers who had withdrawn due to travel restrictions and Clydebank make their first appearance in League 1.
- The Glasgow Herald also reports that after a meeting in Edinburgh between The Admiralty, government and Dunfermline Council it was agreed that a 2 mile long tramway be built between Dunfermline and Rosyth at a cost of £15,000
- Under the heading "Airman's death at Hendon" the Herald tells the story of Lieutanant Max Arthur Eugene Cremetti of the Scots Guards who, after another airman had said a plane was out of order, said there was nothing wrong with it and took it up only for it to crash to the ground killing him and injuring his observer. LINK
- The Glasgow Herald carries several articles on the Pope's Note urging an end to fighting, issued to all belligerent parties on 1st August. LINK
- Also in the Herald is news that Mr Robert Shirkie of the Scottish colliery Engine and Boilermen's Association has advised the Coal Controller that his men will be going on strike because of the failure of the employers to meet their demand of a one shilling per shift war bonus. This move, if implimented, could mean 100,000 Scots miners being unable to work.
Review
Teams
Celtic:
Shaw, McNair, Livingstone, Wilson, Dodds, Brown, McAtee, Gallacher, McColl, McMenemy, Browning
Scorers: Browning; (2), McColl, (2)
AYR UNITED
Nisbet, Hay, Semple, Trialist, W Cringan, McLaughlan, Devine, Crosbie, Prestwick, R Cringan, Brown
Referee:
Attendance: 15,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
- Match Pictures
Articles
The Glasgow Herald, Monday 18 Aug 1917
OPENING OF THE SEASON
The S.F.A. made it plain at their recent meeting that Association football will be conducted on the circumscribed lines made incumbent by war conditions. There will be no competition for the Scottish Cup; no International matches, no infringement on the working day, no undue exploiting of the Christmas and New Year holiday period. The League competition will continue to fill the bill throughout the season, and, to judge from attendance at the opening matches on Saturday, this protracted tournament seem to gain rather than loss favour with the passing of the years.
Though the matches scheduled for Saturday lacked the interest arising from the meeting of keen rivals, viewed in a geographical or playing sense, they served to introduce many new players, and in one instance a new club to First League football. A gate of 10,000 at Clydebank is testimony to the wisdom of the other League clubs in preferring the suburbanites to the discarded trio on the north-east coast. In this connection it may be noted that Dundee, Aberdeen, and Raith Rovers are still included in the First League in a legislative capacity, to the exclusion of Clydebank, but if the new comers improve on Saturday’s display, as with experience the inevitably will, they can afford to leave conferences, consultative or mandatory, to others for the present season, while they proceed to establish a position that will be permanent and profitable for themselves and other League clubs.
CELTIC AND RANGERS WIN
Ayr United had a not uncommon experience at Parkhead. Their forwards could not cope with the very moderate half-back line that represented the Champions, and the defensive powers of Hay, Cringan and McLaughlan were merely equal to keeping the score within bounds. Livingstone made a promising debut for the winners, flattered at that by the weakness of his opponents. If the end justify the means the display of McDermid, Dixon, and Archibald at Kilmarnock was sufficient to give satisfaction to the officials whose enterprise was responsible for their assembly at Ibrox. The Queen’s Park forward of last season scored the only goal of the match, the Lancashire half-back repeatedly stood between the Kilmarnock forwards and the net, and Archibald, if not so clever as Bowie, was the most enterprising forward on view.