| Match Pictures | Matches: 1917 – 1918 | Pictures: 1917 Pics – 1918 Pics |
Trivia
- The Glasgow Herald of Monday 7th January which reports this game alludes to the fact that Celtic had attracted a crowd of 25,000 the previous Thursday for a benefit match (See Review). This was a game at Celtic Park between a Celtic and a Scottish League Select for J. Young
- Debut & sole game for on loan Tom Stewart.
- The Glasgow Herald of Jan 4 reports that The British Workers League have issued a statement attacking the Labour Party's Manifesto. LINK
- The Glasgow Herald of Jan 7 carries a report of the Arab Revolt with Arab forces in the Hedjaz having made a succesful raid on the railway 20 miles from Ma'an and that even further south have over-run a Turkish garrison. LINK
Review
The Glasgow Herald – Jan 4- 1918
Celtic, 0; Scottish League Select, 0
At Celtic Park in the presence of 25,000 spectators.
Teams:- Celtic:– Shaw, McNair, Dodds, McStay, Cringan, Hamill (Belfast Celtic), W. J. Aitken (Queen’s Park), Rankine (Motherwell), Clark (Linfield), Hesop? (Bradford), Browning.
Scottish League:- Lawrence (Newcastle United), Templeton (Hibernian), Taylor (Burnley), Cuggy (Sunderland), Dixon (Rangers), Wall (St Mirren), Simpson (Falkirk), G. Holley (Sunderland), I. Thornley? (Manchester City), A. Wilson (Sheffield Wednesday), A. L. Morton (Queen’s Park).
Referee: A. Allan (Glasgow).
Throughout the game play ran on even lines, the shooting of the forwards however, not being on a par with their reputations. The ground was exceptionally hard and the players were not inclined to take many risks, but towards the interval Celtic let themselves go and it was all Lawrence could do to save from, first Clark and then Hamill. At the outset of the second half Celtic were the more aggressive side but sound play by Templeton and Taylor prevented them from becoming really dangerous. In the later stages the League Select developed a better game and Shaw was repeatedly called upon to handle. McNair rendered his side yeoman service in warding of attacks, and at the finish the game was left drawn, neither side having scored.
Teams
SAINT MIRREN:
J. Doolan, Marshall, Orrock, Brown, Pringle, Walls, Higginbotham, J. Logan, C. Schofield, Lindsay,Thomson
CELTIC:
Shaw,Wilson , Dodds, Stewart, Cringan,Jackson , McAtee, Gallacher, McLean, McMenemy, Browning
Referee:
Attendance: 13,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
- Match Pictures
Articles
The Glasgow Herald, Jan 7, 1918
Association Football
FREE TRADE IN PLAYERS
Several Scottish clubs took advantage during the holidays of the permission granted by the League to obtain the temporary assistance of players registered with other clubs, and the competition did not suffer by the innovation. Football at the present time is tolerated by those in authority as a form of relaxation for the jaded worker, and the League acted wisely in depriving the game of its pre-war aspect. Special training, rigid registration, and all that tended to make professional football a branch of specialised athletics have given way to the exigencies of the situation; the conditions approximate as nearly possible to amateurism, and the game loses nothing in point of attractiveness by the enforced alteration. That much was made plain at Parkhead on Thursday, when 25,000 spectators assembled to do honour to a retired player, and on Saturday, when two assorted elevens, nominally representing Rangers and Clydebank, attracted a record gate at the suburban enclosure.
RANGERS AND CELTIC CHECKED.
The first meeting of the youngest with one of the oldest clubs in the League was not a contest between inexperienced youth and seasoned veterans. Both clubs had taken advantage of the permission to draw freely upon other clubs; McTurk, Walker, Crout and Thornley are set-off to Blair, Dixon, Archibald and Brown. The teams were evenly matched in ability as in experience, and a merited draw was the outcome of a most interesting duel. A claim by the home team for a penalty kick was negatived, and it is not too much to say that Rangers’ experiences in this hue last week were varied and fortunate. At Parkhead Celtic obtained a penalty and could not score against Hempsey: at Ibrox Blair was successful with one against Partick Thistle, and at Clydebank as already noted the referee did not think a penalty was incurred. St. Mirren dealt faithfully and impartially with Celtic and Rangers by holding their own with the present champions in a keen match which did not furnish a goal, just as they did earlier in the season with their Ibrox opponents. Here also the home team considered themselves aggrieved at a ruling that negatived a scoring shot from Thomson.