| Match Pictures | Matches: 1930 – 1931 | 1931 Pictures |
Trivia
- Goals by Charlie Napier, (2); and Bertie and Alec Thomson are countered by a single goal from Bert Patenaude giving Celtic a comfortable win and revenge for their earlier defeat at the hands of the Yankees.
- The Yankees added Moritz Haeusler (Hakoah) to the team that met Celtic earlier in the tour but even the addition of Moses, this great Austrian Jewish player, cannot prevent Celtic from reversing their earlier defeat. Hausler had toured the USA with Hakoah Vienna and liked the country because of the absence of anti-Semitism which was rife in Europe, so he settled in the US.
- The Yankees are not a one-player team and have many strong personalities in their squad including Polish goalkeeper Johnny Reder who was an all-round sportsman and won honours in baseball as well as soccer.
- Greenock-born ex-Morton player Bill McPherson would have welcomed the chance to exchange pleasantries with his Celtic countrymen as he had been in the USA since 1922 and would have had a lot to catch up with. As would ex-Motherwell and Albion Rovers player James “Tec” White, and Alex McNab, another Greenockian and ex-Morton player.
- Full back Charlie McGill (ex-Third Lanark, later Aberdeen) is said to be the “most unpopular player in America” which is testimony to his tough tackling; he together with Charlie Napier, Bertie Thomson, and Peter Scarff are said by sports reporter Isaac Gellis (Below) to have been warned to avoid a repeat of their previous violent play.
- The strains on the special relationships between Celtic and the tour backers and journalists appears to be showing, with Willie Maley’s criticism of the facilities and pitches and the press opining that Celtic didn’t seem as as good as Rangers were last year! [See Match Pictures] The ultimate insult to Celtic.
- New York. June 17. The body of Vincent Gaffney, notorious gangster and jail-breaker, who,13-years ago headed the notorious “Gopher Gang” of Hell’s Kitchen, was found with over 30 stab-wounds to the head, neck and hands. The head of the dead man was crushed, having been run-over by a tire-less car, which police believe may have been the final instrument in Gaffney’s death. It took fingerprints to identify the body, which was found at the Seeley Bottling works, just four blocks from the parochial school of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, where Gaffney went to school and where he met and later married his childhood sweetheart. It is also just four blocks from where the gangster killed “Chick” Tucker in a gun-battle on 10th Ave. in 1918, for which he got a 20-year prison term in Sing-Sing. It is thought that his death was the result of his trying to “muscle-in” on the territory of West Side and Long Island bootleggers.
- DUNFERMLINE CHILDREN’S GALA’S MESSAGE TO NEW YORK. The dull weather experienced yesterday (26 June) did not diminish the enjoyment of the Dunfermline school children, who held their annual gala, which is provided by the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust. Altogether, 7,400 children were entertained at lunch and tea in Pittencrieff Park, and, of these, over 5,000 took part in the procession through the town to the beautiful policies. Nine brass and pipe bands accompanied the children. For the races and games the Trustees provided £120 of prize money. On behalf of the children, Mr James Norval, chairman of the Carnegie Dunfermline Trustees, dispatched the following cablegram to Mrs. Carnegie, New York;—”Warmest greetings from thousands of happy children enjoying themselves in Pittencrieff Park.”
- The Glasgow Herald reports that Major Ramon Franco (Francisco’s freemason brother) is sacked from the Spanish air force after attempting to declare a Soviet Republic of Andalusia. LINK
Review
“Thomson is credited with being the greatest goalie in Scotland. Only twenty-one years old, he has been capped more times than any member of the Celtic team, with the possible exception perhaps of Jimmy McGrory, sensational center forward, who will return to the lineup Sunday.
Last season Thomson represented Scotland against England. According to reports, the graceful goal tender made a dozen or more saves, to blank the British booters. Although McGrory scored Scotland’s only two goals, the football critics elected to speak of the great Thomson”. Isaac Gellis, New York Evening Post. [Below]
Extract from “The Story of The Celtic” 1938, by Willie Maley: “The terrific heat had begun to tell on them—the food was strange and generally unsuitable from their point of view, and when you add to these discomforts the continued strain of meeting friends and relations of friends which entailed conversations and celebrations, innocent though they were, it will be realized that they were not just 100 per cent. This was responsible for our first defeat, the New York Yankees beating us by 4-3—a different tale was told when we met the same team two days before we sailed for home.
By that time the men were acclimatized and made ample atonement for their earlier defeat as, playing magnificent football, they beat the ” Yankees ” by 4-1.”
Teams
NEW YORK YANKEES:
Johnny Reder, Charlie McGill, George Moorhouse, Bill McPherson, Dave Priestley, Bobby Ballantyne, Alex McNab, Moritz Haeusler, Bert Patenaude, Billy Gonsalves, Tec White.
Scorers:
Patenaude.
CELTIC:
J. Thomson, Cook, McGonagle, Wilson, McStay, Scarff, R. Thomson, A. Thomson,McGrory, Napier, Hughes.
Scorers:
Napier, (2); R. Thomson, A. Thomson.
Referee: Charles E. Creighton.
Attendance: 10,000
Venue: Yankee Stadium, New York City.
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
The Scotsman – Tuesday, 30th June 1931, page 6
FOOTBALL
CELTIC ON TOUR
EARLY DEFEAT AVENGED
NEW YORK, June 29,—The Glasgow Celtic F.C. beat New York Yankees, the national champions, by four goals to one at the Yankee Stadium yesterday.
Determined to avenge their 4-3 defeat in the first match, the Scots took advantage of every opportunity. The first goal came when Napier broke through, to score the only point in the first half.
Celtic attacked hotly in the second half, and scored twice, through Alec, and Robert Thomson, before, the Yankees notched their, solitary point, Patenaude scoring a tame goal.
Celtic completed their scoring when Napier converted a penalty kick, given against Ballantyne for tripping R. Thomson.
Play was robust throughout, and it, was only the stern hand of Referee Creighton that kept the game under control.
The Celtic play the last match of their tour at Baltimore to-morrow, and sail for home on Wednesday.—Press Association.
