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One heartbeat from tragedy
BRIAN WILSON September 05 2006
The memorial stone in the cemetery at Cardenden bears the legend: They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind. For 75 years, John Thomson has passed that test. His name lives on as legend and example, even if only a diminishing band can now recall at first hand the circumstances of his death.
John Thomson, the Prince of Goalkeepers, died on September 5, 1931, as a result of injuries sustained while guarding the Celtic goal against Rangers at Ibrox. He was just 22 years old. His death led to scenes of mass mourning which have rarely been equalled in Scotland with thousands of men, many of them unemployed, walking the 55 miles from Glasgow to Cardenden for his funeral.
Some of the reactions to his fatal injury also led to an outbreak of Scottish introspection which put sectarianism firmly in the dock, with the verdict as damning 75 years ago as it is today. But overwhelmingly, the national mood was one of grief. Thomson was an icon of his age: the quiet, teetotal lad from the Fife pits who had come to Celtic Park at 17 and was already a sensation as Scotland's goalkeeper by the age of 21.
At this range in time, it is impossible to assess his place in the pantheon of goalkeepers. But, by common consent, he was exceptional. Sir Robert Kelly, the late Celtic chairman who saw Thomson's first game for the club and also his last, wrote: "It was the natural athletic gracefulness of Thomson that appealed to everyone. He was not tall as goalkeepers go but, at 5ft 91/2in and 11 st, he was perfectly built. He had the sure clutching hands and fingers of a world class fielder in cricket and he had ability remarkable in one of his tender years to read opponents' moves before they tried to complete them."
On that fateful Saturday in 1931, the Glasgow Herald commented: "Many people will learn with regret that Sam English, the Ibrox centre-forward, is unfit to play." But the unfortunate English did play on a wet and miserable afternoon and the die was cast for an episode of poignant tragedy.
The following Monday morning, the Herald reported: "Shortly after the interval, Rangers centre-forward English worked past the Celtic backs and, in a desperate and daring effort to save his goal from imminent downfall, John Thomson, the brilliant young Celtic goalkeeper, threw himself at the forward's feet as the latter delivered his shot, and received the impact of the kick as both players fell to the ground…"
Another report said: "Eighty thousand spectators remained silent and sympathetic as Thomson was carried to the pavilion on a stretcher. A discordant note was struck during the tragic occurrence by the cheering of hundreds of Rangers spectators when they saw Thomson fall to the ground. They did not realise the seriousness of the accident. Meiklejohn, the Rangers half-back, went to the touch-line and quietened the cheering section."
This aspect of events was referred to by the minister at the subsequent memorial service in Glasgow's Trinity Congregational Church. There was, he said, one way in which John Thomson's death might bring great benefit: if it brought home to "the thoughtless crowds" the "brutal cruelty" of cheering an opponent's injury. It is a lesson that needs to be constantly re-taught to all who call themselves football supporters.
When writing the Celtic centenary history, I spoke to John Thomson's brother, Jim, who was at Ibrox on the fateful day. "I knew at once it was serious from the way his hand fell slowly. I left my seat and went straight to the dressing room. I went into the ambulance with him and one ambulance man said to the other, 'That's the end of him'. I was angry. I knew it myself, but I didn't want it confirmed."
Jim Thomson said: "Nobody in the family ever questioned that it was a complete accident. They were both going for the ball. I felt very, very sorry for Sam English. John had been injured a few times before because he always went straight for the ball. I had asked him the previous time he was injured if he wasn't going to stop going in like that. He said he should, but it was the ball he was after. He didn't see anyone else or anything else."
Thirty thousand mourners attended the funeral service in Cardenden. The Thomson family were members of the Church of Christ, a small denomination without ministers, and it was an elder of that church who conducted the funeral service in the garden of the Thomson home. Descriptions of these proceedings continue to have a deeply poignant impact, not least because the name and images of John Thomson have remained so alive throughout these 75 years.
Brian Wilson, journalist and former Labour MP, wrote the official cententary history of Celtic in 1988. He was appointed a non-executive director of the club last year.
(Herald)