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The Scotsman – Wednesday, 9th September 1931, page 9
DEAD FOOTBALLER
Glasgow Memorial Service
REMARKABLE SCENES
Remarkable scenes were witnessed at Glasgow yesterday, where a memorial service was conducted in Trinity Church for John Thomson, the Celtic Club and Scottish International goalkeeper. The service was announced by the Rev. H. S. McClelland, who is a keen football follower, and although it was. intimated publicly only yesterday morning, the esteem in which Thomson was held, and the poignant nature of his death, made such a wide appeal that hours before the service was timed to begin, thousands of men and 'women, including Protestants and Catholics, congregated outside the church. Berkeley Street and Claremont Street were besieged by crowds of people.
When the doors of the church were thrown open hundreds of men and women surged forward, and, mounting the steps they clamoured for admission.
POLJCE OVERPOWERED
Women screamed and shouted for help as they were pinned against the railings surrounding the church. Two fainted, and had to be carried into a nearby hospital, where they received medical attention. Tho police were completely overpowered, and another section of the crowd rushed to the side entrances to the church by mounting the railings.
Peter Wilson, the Celtic half-back, who was to read the lessons at the service along with David Meiklejohn, the Rangers' captain, could not gain admission to the church. Meiklejohn, however, read his lesson, while the other was read by the minister, the Rev. H. S. McClelland.
When reinforcements of police arrived the crowd was ultimately quietened, and order soon prevailed.
The service in the church was most impressive. On the draping hanging from the pulpit were the letters "J. T., C.F.C.," which represented John Thomson, Celtic F.C. The lettering was in green, the colours of the famous Glasgow team.
AN ACT OF SUPERB COURAGE
The Rev. Mr Mc’C!elland, in his address, said that he had been an eye-witness of Thomson's tragic death. 'What we saw then was an act of superb and uncalculating courage, an act of supreme and unfaltering loyalty, a flash of that divine fire that burns out all thought of self when danger assails that to which we are committed.
“John Thomson did not- give his-life for a goal. He gave his life for an ideal—the ideal for which every brave life ought to be willing to lay itself down—loyalty to the trust placed in our hands.
“His death is a great loss to British football, for no one has done more than John Thomson to bring honour to the game. There is one way in which his death might be great gain. Those thoughtless crowds who call themselves Celtic or Rangers' followers—whom both teams disown – who gathered behind the goals of their respective favourites and cheer themselves hoarse when a member of the opposing team lies writhing in pain, if they can be brought to realise by this tragic happening the brutal cruelty of their action, John Thomson will not have given his young life in vain"
GHOULISH GLOATING
“Do they realise that their shameless jeering was the last sound that ever reached John Thomson 's dying brain?
" By chance it was a Rangers crowd that howled with fiendish glee as that silent figure, that had done such a splendid thing, lay broken on the ground; but if the Rangers' goalkeeper had been lying there, as loud a roar would have risen from Celtic throats.
"If the death of John Thomson brings to an end this ghoulish gloating over fallen opponents his last brave action will have achieved far more than the saving of a critical goal."
Sam English, the Rangers centre forward, with whom Thomson collided when he received his fatal injury, sat with his head buried in his handkerchief throughout the proceedings, and when the Dead March in "Saul" was played he was observed to be weeping.
OVERFLOW SERVICE HELD
Representatives of the Scottish football Association, Scottish football League, and from the majority of the First Division clubs in the West of Scotland attended the service. Sir Hugh S. Roberson, the conductor of the Orpheus Choir, was also present.
An overflow service was held immediately after, the church again being packed to capacity.