Artist's depiction. England in white, Scotland in blue.
November 30, 1872, 150 years ago: For the 1st time, soccer teams representing the best players in their respective countries play each other.
As comedian Jason Sudeikis asked, when introducing the character of Ted Lasso, an American football coach who'd gotten a job coaching an English "football" (soccer) team, "How many countries are there in this country?" By "this country," he meant the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The answer is four: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland -- with the Republic of Ireland being its own nation, not in the United Kingdom.
Charles Alcock, a soccer and cricket star of the era, had organized the 1st FA Cup in England the preceding year, and had also organized matches between teams representing the football associations of both his native England and Scotland. But these were matches between English players and Scottish players for teams in and around London, and were not what would now be called "full internationals."
So Alcock proposed a match between the truly best players from each country. It was set for November 30, 1872, at Hamilton Crescent, the home ground of the West of Scotland Cricket Club, in Glasgow.
The England team wore white caps, white shirts, white shorts, and blue socks:
* Goalkeeper: Robert Barker, of Wouldham, Kent, and Watford-based club Hertfordshire Rangers.
* Fullback: Harwood Greenhalgh, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and Notts County.
* Halfback: Reginald Welch, of Kensington, West London, and London team Wanderers. He was the only one of these players to have also played in the 1st FA Cup Final, won by Wanderers 8 months earlier.
* Forward: Frederick Maddison, of Westminster, London, and Oxford University.
* Forward: William Maynard, of London, and 1st Surrey Rifles F.C.
* Forward: John Brockbank, of Whitehaven, Cumberland, and Cambridge University.
* Forward: Charles Clegg, of Sheffield, Yorkshire, and Sheffield Wednesday.
* Forward: Arnold Kirke Smith, also of Sheffield, and Oxford University.
* Forward and Captain: Cuthbert Ottaway, of Dover, Kent, and Oxford University. He was named Captain because Alcock was injured and unable to play. But Alcock did select every player.
* Forward: Charles Chenery, of Lambourne, Berkshire, and the original Crystal Palace F.C. of South London (not the current team of that name).
* Forward: Charles Morice, of London, and Harrow Chequers.
Ottaway died of tuberculosis in 1878, only 27 years old. He remains the only Englishman to represent a university in 5 different sports. Welch lived until 1939.
The Scotland team wore red cowls, navy blue shirts (which would become traditional for them), white shorts, and socks of navy and white stripes, and was represented by the top Scottish club team of the time, Queen's Park of Glasgow.
Scotland captain Robert Gardner, an organizer in Scottish sports on the same level that Alcock was for England, attempted to gain the services of the top two Scottish players from the London area, who had both played in the 1872 FA Cup Final: Arthur Kinnaird of Wanderers and Henry Renny -Tailyour of Royal Engineers. As it turned out, both were unavailable. Here's the team he did select, starting with himself:
* Goalkeeper: Robert Gardner, of Glasgow. He was described years later as the best goalkeeper in the world, although, given that England and Scotland were pretty much the only countries then playing the sport, that doesn't say much.
* Fullback: William Ker, of the Scottish capital of Edinburgh.
* Fullback: Joseph Taylor, of Glasgow.
* Halfback: James Thomson, of Annan, Dumfries.
* Halfback: James Smith, of Aberdeen.
* Forward: Robert Smith, of Aberdeen.
* Forward: Robert Leckie, of Killearn, Stirlingshire.
* Forward: Alex Rhind, of Aberdeen.
* Forward: Billy MacKinnon, of Glasgow, described as "a brilliant dribbling artist," perhaps the first player to use the overhead, or what became known as the "bicycle," kick.
* Forward: Jerry Weir, of Glasgow.
* Forward: David Wotherspoon, of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
Robert Gardner
James Smith died in 1876, only 32, from what's listed only as "a long illness," although he was listed as having played for South London team South Norwood in that calendar year. Weir died in 1887, of typhoid fever. Gardner also died in 1887, just short of turning 40. Leckie also died in 1887, just after turning 40. Taylor died in 1888, only 37. I cannot find a cause of death for any of them. MacKinnon was the last survivor of the game, living until 1942.
The referee was William Keay, a Scot. Given the tenor of the times, when athletes were supposed to conduct themselves as "sporting" and "gentlemen," he must have been acceptable to Captain Ottaway as well as to Captain Gardner.
The game was attended by 4,000 people, and the same price of admission was charged as for the FA Cup Final: One shilling. In 2022 British money, that's about £24.10. In U.S. money, about $31.70. A more than reasonable price for such historic events.
The match was scheduled to kick off at 2:00. A delay meant that it got underway at 2:20. The field, or pitch, was a bit muddy, having been pelted with the infamous Scottish rain for 3 days.
The Scotsman, a national newspaper still in business today, wrote, "During the first half of the game the English team did not work so well together, but in the second half they left nothing to be desired in this respect." The Scots had a goal disallowed, because the umpire decided that the ball did not clear the tape that was used to represent a crossbar.
At halftime, as was traditional at the time, the teams rotated their goalkeeping duties. England put Maynard in goal, and moved Barker to Maynard's place on the forward line. Gardner was moved into Robert Smith's place, and Smith moved into goal.
England never had a serious attempt on goal. Scotland had one more, late in the game, when Leckie launched a shot that landed on top of the tape. Final score: England 0, Scotland 0.
The Aberdeen Journal wrote, "It was allowed to be the best game ever seen in Scotland." A sports-themed magazine titled The Field wrote, "The match was in every sense a signal success as the play was throughout as spirited and a pleasant as can possibly be imagined."
A return match was played on March 8, 1873, at the Kennington Oval in South London. This time, there was scoring, and lots of it. William Kenyon-Slaney of England set the tone by scoring in only the 2nd minute, and England beat Scotland, 4-2.
Scotland gained their 1st win over England in 1874. They achieved celebrated wins over England in 1928, at Wembley Stadium in London, giving their side the name "The Wembley Wizards"; and in 1967, when a team led by Manchester United's Denis Law beat essentially the same England team that had won the World Cup the year before, winning the British Home Championship and becoming "Wembley Wizards II."
These 2 countries have played each other more often than any other. As of November 30, 2022, England have won 48 matches, to Scotland's 41, with 26 draws.
