Taylor. Of a quiet and unassuming disposition, blended with remarkable
firmness, no man who captained the Queen's Park was so much respected
both on the field and in private life. None hated unfair or rough play
more. He could not endure it in a club companion, and this was
particularly so if his team were playing a comparatively junior
combination. Taught in the early school of Association football, when
the rules were much more exacting than they are now, he had, along with
his colleagues in the Queen's Park, to fight their preliminary battles,
and overcome the prejudices consequent on introducing the "reformation,"
so to speak, in football. Taylor developed into a first-class back when
comparatively young, and was chosen to play for his club against England
in 1872, when the Queen's Park met that country single-handed, and
played a drawn contest. Considering his light weight, he was a fine
tackler, returned very smartly to his forwards, and, possessing
remarkable speed, completely astonished an opponent by clearing the ball
away before the forwards of the opposing club were able to obtain any
advantage. He had always a kind and encouraging word to young players,
and in 1875 and 1876 was chosen captain of the Scotchmen, and played, in
all, five times against England. He died in Govanhill about three years
ago.
~Robert Gardner.~
As the first captain of the Queen's Park in the International of 1872,
and also chosen to that post next season in London, Gardner, who has
also joined the great majority, was the most extraordinary player of his
day. He was so versatile that I have seen him at work in all the
different positions of the field--goalkeeper, back, half-back, and even
forward--but it was as a goalkeeper that he excelled. A very
indifferent kicker out in front, when the ball came up, he sometimes
made mistakes with the feet; but when I remember the brilliant men who
have since stood between the posts in Internationals and final cup ties,
each in their line famous, I must confess that none ever used their
hands and weight to greater advantage than Gardner. Possessing a
peculiarity of temper which had much of the Scotchmen's sturdy
independence, he had a difference with some of his friends, and left the
Queen's Park to join the Clydesdale, and did much to assist that club to
attain at the time the second position in Scottish Association football.
Members of both clubs will not easily forget the manner in which Gardner
kept goal for his new combination against the Queen's Park in a cup tie,
when three matches had to be completed before the senior club won. He
retired from the game some time before his death, which took place at
South Queensferry a year and a half ago.
~James E. Weir.~
Who could dribble and keep possession of the ball like Weir? In a
football sense he was in everybody's mouth sixteen years ago, when crack
forwards were few, and neat dribblers fewer. In all the contests the
Queen's Park engaged in for ten years, none was more popular among the
spectators, and emulated by the then young generation of players, than
Weir. He always worked on the right side, and with William M'Kinnon,
Angus Mackinnon, H. M'Neil, T. Lawrie, and T. C. Highet for companions,
the exhibition of dribbling and passing, with the six forwards, was
finer than is the case now with the five. The ball had then to touch the
ground after being thrown in straight from the line before being played.
Under those circumstances, heading by the forwards was never seen in the
field, unless after a corner-flag kick. Well can I remember the match at
Hampden Park against the London Wanderers, whom the Queen's Park
defeated by six goals to none, when Weir, being tackled by the Hon. A.
F. Kinnaird and C. W. Alcock, put his foot on the ball, shook off the
two powerful Englishmen, and made a goal. The sad news only arrived
lately from Australia, whither Weir had gone some years ago, of his
demise. Deceased played in two Internationals, including that of 1872,
and no finer dribbler ever toed a ball. He was, in fact, at the time
designated the "Prince of Dribblers."
~Joseph Leckie.~
In every condition of life, no matter the sphere in which one is placed,
he has his own peculiarities, and, in a football sense, Leckie, above
all the gallant throng who have disappeared for ever from the field, had
his. Comparatively short of stature and powerfully knit together, with
splendidly moulded limbs, Leckie was one of the most tenacious forwards.
While dribbling past an opponent with the ball at his toe, his
peculiarity asserted itself in such a way that, once seen, could never
be forgotten. Weir, Smith, W. M'Kinnon, H. M'Neil, and, later on,
Fraser, Highet, and Richmond, among the army of forwards brought out by
the Queen's Park; to say nothing of M'Lintock, M'Intyre, and Baird (Vale
of Leven), J. R. Wilson and Anderson (Clydesdale), T. Vallance and P.
Campbell (Rangers), and A. Kennedy and J. Hunter (3rd L.R.V.), of whom I
will say something later on, had all their imitators in the younger
clubs, but Leckie had none. He was, in fine, a player by himself. When
he obtained possession of ball, he guarded his body with extended arms
drooping from his side, with the back of his hands in front of the
thighs, and thus formed a barrier to an opponent who attempted to tackle
or take the ball from him. He took part in the first International. He
died about three years ago in South Africa.
~James Smith.~
The least known, perhaps, of the original International men, but one
whose name will ever be honoured by many of the older school of players,
and locally Queen's Park members, is Mr. James Smith, who died some
years ago in London. Mr. Smith was, in conjunction with his brother
Robert, early associated with the game in Scotland, and was an original
member of the Queen's Park. Mr. Archibald Rae, the first secretary of
the Scottish Football Association, and at one time an active member of
the Queen's Park (and a beautiful dribbler in his day), tells an amusing
anecdote of Smith, while playing against the Hamilton Club, leaping on
the top of a hedge to win a touch-down, which in those days counted a
point in the game. This entirely coincided with poor Smith's play, as he
was sometimes very impetuous. He played in the International of 1872 as
a forward.
~William M'Kinnon.~
Dealing now with the past players who are with us in the body, for a
long series of years, and, indeed, till within a short period of
retiring from the field, no centre forward of his day, and very few
since, have equalled M'Kinnon in that trying position. When the 3rd
Lanark Rifle Volunteers started the dribbling game on the old drill
ground at Govanhill, or rather when that small burgh was "No Man's
Land," M'Kinnon was one of its most active players. It is in connection
with his membership of the Queen's Park that I wish to recall incidents
in his career. In 1874 I made my way over to the South-Side Park to
witness a match between the Queen's and the Vale of Leven. Association
football was then a very insignificant affair--the Rugby code, with such
fine clubs as the Glasgow Academicals and West of Scotland as
exponents--engaging all the public attention. The game was free to all.
"Ladies and gentlemen, no charge for admission. Come and see our game.
Kick-off, 3.30." Well, M'Kinnon, along with the rest of the team,
emerged from the old toll-house, close by, to meet their gallant
opponents, and Mr. Parlane, of the Vale of Leven (who kept goal so well
for that club in many of her best matches), "chaffed" the Q.P. man in
amusing manner about his boots (See "The Conqueror's Football Boots"),
which were new, and differed considerably from the style then worn by
players. All through the contest, which, by the way, was drawn, with no
goals on either side, M'Kinnon was a little stiff, and scarcely played
so well as was his wont. He never discarded his old companions, however,
and those very boots in after years kicked many a goal both in
Internationals and final cup ties. As an indication, in fact, of his
genuine ability, he was chosen to play against England oftener than any
man in Scotland, with the single exception of Mr. Charles Campbell, who
was selected no fewer than ten times as a half-back. Mr. M'Kinnon was
engaged in eight, including the first, and in these his country was
victorious four times, and two were drawn matches. As a centre forward
has to bear the brunt of an attack from the opposing side first,
M'Kinnon was the very man to lead on the advance guard. His pluck was
immense; and while he rather delighted to dodge an opponent and leave
the charging to his backer up, he was a close and beautiful dribbler;
could play a hard match without any outward signs of fatigue, and no man
before or since could take a corner-flag kick like him. He used to
practice this kick, and could place the ball within a few inches of the
spot aimed at. Mr. M'Kinnon is still in our midst hale and hearty, and
when a good thing in football is announced he generally turns out to see
his favourite game, and is not afraid to criticise the form shown by his
successors.
~David Wotherspoon.~
Mr. Wotherspoon was early associated with the Queen's Park; indeed, one
of the original members, and did much in his day for football. When the
senior club found it a matter of difficulty to get up an eleven to play
in the country, some times at East Kilbride (for you must know that
important agricultural centre had a club nearly twenty years ago),
Alexandria, and Hamilton, Wotherspoon and Gardner were generally the
first volunteers. There were no fares paid in those primitive days out
of club funds, and each individual had to square up his own account,
like the Scottish cricketer of the present. Although retired now for a
number of years, and out of the run of the game, Wotherspoon, who is in
business in the city, is always delighted to hear of its development,
and proud of what he did in his youth for it. If ever a man had neatness
of style, combined with gentlemanly conduct to an opponent on the field,
it was Wotherspoon. Considering the fact that he was a light-weight,
under 10st., he many a time astonished both opponents and spectators by
his magnificent returns at half-back, and I may mention, in passing,
that in a match at Hampden Park I actually saw him kick a ball from the
centre of the field right through the goal--a feat that very few of our
younger half-backs could accomplish now. As I saw him in two
Internationals (1872-73), however, it was not as a half-back, but as an
accomplished forward, dribbling with great judgment, and passing in a
most unselfish way. Mr. Wotherspoon left the Queen's Park to join the
Clydesdale a short time after his old companion Gardner, and the two
were associated with that club when it numbered among its members such
fine players as Messrs. F. Anderson, G. M. Wilson, J. R. Wilson, W.
Wilson, J. P. Tennent, J. M'Pherson, W. Gibb, J. T. Richmond, and
David's brother, J. Wotherspoon. In the first of the long string of
matches which have been played between Sheffield and Glasgow, dating
back to 1874, Mr. Wotherspoon was one of the players; and it may be
mentioned that, in the same contest, the Glasgow representatives were
made up entirely of Queen's Park and Clydesdale men, and that each city
scored a couple of goals.
~James J. Thomson.~
No player among the half-backs of the old school was so much thought of
in Association football as Thomson. Once seen and met by an opponent, he
could never be forgotten. Tall and stern in appearance, he carried every
pound of his heavy weight with the greatest ease, and, what was of more
consequence to his club in a hard battle, used it well. He tackled with
consummate skill, and had remarkable confidence in himself. For the
first three years of his membership no player ever turned out more
regularly to practice, and, for a stout man, none could show an opponent
a cleaner pair of heels. All the time he was available in the Queen's
Park, an International without Thomson as one of the half-backs was out
of the question, and for three seasons (1872-73-74), he was selected for
that post against England. In the last event, when Scotland won at
Partick by two goals to one, the brilliant manner in which Thomson
played will not easily be forgotten by those who witnessed the contest.
While F. Anderson (Clydesdale), and A. Mackinnon (Queen's Park), scored
the goals for Scotland, Thomson never worked harder in his life, and
when the English forwards got near his side, he rarely, if ever, failed
to take the ball away from them. Just before leaving for Manchester, Mr.
Thomson was chosen captain of the Glasgow Eleven against Sheffield. Some
years ago he went to Liverpool, and is now secretary of the extensive
butcher business of Eastmans Company (Limited). In addition to his
ability as a football player, Mr. Thomson was a splendid sprinter, and
carried off a large number of prizes both in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
~William Ker.~
Mr. William Ker was captain of the Queen's Park when they leased their
first private ground, and did much by his tact and ability to bring on
our senior club to seek new conquests in England. Mr. Ker--of whose
brother George I shall have occasion to refer by and by--was a most
gentlemanly young fellow, and made himself respected by club companions
and opponents alike. In the early history of the game a half-back, and
even back, did not consider it _infra dig._ to dribble a bit and bring
up the ball to goal, provided the match was against a much weaker club,
and while Ker was a grand back and beautiful kicker with his left foot,
he was also an accomplished dribbler. In a match he never lost sight of
the ball for a moment, and when any of his team made a mistake in
following up, Ker frequently stepped into the breach himself, and did
his best to get the player out of a difficulty. He was too gentlemanly
to upbraid a member of the team on the ground, like some captains
now-a-days, but awaited an opportunity, and the advice imparted
generally did the careless player a world of good. In the famous match
at Partick in 1872, Ker showed some very fine play, both in clever
tackling and returning the ball; and, if I mistake not, he was opposed
on the opposite side by the English captain (Mr. C. J. Ottaway, since
dead), and the manoeuvring between the pair was something to be
remembered. Mr. Ker did not play very long after this game, as he left
Glasgow for Canada.
~Robert Smith.~
Unlike his brother in the manner of his style, Mr. Robert Smith was not
by any means an impulsive player, but took in the situation quietly; and
while no man ever worked harder in the field, or did more for a club, he
was not what could be called a brilliant forward. The brothers, however,
did well in the International I have referred to, and considerably
helped the eleven to make a drawn battle of it. It may be mentioned that
both were then also members of the South Norwood Club (one of the best
in England at that time), as they had previously left Scotland for
London. Mr. Robert Smith, so far as I am aware, is now in the United
States.
~Alexander Rhind.~
A rare but light dribbler was Mr Rhind. One of the old members of the
Queen's Park, and associated with men whose names I have already
mentioned in its early struggles, he knew, if I may be allowed to use a
simile which is likely to force a smile, what football poverty was, for
is it not a fact that he was a member of the Q.P. Finance Committee
when the annual subscription was _sixpence_, the yearly income £3 9s.
8d., and as the expenditure amounted up to £4 2s. 4d., the deficit of
12s. 8d. had to be made up by a levy? I never remember Mr. Rhind playing
in a match after the International. He is now in Aberdeen.
~The First Final Cup Tie.~
The First Final Association Cup Tie, on Hampden Park, I remember well.
The clubs fated to meet each other were the Queen's Park and Clydesdale,
and the match, considering the fact that the players were comparatively
young in the practice of the dribbling game, proved a very fine one
indeed. It was on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of March, 1874, and
a crowd of fully 2000 spectators attended. The Hampden Park of to-day,
with its splendid pavilion and accessories, and beautifully laid-off
turf, was not then conceived in the minds of the Match Committee. It was
the Hampden Park of yore, now cut up to form a railway embankment. Mr.
Hon. Secy. Rae and his companions in office never for a moment imagined
that in sixteen years afterwards the new ground, which is crowded nearly
every Saturday afternoon with excited spectators, would be made to
satisfy the cravings of a football public, and the exigencies of
athletic life. There was no such thing as a pavilion then, only a kind
of "wee house" at the gate end of the field, for all the world like an
overgrown sentry-box, did duty instead. The grass on the field was not
even cut in some places, and at the top corner-flag was long and turfy.
The spectators, however, of whom a large number were ladies, enjoyed it
very much, and the enthusiasm imparted among the youths who were present
had a wonderful effect on the spread of the game. It was thought that a
draw was inevitable, so well did both sides play till within twenty
minutes of the finish, when Mr. Wm. M'Kinnon scored a goal for the
senior club, and this was followed by a second from the foot of Mr.
Leckie, not long before no-side was announced, leaving the Q.P. the
winners by two goals to none. I must, however, go back a little way and
say something about the
~Association Challenge Cup,~
which has caused a new order of things to arise in Scottish football.
Well, during the previous year, and, in fact, not long after the first
International at Partick, new clubs were formed in many quarters, but
more particularly Glasgow and Dumbartonshire, and it was on March 13,
1873, that the Queen's Park convened a meeting of representatives of
clubs, and what is now known as the Scottish Football Association was
formed. Eight clubs responded, and created the great Association. The
eight, who deserve much honour at the hands of players, were:--Queen's
Park, Clydesdale, Vale of Leven, Dumbreck, Eastern, Rovers, 3rd L.R.V.,
and Granville, and those clubs were represented on the committee by Mr.
Arch. Campbell (Clydesdale), president; Mr. W. Ker (Queen's Park), hon.
treasurer; Mr. Archibald Rae (Queen's Park), hon. secretary; with the
following committee:--Messrs. Ebenezer Hendry and Wm. Gibb (Clydesdale),
J. Turnbull (Dumbreck), D. Macfarlane (Vale of Leven), W. E. Dick (3rd
L.R.V.), T. Mackay (Granville), J. M'Intyre (Eastern), and R. Gardner
(Queen's Park). Next in order came the Challenge Cup, and the
competition for that trophy was in full swing. The necessary funds were
soon forthcoming, and a very neat, but plain, specimen of the
silversmith's art was brought forth. The subject for ornamentation was
taken from a cut in the _Graphic_, representing a player in the act of
dribbling at the first International, and made by Messrs. George Edward
& Sons. There you have it now, gentlemen, rather dry reading and
technical, though, but nevertheless the infant life of a great
competition. By a strange coincidence in the respective matches, and one
which the players of a former era will look upon with a sense of
sadness, consists in the fact that of the twenty-two who took part in
that game seven are dead. Of these the senior club has the misfortune to
claim five--Messrs. J. J. Taylor, J. B. Weir, J. Leckie, J. Dickson, and
A. Mackinnon; while the Clydesdale, so far as I am aware, has only two,
Mr. J. R. Wilson and Mr. Robert Gardner. As I have already given short
sketches of Messrs. Taylor, Weir, Leckie, and Gardner, under the head of
"Dead Internationalists," and J. J. Thomson and W. M'Kinnon under
another, I have only to deal with R. W. Neil, J. Dickson, T. Lawrie, C.
Campbell, Angus Mackinnon, and H. M'Neil (Queen's Park), and the whole
of the Clydesdale, with the sole exception of R. Gardner.
~Charles Campbell.~
Mr. Campbell seems to have had no real starting point in his football
career. The love of the game and its early associations came to him as
if by nature. I am told that when he was quite a boy he used to appear
on the ground at Queen's Park to see his brother Edward playing with old
club companions. He soon began to dribble about, and afterwards show
splendid ability in long-kicking and tackling, and in 1873-74 played for
the Queen's Park in her best matches. The final cup tie, however, was
his first big event, and no doubt the lessons and confidence he obtained
in that match served him well in after years, when he was destined to be
the greatest favourite both among players and spectators that ever took
part in any cup tie or International. Mr. Campbell has now retired from
active duty on the field, but his love for the game, and the welfare of
the players engaged in it, induced him to accept the presidentship of
the Association for 1889-90, and one and all are alive to the fact that
he discharges his duties with the greatest fidelity. As a brilliant
tackler and neat kicker at half-back, it might honestly be said of him
that he had no equal. Men who played against him on great occasions (for
Mr. Campbell always rose to his best form in these) have good cause to
remember how he could "head" the ball away from goal at a critical
moment, and get it through quite a forest of legs. As he was not one of
the cracks in the final cup tie of 1874, I must honestly confess I can't
remember how he played, but as his club scored a victory, and he was one
of the half-backs, he must have done well. Mr. Campbell rarely, if ever,
spends a Saturday afternoon away from Hampden Park in the winter time;
takes a lively interest in his mother club, and, what is of more
account, can still play in his favourite position with great dash and
precision. He has the unique distinction of playing in ten
Internationals with England, and been an office-bearer of his club since
1873.
~Thomas Lawrie.~
Mr. Lawrie has done much for football in connection with his club and
the Association, both by example and precept. In the early days of the
Queen's Park he was one of their most brilliant forwards, and in several
of the cup ties, notably that between the Queen's Park and Renton,
proved the best man on the field. He never shirked his work, or left
hard tackling to the half-backs, but sprang on the ball and opponent at
once, and generally had the best of it. Of all the fine forwards who
received their football education under Mr. J. J. Thomson's, and later
on Mr. C. Campbell's and Mr. Joseph Taylor's captaincy, none could keep
his feet better on the field; and it was quite a rare thing to see
Lawrie grassed by an opponent. Although not much above the middle
height, he was a perfect football Hercules, and not long before retiring
from the field opponents in some of the matches would frequently make
earnest inquiries about whether he were to be included in the Q.P. team
on that day. But for an accident to the knee which made him retire,
after being chosen to play in the International against England in 1874,
Mr. Lawrie would have then represented his club. After giving up active
duty in the field, he has rendered noble service by being president of
the Scottish Football Association, and loves the game as dearly as ever.
~Harry M'Neil.~
The first final cup tie brought into prominence one of the neatest
little dribblers and passers that ever played on the left wing of any
club. Methinks I see him now, with his quick action, short step, and
unselfish play, gliding down the side of the field, dodging an opponent
close on the touch-line, and causing the spectators to laugh
immoderately. Spectators are prone to make favourites, and while Mr.
Campbell was assuredly one at half-back, Mr. M'Neil was none the less
loved among the forwards. While playing in the leading games he was
always ready with his joke, and I'll back him to be the best man in the
world to explain away a defeat and magnify a victory for the club he
loved so well. Mr. M'Neil was chosen seven times to play against England
and Wales, and I remember his efforts and their results with pleasure.
The only time he was sorely beset was in the International of 1876, when
Mr. Jarrett (Cambridge University, I think), one of the English
half-backs--a powerful young fellow--tackled him severely. The gallant
little Queen's Park man, however, withstood the charges well, and came
up from mother earth smiling. That match, however, ended in favour of
Scotland by three goals to none. Mr. M'Neil was a member of the 3rd
L.R.V. at the start of his career, and also of the Rangers, but joined
the Queen's Park in 1872.
~Robert W. Neill.~