The 1944–45 season was the 72nd season of competitive

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

in Scotland and the sixth season of special wartime football during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Overview

Between 1939 and 1946 normal competitive football was suspended in Scotland. Many footballers signed up to fight in the war and as a result many teams were depleted, and fielded guest players instead. The

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

and

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Southern League and the

North-Eastern League The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although som ...

. No country-wide cup competition took place, the

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rules ...

, East of Scotland Shield and

Renfrewshire Cup The Renfrewshire Cup was an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final was generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest team ...

continued, the

Forfarshire Cup The Forfarshire Cup is a football competition in Scotland competed for by teams in the Forfarshire Football Association from Angus, Dundee and Perth. The name of the competition is often baffling to some, as "Forfarshire" is an archaic and anglic ...

was revived and

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and

North-Eastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

League Cups were competed for, the Southern League Cup would later form the basis of the League Cup. The Summer Cup was played for by Southern League teams during May and June once league competition had been completed.

International

Due to the war official international football was suspended and so officially the Scotland team was inactive. However unofficial internationals featuring scratch teams representing Scotland continued. Appearances in these matches are not, however, included in a players total international caps. Scotland faced

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in a wartime international on 14 October 1944 at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in front of 90,000 fans. The Scotland team lost 6–2 with their goals coming from Tommy Walker and

Arthur Milne Edward Arthur Milne FRS (; 14 February 1896 – 21 September 1950) was a British astrophysicist and mathematician. Biography Milne was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England. He attended Hymers College and from there he won an open scholarship ...

. The Scotland team that day comprised:

David Cumming David Scott Cumming (6 May 1910 – 18 April 1993) was a Scottish footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for Aberdeen, Arbroath and Middlesbrough. Cumming represented Scotland once, in a 1–0 victory against England at Wembley in 1938. Middl ...

Jimmy Stephen James Findlay Stephen (23 August 1922 – 5 November 2012) was a Scottish footballer who played as a defender. At club level, he played in the Football League for Bradford (Park Avenue) and Portsmouth. He also played in two full internatio ...

George Cummings George Cummings (July 28, 1938 in Meridian, Mississippi) is a guitarist and songwriter based in Bayonne, New Jersey and in recent years, Nashville, Tennessee. The Chocolate Papers Darryl Vincent and the Flares was formed in Meridian, Mississip ...

, Bob Thyne, Bobby Baxter,

Archie Macaulay Archibald Renwick Macaulay (30 July 1915 – 10 June 1993) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. Playing career Born in Falkirk, Macaulay started his playing career in junior football a ...

Gordon Smith Gordon Smith may refer to: In politics *Gordon H. Smith (born 1952), former U.S. Senator from Oregon, and current Area Authority for the LDS Church * Gordon Elsworth Smith (1918–2005), Canadian politician * Gordon Smith (academic) (1927–2009), ...

, Tommy Walker, Arthur Milne, Andy Black and

Jimmy Caskie James Caskie (30 January 1914 – 19 May 1977) was a Scottish footballer, who played for St Johnstone, Everton, St Mirren (wartime guest),Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in front of a crowd of 65,780. England won again, this time 3–2, with

Jimmy Delaney James Delaney (3 September 1914 – 26 September 1989) was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside right. He had a 24-year playing career interrupted by World War II, his longest spells at club level were spent with Celtic in Scotland and ...

and

Jock Dodds Ephraim Dodds (7 September 1915 – 23 February 2007) was a Scottish professional footballer. He played in the 1936 FA Cup Final, and, at the time of his death was the oldest surviving player to have played in a final at Wembley Stadium. Club ...

accounting for Scotland's goals. The Scotland team featured:

Bobby Brown Robert Barisford Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Brown, alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, is noted as one of the pioneers of new jack swing: a fusion of hip hop and R&B. Brown started h ...

Jim Harley James Harley (21 February 1917 – 7 September 1989) was a Scottish footballer who played for Liverpool. Life and playing career Born in Methil, Fife, Harley played for Hearts of Beath before George Patterson brought him to Liverpool in April ...

, Jimmy Stephen,

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...

, Bob Thyne, Archie Macaulay, Jimmy Delaney,

Willie Fagan William Fagan (20 February 1917 – 29 February 1992) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Celtic, Preston North End and Liverpool. Football career Celtic Fagan started his professional career as a teenager at Celtic, joining the club fro ...

, Jock Dodds, Andy Black,

Billy Liddell William Beveridge Liddell (10 January 1922 – 3 July 2001) was a Scottish footballer, who played his entire professional career with Liverpool. He signed with the club as a teenager in 1938 and retired in 1961, having scored 228 goals in 534 ap ...

. They met for a third time at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

on 14 April where a crowd of 133,000 saw England win 6–1.

Leslie Johnston Leslie Hamilton Johnston (16 August 1920 – 19 October 2001) was a Scottish footballer who played for Clydebank Juniors, Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township ...

scored for Scotland after, unusually at the time, coming on a substitute. The line up was: Bobby Brown, Jim Harley, Jimmy Stephen,

, John Harris, Archie Macaulay,

Willie Waddell William Waddell (7 March 1921 – 14 October 1992) was a professional football player and manager. His only club in a 16-year career as a player in the outside right position (interrupted by World War II) was Rangers which yielded six major w ...

Tommy Bogan Thomas Bogan (18 May 1920 – 23 September 1993) was a Scottish footballer, who played as a forward for several clubs in both Scotland and England. Born in Glasgow, Bogan played for Strathclyde, Blantyre Celtic, Renfrew and Hibernian before mov ...

(Leslie Johnston 2'), Tony Harris, Andy Black and

John Kelly John or Jack Kelly may refer to: People Academics and scientists * John Kelly (engineer), Irish professor, former Registrar of University College Dublin *John Kelly (scholar) (1750–1809), at Douglas, Isle of Man *John Forrest Kelly (1859–1922) ...

.England - War-Time/Victory Internationals - Details
/ref>

Notes and references

External links

League winners at RSSSF

Scottish Football Historical Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:1944-45 in Scottish football Wartime seasons in Scottish football

Overview

International

See also

Notes and references

External links