1872–73 in Scottish football
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Season 1872–73 was the first in Scottish
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 which the national team participated in officially recognised matches. There were as yet no organised domestic competitions.


Overview

Queen's Park continued to be pioneers in the development of the sport in Scotland. As in the previous season, they entered for the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
, albeit they failed to play any active part in this season's tournament. Their most significant action in the 1872–73 season was to help initiate the birth of international football, organising the Scotland side which took on
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 what is considered the first "official" international match.


FA Cup

In recognition of the travel difficulties they faced in reaching South East England, where the other entrants were all based, Queen's were allowed a bye directly through to the semi-finals, where they were drawn against
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, however Queen's were still unable to finance the journey and withdrew from the competition.


Scotland national team


Overview

This season saw the first official international match take place against
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 ...
. Whilst a series of "England v Scotland" matches organised by
C. W. Alcock Charles William Alcock (2 December 1842 – 26 February 1907) was an English sportsman, administrator, author and editor. He was a major instigator in the development of both international football and cricket, as well as being the creator of ...
had taken in
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over the previous two years, these matches were never considered truly representative, with the Scottish sides being composed almost entirely of London residents. In 1872, Queen's Park, as Scotland's leading club, took it upon themselves to organise what has entered the history books as the first "official" international, despite the fact there was as yet no
Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...
to sanction it. Appropriately enough, the match was arranged for
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, and the
West of Scotland Cricket Club The West of Scotland Cricket Club is a cricket club based in Glasgow, Scotland. The club's home ground is Hamilton Crescent, located in the Partick area of Glasgow's West End. West of Scotland, traditionally, are one of the working class cricke ...
's ground at
Hamilton Crescent Hamilton Crescent is a cricket ground in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the home of the West of Scotland Cricket Club. Hamilton Crescent hosted the first international football match, between Scotland and England, played on 30 ...
in
Partick Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to t ...
was selected as the venue. A crowd of approximately 4,000 people attended on the day, although the time of the match had been delayed by fog. The Scottish eleven was selected by captain and goalkeeper Robert Gardner and was drawn entirely from Queen's Park members, although some played with other clubs as well. The dark blue shirts which would become synonymous with the national team were worn on this first occasion because they were at that time the colours of Queen's Park. The English wore white shirts. The English wore caps, while the Scots wore red cowls. The match itself contrasted the dribbling style then popular in England with the Scots' passing football, but finished goalless. The Scots had a goal disallowed in the first half after the umpires decided that the ball had cleared the tape which was used before crossbars were introduced. The latter part of the match saw the Scots defence under pressure by the heavier English forwards. The Scots played two full backs, two half backs and six forwards. The English played only one full back, one half back and eight forwards. Since three defenders were required for a ball played to be onside, the English system was virtually a ready-made offside trap. The return fixture the following March marked the first official meeting of the sides in England, and again took place at a
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
ground,
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, with the English adopting Scotland's 2-2-6 formation. The severely limited funds available to the fledgling SFA meant they were only able to finance rail fares to London for eight players, so the team was augmented with three
Anglo-Scot Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people o ...
s who had appeared in the earlier unofficial series,
Lord Kinnaird Lord Kinnaird was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1682 for George Kinnaird. The ninth Lord was created Baron Rossie, of Rossie in the County of Perth, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1831, with normal remainder to th ...
, John Blackburn and
Henry Renny-Tailyour Henry Waugh Renny-Tailyour (9 October 1849 – 15 June 1920) was a British amateur all-round sportsman who appeared for Scotland in some of the earliest international football and rugby union matches, remaining to this day the only player to have ...
. The latter had the honour of scoring Scotland's first international goal, but the match ended in a 4–2 defeat.


Results


Notes


External links


Match summary at www.londonhearts.com



Match summary at www.englandstats.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1872-73 In Scottish Football Seasons in Scottish football