football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct 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&nbs ...

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Southern League, operated for Scotland with two divisions (although its membership did not include all the pre-war Scottish league clubs). No country-wide cup competition took place, although a number of regional competitions continued including 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 rule ...

, and a Southern League Cup was competed for, a competition which later formed the basis of the League Cup. In addition a Supplementary Cup was played for by B Division teams.

International

In keeping with the other wartime seasons the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. They compete in three major professional tournaments: the FIFA World Cup, UEFA ...

went on official hiatus, although unofficial games, appearances for which do not count towards the final caps totals of participants, continued. Scotland faced

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in one such match on 13 April 1946 at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

. In front of 139, 468 spectators Scotland won 1–0 with a

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 an ...

goal in what was dubbed a '

Victory International The term Victory International or Victory Internationals refers to two series of international association football, football matches played by the national football teams of England national football team, England, Scotland national football team ...

'. The Scotland line-up featured:

Bobby Brown Robert Barisford Brown Sr. (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and dancer. Alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, he is recognized as a pioneer of new jack swing: a fusion of hip-hop and Contemporary R&B, R ...

,

Davie Shaw David Shaw (5 May 1917 – 14 October 1977) age 60 was a Scottish professional football player, coach and manager. Playing career Shaw was a left back who played for Hibernian before and after World War II, including an appearance in the 1 ...

,

Jock Shaw John Shaw (29 November 1912 – 13 June 2000) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a defender, most famous for his time at Rangers, where he was captain between 1938 and 1950. Career Rangers signed Shaw, known as 'Tiger' for hi ...

,

Billy Campbell William Oliver Campbell (born July 7, 1959) is an American film and television actor. He first gained recognition for his recurring role as Luke Fuller in the TV series ''Dynasty'' and in '' The Rocketeer''. Then, he became known for playing R ...

, Frank Brennan,

Jackie Husband John Husband (28 May 1918 – 29 April 1992) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. Husband spent the majority of his club career at Partick Thistle, where he made almost 400 appearances in all competitions, and was also capped ...

,

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 ...

, Neil Dougall,

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 an ...

, George Hamilton,

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 app ...

. A second game against England was also played at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

on 24 April 1946. This game was neither an official nor a victory international but rather was played as a fundraiser for the victims of the

Burnden Park Disaster The Burnden Park disaster was a crowd crush that occurred on 9 March 1946 at Burnden Park football stadium, then the home of Bolton Wanderers. The crush resulted in the deaths of 33 people and injuries to hundreds of Bolton fans. It was the de ...

. A crowd of 70,000 witnessed a 2–2 draw with

Willie Thornton William Thornton MM (3 March 1920 – 26 August 1991) was a Scottish footballer and manager. Thornton's entire senior playing career was spent with Rangers, and Thornton is considered to be one of the greatest players in the club's history. F ...

scoring twice for Scotland. Their line-up featured:

Willie Miller William Ferguson Miller MBE (born 2 May 1955) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, who made a club record 560 league appearances for Aberdeen. Sir Alex Ferguson described Miller as "the best penalty box defender in th ...

, Davie Shaw, Jock Shaw, Billy Campbell, Frank Brennan, Jackie Husband, Willie Waddell, Neil Dougall, Willie Thornton, George Hamilton, Billy Liddell. For the first time since before the war Scotland also faced opposition other than England. On 23 January 1946 a crowd of 48,830 at Hampden saw Scotland draw 2–2 with

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, 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 an ...

scoring both goals. The line-up was: Bobby Brown, Jimmy McGowan, Jock Shaw (captain), Jimmy Campbell,

Andy Paton Andrew Paton (2 January 1923 – 8 February 2014) was a Scottish football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, ...

, George Paterson, Gordon Smith, Archibald Baird,

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 an ...

,

Johnny Deakin Johnny Deakin was a Scottish footballer, who played for St Mirren, Clyde, Linfield, Bangor, Glentoran and Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-thi ...

,

Jimmy Walker James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Jimmy Walker and Beau James, was an American attorney, lyricist, and Democratic Party politician who served as the 97th mayor of New York City from 1926 until his resign ...

. Both the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

and the

Royal Belgian Football Association The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, th ...

afford this game full international status, although it is not recognised as such by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. In similar circumstances Scotland faced

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

at Hampden on 15 May 1946. In front of 111,899 fans Scotland won 3–1 with two from Liddell and one from Delaney. The line-up was: Bobby Brown, Davie Shaw, Jock Shaw, Billy Campbell, Frank Brennan,

Jackie Husband John Husband (28 May 1918 – 29 April 1992) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. Husband spent the majority of his club career at Partick Thistle, where he made almost 400 appearances in all competitions, and was also capped ...

, Willie Waddell,

Willie Thornton William Thornton MM (3 March 1920 – 26 August 1991) was a Scottish footballer and manager. Thornton's entire senior playing career was spent with Rangers, and Thornton is considered to be one of the greatest players in the club's history. F ...

,

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 an ...

, Tommy Walker,

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 app ...

.

Notes and references

External links

League winners at RSSSF

Scottish Football Historical Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:1945-46 in Scottish football Wartime seasons in Scottish football

Overview

International

See also

Notes and references

External links