IN A RECENT POST I brought up the issue of those players who had played for Scotland in the War-Time Internationals, but who never won a cap in peace time. The games between 1939 and early 1946 have always been, like the league and cup games played during the same period, “Unofficial” - they seemingly didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
Aye Right!! Try telling the at times 130,000-plus Tartan Army who rocked up at Hampden for some of these games against England: “Naw lads, this is an unofficial game, it doesn't matter.” Try saying to Matt Busby, or Wullie Shankly, as they prepared to lead-out Scotland: “Now remember, this is an unoffical game, the result does not matter.”
Of course it mattered, it was England they were facing. If you had just spent the night in a bomb shelter while the Luftwaffe rained terror down on you and yours, possibly beating England would, for a time, make you feel better.
Any way, to his credit, SFA Honcho Ian Maxwell, to whom I wrote on this issue, was speedy in his response, which was as follows:
“Thank you very much for your email.
As you can imagine, issues such as this are emotive and need to be treated sensitively. Whilst I appreciate your desire to see caps issued in the cases you note below, we must also ensure that the correct boundaries are in place.
With that in mind we have consulted internally and have reached the decision that unfortunately we will not be issuing retrospective caps as per your request.
To provide some context to that decision I would comment as follows
The 1967 tour was organised during peace time which was of course a very different time from the national crisis of the Second World War. The 1967 tour had originally planned to include full international matches while the wartime unofficial internationals were never considered to be full internationals - they were created in part to boost morale at home. The reason that the 1967 tour was not recognised at the time was because a lot of the players who were to be picked for the tour had to pull out had to pull out due to football related matters, as Scottish clubs reached European finals while a number of players at English clubs also pulled out. The tour had been long planned and would have greatly offended the other national associations had the Scottish FA pulled out.
You will be aware that League titles won during the second World War are not recognised as being official or recorded as such and ensuring we treat these and the matches you refer to consistently is appropriate.
I appreciate this is not the response you were looking for however trust you understand our position.
Kind Regards
Ian Maxwell.
I am sorry Ian, but, I think your response is another case of the SFA getting it wrong. Ian brings up the case of some of the games in the 1967 World Tour being retrospectively re-classified as “Full Internationals”, over 50 years after they were played.
Come off it Ian, everyone and his dog knows, the major reason for upgrading these games to full internationals was so that Sir Alex Ferguson could be capped on his 80th birthday. Even there, they messed-up, the game against Hong Kong was not upgraded, yet it was more of a full international than the one against the all-amateur Canadian Olympic Team, which was upgraded to full international status.
Funnily enough too, the game against Hong Kong on 1967 wasn't a full international, yet the one against the same opponents, in 2002 was.
To again quote from Ian's response:
“the wartime unofficial internationals were never considered to be full internationals - they were created in part to boost morale at home.”
That was a big part of my point, in May the United Kingdom will do what it does best – celebrate past glories and in particular the defeat of Nazi Germany 80 years ago. Indeed, if you have been watching BBC TV News today, you will be aware, they are already ramping things up in preparation. These footballers, whether by their actions on active service, or by their actions as morale-booster on the Home Front, they played their part.
If the 80th birthday of a Manager whose escutcheon was already groaning under the weight of the honours he had accrued in his career was a good excuse on which to award belated caps to him and a handful of his team mates – then surely the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe is a good excuse to belatedly cap:
Tommy Bogan (Hibernian), Bobby Bolt (Rangers), Gordon Bremner (Arsenal), Tommy Brown (Heart of Midlothian), Willie Buchan (Blackpool), Jimmy Caskie (St Mirren, Rangers, Everton), Ken Chisholm (Queen's Park), Willie Corbett (Celtic), Joe Crozier (Brentford), Jock Dodds (Blackpool), Johnny Deakin (St Mirren), Willie Fagan (Liverpool), Bobby Finan (Blackpool), Jim Harley (Liverpool), JR “Tony” Harris (Queen's Park), John Harris (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Alec Herd (Manchester City), Charlie Johnston (Rangers), Sammy Kean (Hibernian), Willie Kilmarnock (Motherwell), Jock Kirton (Stoke City), Adam Little (Rangers), Duncan McClure (Heart of Midlothian), Malky MacDonald (Celtic), Peter “Ma Ba'” McKenna (Partick Thistle), Jim McPhie (or McPhee) (Falkirk), Frank Mennie (Kilmarnock), Arthur Milne (Hibernian), Jackie Oakes (Queen of the South), Henry Pinkerton (Falkirk), Jimmy Stenhouse (St Mirren), Bob Thyne (Kilmarnock (Darlington on loan), Edward “Ned” Weir (Clyde), Dougie Wallace (Clyde), Stan Williams (Aberdeen – Clyde (guest).
OK, I am not going to suggest any of these men is as highly-rated in the history of Scottish Football as Alex Ferguson, but, if one former Scotland manager can get a cap as an 80th birthday present, why not cap another – Malky MacDonald, to mark the 80th anniversary of VE-Day? Also, several names on the above list are those of small club legends, surely as-deserving of a cap as some of the also-rans who benefitted from the uprating of the 1967 games. And if Jock Dodds' ten goals in ten war-time internationals, including a hat-trick against England, isn't worth a cap – what is?
These men, by their efforts, brightened-up dark times, all are, as far as I know, now gone, but it would be nice if their families had a cap as a memento of their efforts in war-time.
The Scottish Rugby Union, at a time when thery were underr a bit of pressure over some issues, won themselves some kudos, by retrospectively capping the guys who played in their war-time internationals, how does it benefit the Scottish Football Association to not follow that lead?
No comments:
Post a Comment