Season 1878/79 opened with the Queen’s Park Sports. The preliminary ties for the 4-a-side
football tournament took place on Saturday 31 August. The main event on the following Saturday
attracted 5,000 spectators to Hampden Park and passed off very
successfully. The pitch was described as
being as smooth as a bowling green .
The Queen’s Park Second Eleven had been functioning
successfully for six years and the club decided to start a third team – the
Queen’s Park Hampden Eleven. Like the
second team, the Hampden Eleven would often play other clubs’ first elevens and
they made their debut on Saturday 14 September, losing 1-0 to Wellpark at
Hampden Park.
On Saturday 21 September, the Second Eleven continued their
series of matches against English opposition when Stoke visited Hampden Park . Queen’s won 4-1, with goals from T F Smith, D
Brand and E Fraser. The other goal came
when A Peden and J G Crichton both connected with the ball at the same
time. The Stoke players showed good
individual skill but the traditional English failure to play as a team cost
them dear. In its report of the match, the Staffordshire Sentinel said that the ground of the Queen's Park was a good one, leaving no cause for complaint.
Immediately following the Stoke game, the Queen’s Park first
eleven took to the field at Hampden
Park to face Kelvinbank
in the first round of the Scottish Cup.
Queen’s recorded a very comfortable 8-0 victory. Queen’s were five up at the interval through Jimmy Weir (2), Charles Campbell and James Richmond (2). In the second half, Weir got his hat trick
and George Ker and Harry McNeil took the total to eight.
On the following Saturday, Queen’s Park met their great
rivals Vale of Leven at Hampden
Park . Vale won 1-0 before 10,000 spectators, with a
goal from John McPherson. Queen’s thought
they had equalised when a Harry McNeil shot appeared to have gone clear under
the bar before being punted clear. The
umpires failed to agree and the decision was left to the referee, Mr Harkness
of Rangers, who gave no goal. The Glasgow Herald report of the match
referred to the new and handsome club house at Hampden Park . The second elevens drew 1-0 in Alexandria , with Peden scoring
for Queen’s.
New pavilion
On Saturday 5 October, Queen’s Park beat 3rd Lanark Rifle Volunteers 3-2 before around 3,500 spectators at
The first meeting of Rangers and Queen’s Park for over a
year attracted a crowd of around 2,500 to Kinning Park on the following
Saturday. Queen’s took the lead in 15
minutes through Harry McNeil. Rangers
pressed hard in the final 15 minutes of the game but it finished 1-0.
On Saturday 19 October, Queen’s Park beat Pollokshields
Athletic, a former rugby club, 6-0 at Hampden Park
in the second round of the Scottish Cup. Queen’s were three up at half-time through James Richmond (2), and Harry
McNeil. The second half scorers are not
known.
Queen’s Park were keen to introduce the Association game to
as wide an audience as possible and, on Thursday 24 October 1878, Queen’s and
Caledonian played an exhibition match at the Ulster Cricket Ground in
Belfast. There was great interest in the
match and a large number of spectators attended. The result was recorded as a 3-1 victory for
Queen’s Park but, in actual fact, the teams were a mixture of players from both
sides.
Two days later, Queen’s Park welcomed the Ayrshire
Association to Hampden
Park . Despite losing 7-1, the Ayrshire team,
composed of players from the Ayrshire clubs, were considered to have done
remarkably well given that they had never played together before. Queen’s took the lead through Andrew Peden in
four minutes and scored a second four minutes later. Ayrshire pulled one back but goals from Walter
Lamberton, George Ker, Harry McNeil and Tom Highet put Queen’s 6-1 up at half-time. Ker got the only goal of the second
half.
On Saturday 2 November, Queen’s Park beat Mauchline 6-1 at
Hampden Park with goals from Bob Fraser, George Ker (2), Harry McNeil, David
Davidson and Willie Mackinnon.
Queen’s Park’s next fixture was the club’s first ever
floodlit game. At a meeting of the
Glasgow Charity Football Committee, letters had been read from Vale of Leven,
Queen’s Park, 3rd Lanark Rifle Volunteers and Rangers agreeing to
play matches for charity under the electric light. Rangers and 3rd LRV were the first to play
under the light on Monday 4 November.
Around 7,500 spectators turned up at Hampden Park
for the match. Three lights were used
but the non-arrival of proper reflectors from London meant that there was insufficient
light at times over the ground. Two days
later, Queen’s Park and Vale of Leven met under the lights for their tie. The three lights were more effective than on
the Monday evening but there were still black streaks that the lights failed to
illuminate and, when the ball was kicked in the air, the players had to wait
until it reached the ground before they could see it. Queen’s Park won the game 2-0. Tom Highet scored the first goal, with the
second coming from a long shot by one of the Queen’s forwards. The general view was that the electric light
experiment had been a disappointing failure.
On Saturday 9 November 1878, Queen’s Park met Notts County
at Hampden Park in the latest in the annual
meetings of the clubs. Poor weather
affected the attendance, although there was still a fair turnout of
spectators. Queen’s won 4-0, with goals
from Harry McNeil, Tom Highet, Walter Lamberton and Jimmy Weir. After dinner in the Athole Arms Hotel, the
Notts players left Glasgow on the 9.15pm train.
On the following Saturday, Queen’s Park made the short trip
to Cathkin Park to take on 3rd Lanark
Rifle Volunteers. The crowd of over
2,000 witnessed a fine no-score draw.
Queen’s hit the bar in the first half and besieged the Volunteers’ goal
in the second. Thirds finished with nine
men, Hunter and Lang having retired hurt.
On Saturday 23 November, Queen’s Park beat Lennox 4-0 at
Hampden Park, with goals from Geordie Ker, Harry McNeil and Tom Highet
(2). One report gave the score as
5-0. This probably relates to the fact
that James Richmond thought he had scored on the stroke of half-time but time
had been called just before the ball crossed the line.
Queen’s Park were back on Scottish Cup duty on Saturday 30
November, after having received a bye in the third round. Mauchline were the visitors to Hampden Park . Queen’s were one up at the interval from a free kick (scorer
unknown). Four more goals followed in a
one-sided second half. The scorers were
Tom Highet, George Ker, Jimmy Weir and Willie Mackinnon.
On Saturday 7 December 1878, Queen’s Park were scheduled to
play Vale of Leven in Alexandria but called off the game by telegram due to
their inability to muster a team owing to the state of the ground. The announcement caused great disappointment,
and probably annoyance, in Alexandria .
No football was played in Scotland on Saturdays 16 and 23
December and Queen’s Park did not return to action until Wednesday 1 January
1879. Queen’s and Caledonian played a
match at Hampden Park in aid of the Unemployed Fund. An under strength Queen’s Park won 6-1. A total of £6 13s was drawn at the gate and
the entire sum was handed to the fund.
The First Eleven did not play again in January but the
Second Eleven travelled south to take on the first teams of Stoke and Aston Villa.
On Saturday 18 January, the Second Eleven met Stoke. The Potteries
club had moved to a new ground since Queen’s previous visit, having secured the
ground of Stoke Victoria Athletic Club. The field was described as first-class but, unfortunately, the match was
played in a snowstorm and the pitch was covered in four or five inches of
snow. Queen’s won 4-1. Three of the goals were scored by Brand,
MacTavish and Smith. The other goal was
scored by Eadie Fraser or Bob Fraser, or might even have been an own goal.
Eadie Fraser
Following their success at Stoke, the Second Eleven moved on to Birmingham two days later to take on Aston Villa at Wellington Road, Perry Barr “before a large attendance”. Queen’s lost Eadie Fraser early in the game and Villa allowed his place to be taken by Day of Stoke. They may have had some cause to regret this generous concession when the visitors came back from a goal down to win the match. Villa took the lead through Hughes after half an hour. The Birmingham Daily Post reported that Queen’s had been unlucky to be behind but fought back. Andrew Brand hit the equaliser and the winner came after non-stop Queen’s pressure. The scorer is not known.
On Saturday 1 February, it was the turn of the Queen’s Park
senior side to make the rail journey south. Their opponents were old rivals Notts County . The day was extremely cold, with a biting
east wind, and only about 400 spectators were present. The Trent Bridge
pitch was covered with frozen snow and good play was well nigh impossible. Queen’s did not field their strongest eleven
but still won 2-0. The first goal came
from a scrimmage in 15 minutes. According
to the Nottinghamshire Guardian,
Harry McNeil hit the ball into the goalmouth “whence the Scotchmen with a
determined rush sent it through the posts”. Queen’s second goal came five minutes before half-time through P
Clifford, after clever passing between David Davidson, George Ker and Harry McNeil.
Trial matches for representative games were given a measure
of prominence in the 1870s and, on Saturday 15 February, Queen’s Park players
took part in the trial match for the upcoming Glasgow
versus Sheffield clash. The match itself took place at Hampden Park on
the following Saturday, with Glasgow winning 4-1. The four goals came from the three Queen's Park men in the Glasgow side. James Richmond got a double, with Harry McNeil
and George Ker scoring the other two.
On Saturday 22 February, there was an International Trial Match
at Cathkin Park. Scotland should have travelled south to take on England on
Saturday 1 March but the match was called off due to bad weather.
The Queen’s Park senior eleven played their third match of
the year on Saturday 1 March 1879. Their
opponents were Caledonian. Queen’s won
6-0 at Burnbank with goals from Geordie Ker (3), John Graham (2) and James Richmond. Despite the pitch being in dreadful condition,
there was some fine play by both sides.
On the following Saturday, Queen’s Park took on local rivals
3rd Lanark Rifle Volunteers in a Scottish Cup fifth round tie at
Hampden Park. Queen’s won the match
surprisingly easily, scoring five unanswered goals. The 10,000 spectators saw Tom Highet open the
scoring and George Ker added a second with a shot from distance just before
half-time. James Richmond get number
three with a shot deflected in off the goalkeeper’s foot, the same player
scored a fourth and Ker got number five with a shot that should have been saved
by Buchanan in the Volunteers’ goal. (One report credited the fifth goal to Highet.)
Two weeks later, on Saturday 22 March, Queen’s Park and
Rangers met at Hampden
Park in the sixth round or
quarter-final of the Scottish Cup. A
crowd of 10,000 was present to see Queen’s go down to a shock 1-0 defeat. Queen’s Park had the benefit of a strong
breeze in the first half but the Rangers defence managed to hold out. The position was reversed in the second half,
with Rangers doing the bulk of the attacking. With five minutes to go, Rangers made the breakthrough. Vallance shot for goal and a cluster of four
Rangers players forced goalkeeper William Thomson and the ball through the
goal. William Dunlop was credited with
the final touch. Queen’s claimed hand
ball but to no avail. It was a
disappointing Queen’s Park performance, and somewhat unexpectedly, it was
Rangers who progressed.
Queen’s Park bounced back from their Scottish Cup disappointment
on the following Saturday with a 5-0 victory over Beith at Netherhill Field.
Following trial matches on the previous two Tuesdays,
Scotland travelled to London’s Kennington Oval on Saturday 5 April to face
England. William Somers, Charles
Campbell, Willie Mackinnon and Harry McNeil were part of the Scotland side that
lost 5-4. Willie Mackinnon scored twice in
the match.
Harry McNeil (from engraving of Scotland team v England)
On Monday 7 April, David Davidson and Harry McNeil played in
Scotland’s 3-0 victory over Wales in Wrexham.
On Saturday 12 April, Queen’s Park headed south once more to
take on Manchester Association Wanderers. The Wanderers had been formed after Queen’s
Park had beaten Birch in the previous year to “present the Association
game”. The match was played at Whalley
Range, the home of Manchester Rugby Football Club. Queen’s won 4-0, with goals from David Davidson,
Eadie Fraser (2) and George Ker.
Two weeks later, on Saturday 26 April, Glasgow University
were visitors to Hampden Park. Both
teams were under strength in a match won 2-0 by Queen’s Park before a crowd of
about 1,500. Harry McNeil scored the
first goal and the second came from a scrimmage. Former 3rd LRV players William Somers and A M
Buchanan, goalkeeper, turned out for Queen’s Park.
On the first Saturday in May, Charles Campbell, T F Smith
and George Ker were part of a Queen’s Park, Bolton and Manchester Wanderers
select side that played a Darwen and Blackburn select before a crowd of 3,000
at Turton Moor in Bolton. Although the
game finished 0-0, it was described as “one of the finest matches ever played
in the district”.
Queen’s Park played their last, and probably their worst,
game of the season on Saturday 10 May 1879. The occasion was a Charity Cup first round match played at the
Agricultural Showyard in Glasgow Green and the opponents were old rivals Vale
of Leven. A crowd of 8,000 saw Queen’s
lose 4-0, the club’s heaviest-ever defeat. The game was very rough and Queen’s lost ‘keeper Buchanan with a head
wound in the first half, with centre forward Willie Mackinnon taking over in
goal. None of the Queen’s men played to
form. At the end of the match, the Lord
Provost thanked the players for their efforts and said that about £300 had been
raised for the Unemployed Fund.
Although the season was officially over, on Wednesday 26
June a match took place between Kirkintilloch Athletic and a Glasgow
Select. It was reported that the Glasgow
Select, who won 3-1, consisted of well-known Queen’s Park players.
Results 1878/79
First Team
21/09/1878 Queen’s
Park 8 Kelvinbank 0 – Scottish Cup
28/09/1878 Queen’s
Park 0 Vale of Leven 1
05/10/1878 Queen’s
Park 3 3rd Lanark Rifle Volunteers 2
12/10/1878 Rangers
0 Queen’s Park 1
19/10/1878 Queen’s
Park 6 Pollokshields Athletic 0 –
Scottish Cup
26/10/1878 Queen’s
Park 7 Ayrshire Association 1
02/11/1878 Queen’s
Park 6 Mauchline 1
06/11/1878 Queen’s
Park 2 Vale of Leven
09/11/1878 Queen’s
Park 4 Notts County 0
16/11/1878 3rd
LRV 0 Queen’s Park 0
23/11/1878 Queen’s
Park 4 Lennox 0
30/11/1878 Queen’s
Park 5 Mauchline 0 – Scottish Cup
01/01/1879 Queen’s
Park 6 Caledonian 1
01/02/1879 Notts
County 0 Queen’s Park 2
01/03/1879 Caledonian
0 Queen’s Park 6
08/03/1879 Queen’s
Park 5 3rd LRV 0 – Scottish Cup
22/03/1879 Queen’s
Park 0 Rangers 1 – Scottish Cup
29/03/1879 Beith 1
Queen’s Park 5
12/04/1879 Manchester
Wanderers 0 Queen’s Park 4
10/05/1879 Queen’s
Park 0 Vale of Leven 4 – Glasgow Charity Cup
Second Team
21/09/1878 Second
QP 4 Stoke 1
28/09/1878 Second
Vale of Leven 1 Second QP 1
05/10/1878 Second
QP 3 Second 3rd LRV 0
19/10/1878 Second
Rangers 1 Second QP 2
26/10/1878 Derby 1
Second QP 2
02/11/1878 Kilbirnie
3 Second QP 0
16/11/1878 Renfrew
0 Second QP 2
23/11/1878 Kelvinbank
1 Second QP 3
07/12/1878 Second
QP 3 Uddingston 1
18/01/1879 Stoke 1 Second QP 4
20/01/1879 Aston
Villa 1 Second QP 2
22/01/1879 Second
QP 0 Kilbirnie 2
05/04/1879 Second
QP 4 Kelvinbank 2
Hampden Eleven
14/09/1878 Hampden Eleven 0 Wellpark 1
07/12/1878 Hampden Eleven 0 Lenzie 1
Representative Matches
22/02/1879 Glasgow 4 Sheffield 1
05/04/1879 England 5 Scotland 4
07/04/1879 Wales 0 Scotland 3
Representative Matches
22/02/1879 Glasgow 4 Sheffield 1
05/04/1879 England 5 Scotland 4
07/04/1879 Wales 0 Scotland 3
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