Celtic’s first-ever game is played…and won

On Monday, 28 May 1888, Celtic Football Club played its first-ever match, facing Glasgow outfit Rangers in a friendly. As Celtic were still in the process of securing a team for the new season – players’ contracts were renewed annually in those days – the home side comprised of players still contracted to other clubs, including both Renton and Hibernian.

The Celtic line-up on this historic occasion consisted of guest players from the Irish community in Scotland, and was as follows:

Michael Dolan (Drumpellier); Eddie Pearson (Carfin Shamrock) & James McLaughlin (Whitefield);
Willie Maley (Third Lanark), James Kelly (Renton) & Phil Murray (Cambuslang Hibernian);
Neil McCallum (Renton), Tom Maley (Third Lanark), John Madden (Dumbarton), Mick Dunbar (Hibernian) & Charlie Gorevin (Whitefield).

There are a number of legendary Celtic characters in there, and perhaps a couple who are not so well-known outside of club historians.

Morning all, May 28th 1888 saw a new football team play its first match. 2000 fans watched Celtic defeat Rangers Swifts by 5-2. It was to be the start of a remarkable story. pic.twitter.com/s9xqbz7FsU

— Lisbon Lion (@tirnaog_09) May 28, 2022

James McLaughlin was born on 16 September 1864, at 447 Springburn Rd, just a few hundred yards from where I grew up at 399a. He started his career as a junior at Cowlairs and was the senior team captain there before joining Hibernian in 1887, then Celtic, one year later, although he is listed above as belonging to Whitefield in May 1888. He played at full-back in the inaugural match with Rangers, then, remarkably, he later took over as goalkeeper and was between the sticks for Celtic’s first-ever trophy win on 11 May 1889, ironically against his old club Cowlairs in the final of the Glasgow North Eastern Cup at Barrowfield Park. James left the club the following year to join Battlefield and, on his retirement from playing, he became one of the top referees of the era, representing Celtic in that role for many years. He passed away in March 1946 and lies in rest in St Kentigern’s cemetery, Lambhill.

Third Lanark’s Willie Maley took his place at right-half. His elder brother Tom was actually the signing target for Brother Walfrid and club patrons John Glass and Pat ‘Tailor’ Welsh, when they called at the Maley household in Cathcart on that ‘sliding doors’ evening in 1887. Tom was out ‘courting’ at the time but would then be joined at Celtic by his brother Willie, who just happened to be at home and was told to ‘come along’, almost as an afterthought. The rest, as they say, is history. Our history.

And then there was the fabulous Renton pair of James Kelly and Cornelius ‘Neilly’ McCallum.

To put some context around their importance, I’ll take you back to Saturday, 28 January 1888, as Cambuslang win the first-ever Glasgow Cup competition, the only one not to feature Celtic, who had only been founded in November of the previous year and had yet to play a game. Cambuslang had beaten Rangers 3-1 in the final at Second Hampden that day. It would prove to be their only Glasgow Cup success. The following Saturday, 4 February 1888, the newly crowned Glaswegian champions would face the best team in the land, Renton, in the Scottish Cup Final at the same venue. Cambuslang would find Renton a different proposition, being on the wrong end of a 6-1 scoreline, a Scottish Cup Final record unchallenged until May 1972, when a John ‘Dixie’ Deans hat-trick inspired Celtic to beat much-fancied Hibernian side by the same margin. For over 130 years, Renton’s feat that day has never been bettered.

Celtic's first match took place on their humble little ground just the other side of the Janefield graveyard. The ground had been mostly built by local volunteers who gave up their free time to help put the stadium in order. pic.twitter.com/7ltaL6BWx6

— Lisbon Lion (@tirnaog_09) May 28, 2022

In the victorious Renton team that day were two men who would later carve their names into the history of another club, James Kelly and Neil McCallum. Kelly was the Billy McNeill of that era, a dominating central defender and leader. He left Renton to become Celtic’s first captain and would eventually be chosen as Scotland’s skipper. Kelly’s signing is widely considered to be one of the most critical in Celtic’s history, as he would be the catalyst for a host of other top players to flock to the new club. There was a saying at the time, ‘No Kelly, No Celtic.’ And whilst the club would undoubtedly have progressed without him, there is a question as to whether that progress would have been so great from the outset, without the acknowledged best player in Scotland in its ranks. In a decade of service to the ‘Bould Bhoys’, James Kelly was part of the first Celtic side to win both the Scottish Cup (1892) and Scottish League (1893), the first of his three Championship titles. On his retiral in 1897, he became a director at Celtic, a post he held until his death in 1932. James spent five years as chairman from 1909 and was the father of Bob, who carried out the same role between 1947 and his own passing in 1971, having succeeded his late father as a Celtic director back in 1932.

Winger Neil McCallum had scored twice for Renton in that 6-1 Scottish Cup Final win against Cambuslang at Cathkin Park four months earlier. Together with James Kelly, he was also part of the Renton side which had become unofficial ‘World Champions’ just nine days earlier, beating English FA Cup-winners West Bromwich Albion 4-1 on the same ground. Neil would carve his own name into Celtic folklore in the inaugural game against Rangers.

📋 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 #𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐅𝐂 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐗𝐈 🍀

Dolan, Pearson, McLaughlin, W. Maley, Kelly, Murray, McCallum, T. Maley, Madden, Dunbar, Gorevin.#COYBIW ⚪️

Read more about the Celts' first ever line-up ⤵️

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) May 28, 2022

The line-up featured Dumbarton’s John Madden at centre-forward. Followers of early Celtic history will know that Johnny moved to Slavia Prague in the early part of the 20th century, making such an impression that he is revered to this day as ‘the Father of Czech football.’ Celtic played a match in Prague in July 2017 to commemorate a stand named in his honour.

Inside-forward Mick Dunbar had played for Hibernian in that first game against Cowlairs, before signing for Celtic. Mick would perform at both Celtic Parks over the next five years and was part of the side which won our first ‘major’ honour, the Glasgow Cup of 1891, before clinching the Scottish League title in his final season of 1892/93. By the time he retired in 1893, Mick Dunbar’s first-team spot had been taken by the great Sandy ‘Duke’ McMahon. Mick returned to the club as a Director in 1897, a role he retained until his death in 1921. He was joined on the Board at that time by his May 1888 colleagues James Kelly and Tom Maley, whilst a third – Willie Maley – became Celtic’s first-ever team manager at the same time, at the tender age of 29 years.

The Rangers XI who would face Celtic featured a number of reserve players, known as ‘Swifts’. In front of 2,000 spectators, on-loan Renton winger Neil McCallum had the honour of scoring the first-ever goal at the new ground and in the history of Celtic, with a header in the opening 10 minutes. Future captain and chairman James Kelly scored the second goal before half-time, whilst Tom Maley, playing beside his brother Willie, notched Celtic’s inaugural hat-trick in the second half, as the white-shirted Celts won 5-2. Interestingly, whilst McCallum’s first goal is widely known amongst the Hoops support, Kelly’s is much less so and, even more bizarrely, the fact that Tom Maley scored the club’s first hat-trick that day rarely gets mentioned.

The Celtic were in business.

The world had changed.

And things would never be the same again.

Matt Corr

*An extract from the completely sold out Walfrid & The Bould Bhoys, published by Celtic Star Books in August 2020.

🗓️ #OnThisDay in 1888, #CelticFC played our first ever game! 🍀

The game was won 5-2 with the honour of scoring the club's first ever goal falling to Neil McCallum who, just nine months later, would also score our first Scottish Cup final goal 💚

Read more ⤵️

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) May 28, 2022

And the story Celtic supporter who was there…

After reading a David Potter article, I started looking at Celtic’s first ever game 134 years ago today. Initially I was just looking for a match report, when I came across this brilliant article on the Celtic Wiki from a supporter who was at that very first game, a 5-2 win over Rangers, or Rangers Swifts depending on where you read or who you choose to believe.

I’m sure many of you have already read this but I’m equally certain that many won’t have, so I’ve re-written that interview from the Celtic View in 1972 – I’m sure they won’t mind, it’s not the easiest article to read. It is certainly worth sharing and even revisiting today for those of you who may have read about it in the past.

The supporters name was Dan Drake and he was 94 years old when the Celtic View interviewed him. According to ‘Uniquely Celtic’ by Frank Rafters, Dan was one of six children. Born in 1878, unlike his siblings who were all born in Glasgow, Dan is recorded as being born in England, though no exact details of location are given.

The 1891 census has him living in Anderston, though that particular area is no more having been replaced by Motorway. Dan is recorded as living in Maryhill in the next couple of decades and the 1911 census – after Celtic had won six consecutive league titles – has Dan recorded as working as a Tailor while living with his mother and sister following the death of his Father.

Mr Drake was a 10 year old boy when his Dad took him and his brother to that historic game. Here is what he had to say in that brilliant interview. Thank you once again to the brilliant Celtic Wiki site where we found the Celtic View clippings of the original interview, shown above.

Attending the match

“My father didn’t know the first thing about football, but my brother and I were keen and my father took us to see the Celts to encourage our interest in the sport.”

“You used to go down Dalmarnock Street to the old Celtic ground and although it wasn’t very big it held several thousand spectators quite comfortably.”

“As a matter of fact although the park had a small stand, many of the more able fans climbed on to the cemetery boundary wall for a better view of the matches.”

“At the time the site of the present Celtic Park was a large piece of waste ground with a huge crater in the middle which was about 30 or forty feet deep.”

“In those days there was no Scottish league competitions. The programme apart from cup ties was filled up with game against famous English sides like the Corinthians, Mitchell’s St George, Bolton wanderers and Burnley.”

“Celtic were founded to provide charity but no one can really appreciate just how successful they were in those very hard times.”

“They also gave an interest to the down-trodden Irish community in Glasgow who were able to identify themselves with the uphill fight of the club”

The players

“Peter Dowds was about the best half back I ever saw play, but my upstanding memory of a Celtic half back line was that of Willie Maley, James Kelly and Paddy Gallagher (not to be confused with Patsy Gallagher)

“That was the best half back line in the Celtic team of 1892 that won the Scottish Cup, Glasgow Cup, Charity cup and finished runners up in the Scottish League Championship which had just started the previous year.”

“Other outstanding players I remember included Willie Groves, who was a great ball player and James McLaren, a left half from Hibernian known as ‘the General’. Mikey McKeown, Neilly McCallum and Johnny Madden were other great player I remember.”

“Talking of Johnny Madden, he went to Prague at the beginning of the Century and became a national figure as a result of his wonderful coaching of footballers.”

“The great thing about the Celtic teams was their ability to play football on the ground. They combined so well in their passing that people who disliked them said they needed a carpet to play football.”

“One problem Celtic had in the beginning was finding a really good goalkeeper but that was solved with the arrival of Dan McCarthur. He was on the small side but his timing and agility more than made up for his lack of height.”

“Although most people consider John Thomson to have been the greatest Celtic goalkeeper of all time, I think Thomson and McCarthur were so outstanding you couldn’t say one was better than the other.”

“The best full-back partnership was that of Jerry Reynolds and Dan Doyle, though strangely enough they were very different types of players.”

“Reynolds could head a ball as far as most players could kick it, and Doyle could kick a long ball with deadly accuracy.”

“Doyle used to be a torment to opposition players when taking free kicks. He could hit the ball right into the opponents’ penalty area from his own half of the field, but if anyone moved as he ran to hit the ball he just stopped dead and started his run all over again.”

“This seemed to have an unsettling effect on defences. I also remember with joy the great left wing partnership of Sandy McMahon and Johnny Campbell who each seemed instinctively to know what the other was going to do.”

“Celtic had in fact signed the Benburb left wing of Barney Crossan and Campbell but Crossan couldn’t oust McMahon from the inside left spot.

“In the middle nineties however Crossan won a Scottish Cup medal with the now defunct St Bernards whom he had joined from Celtic.”

The managers

“What Willie Maley did for half a Century has been carried on by Jimmy McGrory and Jock Stein and, judging by the players they’ve got at present, Mr Stein can go on adding to successes to those he has already won.

“Considering all the things that have happened in Celtic’s history I think the greatest triumph of all has just been completed – winning seven league championships in succession.

“I don’t think we’ll see that feat equalled in my lifetime”

I loved that final tongue in cheek comment from Dan Drake who passed away in 1976 at the age of 97.

Alongside attending that first ever match he therefore would have witnessed Celtic lift the European Cup as well as seeing the completion of that first 9-in-a-row and everything in between.

It would of course have been fascinating to listen to his stories, but having Mr Drake’s thoughts on attending that first game as a wide eyed 10 year old, and his description of the players who entertained the early Celtic support, is a wonderful record to have. It is certainly one worth revisiting on today’s anniversary of Celtic’s first ever game.

When Celtic won 9-in-a-row for the second time I wondered just what my Grandfather would have made of it all. When Rangers won their nine titles, he said: ‘who remembers the second man to climb Everest’. I liked that.

Niall J

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