Part 6: And they gave us James McGrory…and Willie Dunn
In the first part of this article, I mentioned how the publication of my Copenhagen Diary on the Celtic Star recently had prompted an old friend, Paddy, to get in touch. He wanted to show me a couple of photographs, containing Celtic autographs of the past, which had been in his possession for years. Paddy was looking for some information, background or context for these items.
Part one of this story covered the autographed sheet from 1937/38, compiled before the transfer of Willie Buchan and retiral of Jimmy McGrory pre-Christmas 1937, with the only question remaining as to how it had come about that the Celtic team, or representatives of the club, were in Kingussie in the Scottish Highlands, around that time. I’ll add my own thoughts on that particular query later.
Parts 2-5 of the series has looked at the second item presented by Paddy, an undated sheet containing the signatures of twenty men, some very famous and others unknown to me, however, all clearly associated with Celtic. This photograph had also been handed to the lady whose family owned the Star Hotel in Kingussie, albeit we then established that this very special piece of Celtic memorabilia related to a team several years before the Scottish, and, dare I say it, Empire champions of 1937/38. From 1933/34, actually. The mystery deepens.
We have now reviewed the careers of eighteen of the twenty names on the second set of autographs, and in the sixth part of the series we will look at a Celt who would have one of the toughest gigs in football back in the 1930’s, deputising for the great Jimmy McGrory. His name is Willie Dunn.
Centre-forward William Dunn signed for Celtic on 6 September 1933, having been a prolific goalscorer with his local junior club, Ashfield, in the north of Glasgow, from where the Parkhead club would later pluck Lisbon Lion, Stevie Chalmers.
Willie would make his senior debut later that month, on Monday, 25 September, against Rangers at Celtic Park, in a Glasgow Cup semi-final tie, McGrory having hurt his ribs in the 1-1 draw with St Johnstone in Perth two days earlier, an injury which forced him to complete that match as a lame passenger on the right wing.
Dunn’s direct opponent for his first appearance in the Hoops would be ‘Faither’s Faither’, Jimmy Simpson, the dad of Chalmers’ Celtic colleague, Ronnie. Johnny Crum would equalise for the Bhoys early in the second half, after Jimmy Smith had ‘shoulder-charged’ Joe Kennaway into the Celtic net, complete with ball. It was a different game in those days!
Willie would retain his place up front for the weekend visit of Queen’s Park, alongside three other peripheral Celts of the time, Jock Wallace, Willie Hughes and Danny Dawson, who made his debut, as a combination of injuries and international commitments saw Parkhead resources at full stretch. The Spiders’ centre-half that day who would be looking to nullify the threat of Dunn was Willie Lyon, who would become Hoops skipper following his transfer from Hampden two years later, going on to lead Celtic’s Championship, Scottish Cup and Empire Exhibition Cup-winning sides between 1936-38. Goals from Hugh O’Donnell, captain Jimmy McStay and Alec Thomson saw Celtic defeat Queen’s Park 3-1.
There was a touch of the exotic in Glasgow’s east end four days later, Wednesday, 4 October 1933, as the touring Combinado del Pacifico squad hit town. A squad drawing its players from top Peruvian and Chilean clubs, Universatario de Deportes, Colo Colo, Allianza Lima and Atletico Chalaco, had embarked on a gruelling continental trip, which would include 39 friendly matches between September 1933 and March 1934.
The South American selection had opened the European leg of the tour in Ireland, with 1-1 draws against Bohemians in Dublin and Glentoran in Belfast, before arriving in Glasgow. Goals from the O’Donnell brothers, Frank and Hugh, gave Celtic a 2-0 interval lead before Teodoro ‘Lolo’ Fernandez pulled a goal back in the second half. Fernandez, nicknamed El Canonero, remains a legend in his native Peru, spending his entire 22-year playing career with Universatario, where he scored 156 goals to become the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Lolo also captained the Peruvian national side for twelve years, from 1935 until 1947, scoring 24 goals in just 32 internationals. This included the 1939 Copa America, which Peru won, as he emerged as both top scorer and player of the tournament.
