Celtic 6 Rangers 2, ‘Sine Die’ Ban for Rangers man, wonderfully named referee Charlie Faultless

If you know the history – Celtic at birth, 50 & 100: Part 14 – September 1938

Willie Maley’s Scottish champions had ended August with a last-day goal blitz against Third Lanark at Celtic Park, John Divers scoring four as the Hi Hi were on the receiving end of an 8-1 hammering in the replayed Glasgow Cup first-round tie, the sides having drawn 1-1 a fortnight earlier at Cathkin.

It was the perfect response to the shock 2-1 home defeat by Aberdeen the previous weekend and set things up nicely for that Saturday’s critical League clash with last season’s runners-up, Hearts, at Tynecastle.

There were just under 50,000 fans packed into the Edinburgh ground to witness the eagerly-awaited meeting of Scotland’s top two, with thousands more locked out and the crushing forcing spectators onto the track.

Just eight months earlier, Celtic’s stunning comeback in the capital to secure a 4-2 victory had been pivotal in securing the title that season. The stable nature of football in those days is perhaps reflected in the fact that the Celtic side showed only one change from that January win, the legendary Jimmy Delaney replacing Joe Carruth on the right flank, as the visitors lined up as follows:

Kennaway: Hogg & Morrison: Lynch, Lyon & Paterson: Delaney, MacDonald, Crum, Divers & Murphy.

Hearts had started the season well, recording home and away 4-1 wins over Third Lanark, either side of a 6-2 Tynecastle thrashing of Falkirk, before coming a cropper at Firhill, losing 3-1 to Partick Thistle as the Bhoys were going down to the Dons across the city.

With Celtic having also drawn at Rugby Park, they trailed their opponents by one point going into the match but seized the early initiative as home goalkeeper Waugh allowed a weak effort from MacDonald to trickle over the line within four minutes.

The scores were level in the tenth minute, when Hearts inside-left Black netted following a free-kick, and remained that way until just before the interval, Murphy benefitting from good work from Delaney and Crum to beat Waugh with a low shot for 2-1. The early part of the second half saw Kennoway injured in a collision with the Hearts goalscorer and replaced in goals for a spell by wing-half Paterson. Celtic’s constant flow of attacks were finally rewarded in the closing fifteen minutes, as first MacDonald headed home then Divers made it four. In the closing stages, Crum put the icing on the Celtic cake with a fifth, as the champions sent out a chilling message to the chasing pack.

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Seven days later, on Saturday, 10 September 1938, there was another top-of-the-table clash involving the defending Champions. This time Rangers were the visitors to Celtic Park, the Ibrox men now one point clear of Celtic, having dropped only two points to date, following draws with both St Johnstone and Motherwell in their opening two fixtures. Like Hearts the previous week, they had revenge on their mind, having lost that year’s Ne’erday derby 3-0, on a day when Celtic Park held its largest-ever attendance of 92,000. And just like the Tynecastle side, they would be found badly wanting.

Celtic made only one change from the 5-1 victory in Edinburgh, Geatons replacing Lynch, whilst the visitors featured a 19-year-old centre-half from the capital called Willie Woodburn, who had made his senior debut just three weeks earlier.

This would prove to be a costly error from Rangers manager, Bill Struth, as the young defender was destroyed over the next ninety minutes in front of another huge crowd of over 80,000. By half-time, Celts were 3-0 ahead, MacDonald opening the scoring after twenty minutes before skipper Lyon scored a rare double, netting from a free-kick then a penalty, both awarded following fouls by Woodburn.

The Ibrox side did manage to pull two goals back from Smith and Thornton before Delaney notched the crucial score with a fantastic diving header, leaving Dawson helpless in the visiting goal.

MacDonald then took the score to 6-2 with a quick-fire double, his hat-trick goal a spectacular strike from outside the box. It would be, ironically, 62 years before Celts would record this score again in a League game with their old rivals, on 27 August 2000, as Martin O’Neill’s new Hoops strike force of Larsson and Sutton set about dismantling ‘the benchmark’, Advocaat’s Rangers, en route to becoming the dominant force in Scottish football in the third millennium.

Willie Woodburn would go on to become one of Scottish football’s most controversial characters, finding himself in trouble with the authorities for on-field violence on a number of occasions during his 16-year career at Ibrox as part of their famous ‘Iron Curtain’ defence.

He received a two-week ban after getting involved with Motherwell striker Davie Mathie in 1947, before his punch on future Celtic 7-1 hero, Billy McPhail, then with Clyde, brought about a 21-day suspension in 1953. Two dismissals in matches against Stirling Albion over the next twelve months brought about his eventual demise in the senior game, the second, for a head-butt, bringing about a ‘sine die’ ban in September 1954, the last player to receive such a punishment in the UK. Although the suspension was eventually revoked by the SFA, in 1957, it was too late for the by now 37-year-old Woodburn. He would not play again.

Four days after the 6-2 victory over Rangers, Wednesday, 14 September 1938, Hamilton Academical were the visitors to a very different Celtic Park, with only 6,000 souls scattered across the vast arena. An unchanged Hoops side managed to undo much of the great work of the previous fortnight, losing 2-1 to the unfancied visitors.

Wilson put Accies ahead after fifteen minutes, Kennoway failing to keep his angled shot out, before Park made it 2-0 just before the break with a superb solo goal (I know, Park of Hamilton! Presumably, he became a coach when he retired from playing? I’ll get my coat!). On the hour-mark, that man Delaney restored home hopes with a goal and with 73 minutes on the clock, Lyon had the chance to save a valuable point from the spot. This time, however, he failed to repeat his heroics of the previous week, blasting his kick wide as Celts suffered a surprising and damaging defeat.

Next up for the inconsistent Hoops was a tricky visit to Shawfield, on Saturday 17 September 1938. The versatile Matt Lynch replaced Delaney at outside-right, the only change for the visitors in front of 32,000 for the clash with near-neighbours, Clyde.

On a wet, muddy surface, Celtic seized the initiative early on, MacDonald scoring after a goalmouth scramble, the only goal of the first half as Clyde held on. Ten minutes after the break came the move of the match, Murphy’s delicious cross met by the flying forehead of Crum for 2-0. Within sixty seconds, the home side had clawed one back, Beaton netting from the spot, and Celts held that slender lead until the 85th minute, when Divers glanced a header past Brown from a Lynch corner. The winger then got himself on the scoresheet, running through to fire home from the edge of the box to complete a comprehensive 4-1 victory for the Bhoys.

The Bully Wee would go on to enjoy a fine season, lifting their first Scottish Cup by beating Motherwell, featuring the aforementioned Davie Mathie, 4-0 in the final in front of 94,000 spectators, in April 1939.

En route to that triumph, Clyde centre-forward Willie Martin had set a record for a visiting player at Ibrox, by scoring all four goals in their emphatic 4-1 third round win. The Hampden victory would set Clyde up as the unlikely answer to the old trick question of ‘which club has held the Scottish Cup for the longest period’, the competition suspended following the outbreak of war in September 1939 and not resuming until season 1946/47. As an aside, back in May 1939, Glencairn had completed a fine double for the burgh of Rutherglen, winning the Scottish Junior Cup by beating yet another local side, Shawfield, 2-1 in the final at Celtic Park.

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I feel a slight digression coming on…

Shawfield Juniors were based at Roseberry Park in Polmadie, and were the first club of my late uncle, Willie Jack. At seventeen, he was probably too young to have featured in that 1939 side but was almost certainly involved when they won the trophy in June 1947, beating Bo’ness United 2-1 in the replay at Hampden.

Inside-forward Willie would leave Roseberry for St Mirren that same month, playing against Celtic for the first time on 22 November 1947 in a 2-1 Hoops win at Love Street. I suspect that he may have been ‘courting’ my Aunt Margaret, my mum’s older sister, by this point. My dad used to tell me about going to watch Willie play against Celtic, accompanied by my mum’s brothers, Willie and Robert McGuire, and her mum – Willie’s future mother-in-law – at a time when it was unusual for women to go to the game. They would wind my gran up by having a pop at ‘Jack’, whilst she would defend him.

He would be missing from the Saints team for the goalless draw at Parkhead in March 1948 but would have the last laugh on his tormentors, his St Mirren side finishing fifth behind Champions Hibernian, whilst Celtic had to depend on a final-game hat-trick from Jock Weir to come from behind to win 3-2 at Dens Park to stave off the threat of a first-ever relegation, with Morton, Queen of the South and the ultimately-relegated Airdrieonians, all in a position to overtake the Hoops in the event of a defeat.

Willie did not feature in either League meeting between the sides the following season, possibly due to National Service, joining struggling Albion Rovers in April 1949, where he was a teammate of a certain Jock Stein as the Coatbridge club were relegated after just a solitary season in the top division.

In December 1951, as Jock was travelling back from a stint in Wales with Llanelli to sign for Celtic for the first time, Willie left Cliftonhill for Kilmarnock, at that time managed by another Hoops legend, Malky MacDonald, currently featuring as a player in this series of articles.

Already at Rugby Park, was former Motherwell centre-forward, Davie Mathie, mentioned previously in this story and who had also been a teammate of Jock Stein’s at Llanelli. Jack and Mathie featured in the same Kilmarnock side on thirteen occasions, before Davie left for Workington Town in 1953. Tragically, he would make just two League appearances in Cumbria, passing away in Law Hospital on 3 January 1954, aged just 34.

It was whilst at Rugby Park, that Willie created one of my favourite childhood stories, celebrating the recent birth of his first son – my cousin Brian – by scoring a late winner for Second Division Kilmarnock against Rangers in the League Cup semi-final at Hampden in October 1952, with that part of his anatomy normally reserved for sitting on! That was his sixth goal of the competition. Unfortunately, later that month he would find himself on the losing side at the same venue, as holders Dundee retained the trophy with a 2-0 victory over Killie in front of 52,000.

Bobby Flavell had scored both goals in that League Cup Final, having also netted in Dundee’s 3-2 win over Rangers in the final of twelve months earlier, where his direct opponent was Willie Woodburn. Flavell had joined Dundee from Hearts, released from Tynecastle in 1951 for his involvement in the breakaway Colombian league the year before, where he had been a teammate of Alfredo Di Stefano at Millonarios. From one legend to another, he then joined up with Uncle Willie at Kilmarnock in 1954!

Willie did manage another goal against Rangers, this time in the second-round replay of the Scottish Cup on Wednesday, 17 February 1954, Kilmarnock’s solitary strike as they lost 3-1 at Rugby Park in front of over 33,000 spectators, having drawn 2-2 at Ibrox four days earlier.

That season would end very differently for the two clubs, Rangers hammered 6-0 by Aberdeen in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup before 111,000 at Hampden and finishing a distant fourth in the League, nine points behind Double-winners Celtic, whilst Willie’s 11 goals in 25 League starts were critical as Kilmarnock secured promotion from Division B, three points behind champions Motherwell. The following month, he was joined at Rugby Park by Alex Rollo, the Coronation Cup-winning full-back released by Celtic and now free to help the Ayrshire club on their return to the top division.

Rollo was at left-back as Killie visited Celtic Park on League business in early October, the newly-promoted side opening the scoring within 45 seconds before succumbing to a 6-3 defeat.

Willie Jack had not featured that afternoon, however, on Saturday, 8 January 1955, the day my brother was born, both men lined up for the return fixture against Celtic at Rugby Park, in front of 25,000 spectators. McGrory’s Bhoys, fielding Willie’s old Albion Rovers colleague, Jock Stein, and wearing their popular white ‘shamrock’ kit of the day, won 2-1 thanks to a late goal from Charles Patrick Tully.

The sides then met again at the same venue in the sixth round of the Scottish Cup the following month, Willie denied a goal by John Bonnar, as the match finished 1-1 in front of 31,000, the infamous R H Davidson of Airdrie the young referee in a match captured in some fabulous, vintage black-and-white footage. Check it out if you get a chance. Stein and Davidson would cross swords often in the decades to follow.

The tie was eventually settled four days later, over 40,000 managing to get time off work to attend Celtic Park on the afternoon of Wednesday, 23 February 1955. An early second-half strike from Rollo’s Coronation Cup-winning teammate, Jimmy Walsh, proved to be the only goal of the game, as the holders continued their march to the final.

There they would face Clyde, in the first-ever Scottish Cup Final to be televised live, the broadcast reducing the attendance to a disappointing 106,000! Walsh was again on the mark, seven minutes before the interval, Celts dominating the game and looking certain to retain ‘our cup’ until just before the end, when goalkeeper Bonnar misjudged an inswinging corner-kick from future Clyde manager, Archie Robertson, the ball ending up in the Celtic net.

In the replay, again refereed by the wonderfully-named Charlie Faultless, Celtic made several curious changes to their Saturday line-up, the omission of Bobby Collins particularly baffling, with many suspecting chairman Robert Kelly of interfering in team selection, not for the first or last time.

In any case, the changes backfired, Clyde taking the cup for the second time in their history, thanks to a 52nd-minute goal from winger Tommy Ring, the Bully Wee being managed on both occasions by Paddy Travers, who had also taken Aberdeen to their first such final in 1937, his side losing to Celtic in front of the biggest crowd ever to watch a club match in Europe.

Ring was the other Cup Final hero. It had been his last-gasp equaliser in the semi-final at Easter Road which had prevented a re-run of the previous year’s final between Celtic and Aberdeen, Robertson then scoring the only goal of the replay at the same venue.

Both Tommy Ring and Clyde’s other winger, John Divers – not to be confused with any of the Celtic stars of the same name – had grown up in Possilpark alongside my dad. John’s son, Jimmy, was then a school pal of mine in the early seventies, playing alongside me for both St Stephen’s primary school team then St Roch’s Boys Guild. He was some player, a tremendously-talented winger, obviously inheriting much of his talent from his own cup-winning father. It’s a small world sometimes.

Back at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock had ended the 1954/55 season in a respectable 10th position, Willie contributing 8 goals from his 12 games as Aberdeen won their first-ever Scottish League title. He would only feature in the opening four League Cup sectional matches the following season, before making his final move in senior football to Stenhousemuir, against whom he had enjoyed an excellent scoring record whilst playing with Kilmarnock, with 5 goals in just 6 games, in 1956.

Details of his career there are sketchy, although I have found a record of him scoring twice against Dundee United at Ochilview, on Saturday, 6 October 1956, shortly after the arrival of his second son, William junior (known to everyone in the family as Billy). I believe Willie retired from senior football at the end of that season.

Willie’s first club, Shawfield, would continue in junior football until 1960, before disbanding, as the changing face of the area robbed them of much of their core support. Their Roseberry Park home was purchased by Glasgow Corporation the following year and refurbished as a venue for Glasgow schools’ football, opened in April 1963 by Robert Kelly, in his capacity as the President of the SFA.

Five years later, I would make my first and only visit to the ground, supporting my school team, St Aloysius from Springburn, as they lost 6-0 to Garthamlock’s St Thenog. St Aloysius played in Kilmarnock’s blue-and-white stripes that day and were captained by my cousin, Billy Jack. It’s a funny old game sometimes!

Willie’s career had ended by the time I was growing up just a mile away from my cousins in Springburn. Well, his football career at any rate. At family gatherings, he would be the life and soul of the party, needing little invitation to sing and commencing the dancing with his own invitation, ‘Ladies’ choice!’ These were wonderful times. In later years, my siblings and I had cause to be grateful to Willie, as he would pop the newspapers into my dad each morning when his ill-health had restricted his mobility. It was an act typical of the man. He passed away in October 2010 in his 89th year, a life well lived.

There was a final story at his funeral, which I’m sure he would have enjoyed, as his daughter Maureen, not that interested in football perhaps, attached a card with his flowers inscribed ‘Simply the Best’. On the saddest of days for the Celtic-mad family, I have to say that brought much hilarity. Rest in peace, Willie.

Anyway, as I said, I digress. Back in September 1938, Willie’s old Kilmarnock boss, Malky MacDonald, was part of an unchanged Celtic line-up for the final League match of the month, Raith Rovers the visitors to Parkhead on Saturday 24th. There were only 8,000 spectators present to watch the game but those who didn’t make it along missed a fine performance from the Hoops, and a 6-1 victory. Goals from Murphy and Crum had finished the match as a contest by the interval, MacDonald adding a double before Whitelaw scored a consolation goal for the Fifers. Crum then took over, with two late goals for a hat-trick, as Celts stayed in touch with surprise early-pacesetters, Queen of the South.

Two nights later, the Bhoys completed their September schedule with a 2-1 victory over Queen’s Park at Celtic Park, in the semi-final of the Glasgow Cup. The struggling Spiders had provided the shock of the previous round, drawing 0-0 with holders Rangers at Hampden early in the month before winning 3-2 at Ibrox just the previous midweek. The other semi-final saw Clyde edge out Partick Thistle at Firhill, setting up a Glasgow Cup final between the two east end sides, scheduled for Friday 14 October.

Hail Hail,

Matt Corr

Follow Matt on Twitter @Boola_vogue

Thanks and credit as always to the folk behind the wonderful Celtic Wiki, an invaluable resource for Celtic historians.