Hail Hail History: Celtic and the five Deaths of the Monarch

Celtic’s fixture proved to be a huge anti-climax. The Bhoys were to play Kilmarnock in the cup – except the referee did not turn up! A telegram was sent to the match official saying rain had left the pitch “unplayable” but it should have read “playable”.

It was claimed that this telegram was Willie Maley’s mistake. One newspaper reported unhappy fans as saying “Murder … will out” and demanding their money back, or at the very least tickets for the rearranged cup game. Instead of the Celtic Park cup contest which had been hoped for, a friendly match was played. Newspaper accounts make no mention of any minute’s silence. The Bhoys won 2-1 thanks to goals from Divers and McMahon. When the cup game was eventually played in February it was an easy 6-0 home win.

Whilst games had been permitted after Queen Victoria’s death, this was not the case in the run-up to her funeral, which was held on Saturday 2 February. All matches – including a Scotland versus Ireland game – were postponed until the Queen’s service had been held. Flags were to be flown at half-mast and all grounds closed.

The Scottish Referee reported that football – and indeed all other sports – would not take place “out of respect to the venerated memory of ‘Victoria the Pure’.” The same article indicated that many clubs were not happy with the postponements – particularly the financial effects of this – but added that teams “must none the less readily and loyally honour” these plans.

Interestingly the death of Queen Victoria – and the subsequent Coronation of her successor, Edward VII – led to Celtic winning British football’s first ‘Coronation Cup’. The Ibrox Disaster of 1902 – where a stand collapsed at Scotland versus England game – led to a special contest being held by Rangers to raise funds for costs associated with this.

Rangers and Sunderland – the respective champions of their country – and Celtic and Everton as league runners-up entered a four-team competition called the British League Cup. The prize was the Glasgow Exhibition Cup won by Rangers in 1901. Confusingly – to add a third name into the mix – this was unofficially known as the Coronation Cup as it coincided with King Edward VII’s crowning.

Celtic put behind the disappointment of 1901 – when they lost the Exhibition Cup to Rangers – to beat Sunderland and then the Ibrox side to claim the trophy, and title of ‘Coronation Cup’ winners. The match was played at Cathkin Park and the Bhoys were 3-2 victors, after extra time. Several newspapers did not realise extra time would be played so wrongly reported the game as being a 2-2 draw.

Whereas Queen Victoria had reigned for almost 64 years, the next monarch’s death came much sooner. In 1910, King Edward VII died and once more the process of commemoration began. This time football was much less affected by these events. The King died on 6 May 1910, and this was after most of the season’s fixtures had been completed, meaning public attention had turned to other sports.

One unfortunate newspaper writer in England – surely in an article written before the King’s death but published afterwards – stated that “King Football is dead as a door nail, and King Cricket has commenced to reign.”

Continued on the next page…