After war was declared on 3 September 1939, football, like other forms of mass entertainment, was abandoned by the authorities. As the days passed, though, and they realised that there would be no mass bombing of major cities, the ban was relaxed and football was allowed to continue, with certain limitations.
After a gap of 28 days since their previous game on 2 September, a Celtic side ran out at Hampden on this day in 1939 to play Queen’s Park in a Glasgow Cup tie.
The team was near enough the same eleven which had had some successful moments in the late 1930s but there was one famous name missing…that of goalkeeper Joe Kennaway.
Joe had been brought in from New Bedford in the autumn of 1931 as a replacement for John Thomson and was a solid custodian for Celtic all through the big moments of the 1930s, like the league championship successes of 1935/36 and 1937/38, the Scottish Cup wins of 1933 and 1937, not forgetting the Empire Exhibition Trophy victory in 1938.
However, in the early days of that season of 1939-1940, rheumatoid arthritis had begun to affect Joe Kennaway and he was forced to retire, returning to the USA in October 1939 to take up a coaching post.
Jim Craig
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