The Navy and Army War Fund Shield was devised by the Scottish League to boost the funds of a charity originally set up to bring some financial relief during the First World War to Scottish League players in the services and their dependents.
It was in the form of a knock-out competition and in the opening round, Celtic beat Queen’s Park 2-1 at Parkhead. A crowd of 12,000 had been present for that one but for the semi-final, against Clydebank, also at home, only 8,000 turned up and Celtic struggled against the visiting defence, although the Bhoys did eventually win 2-0.
Curiously, after the match, Clydebank hurried back to their own ground of Clydeholm Park, where they faced up to Renton in a Dunbartonshire Cup semi-final.
In the final, played at Hampden on this day in 1918, the weather was terrible, but 20,000 were there to see Celtic take on Morton, the men from Greenock strong favourites to take the trophy, after beating Rangers in the other semi-final.
The guys in green-and- white, though, rose to the challenge and, thanks to a single goal by Patsy Gallacher, won 1-0. However, when it came to the presentation of the trophy, it was performed ‘in spirit’ as the silverware, gifted anonymously, was said to be ‘not quite ready’.
It was assumed that the competition would be an annual event but the war ended six months later and no trophy ever surfaced.
The Celtic team that day was Shaw, McNair, Dodds, Jackson, W McStay, Brown, Kelly, Gallacher, McLean, McMenemy, Browning.
Jim Craig
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