3 April 1915: World War I was raging. Tragic news came through from Hungary as the Glasgow Herald reported of 10,000 Austro-Hungarian deaths during the seige at Przemsyl. Many of the fallen garrison would have watched Celtic play against Ferencvaros in Budapest a year earlier, as the windows of their barracks overlooked the pitch.
Many Hearts players had made a huge sacrifice in volunteering to join the fight, encouraging many of their supporters to join them in the first of a unique style of battalion set up to enable people to join the war effort with their chosen peers. Hearts were top of the league when the decision was made and remained top at this late stage of the season. However, the night time maneuvers and military training had caused so many injuries and exhaustion that their league title quest began to suffer. Today was one of those tough tests for Hearts as they were held to a draw by Aberdeen at Pittodrie. The result was unsurprising, for the Jambos were missing their top goalscorer, Gracie, through illness.
Hearts’ draw meant that they moved to 61 points. Victory for Celtic would put them on 58, with two games in hand. The Celts made no mistake at home to Aidrieonians. Backed by a crowd of 8,000, the Hoops breezed into the lead through Browning. McColl doubled the lead and then the legendary Jimmy ‘Napoleon’ McMenemy rounded off the scoring to give Celtic a comfortable 3-0 win.
The following brief match reports appeared in the local newspapers.
The Scotsman, Monday, 5 April 1915:
In the end the Celtic prevailed somewhat easily over the Airdrieonians at Parkhead. A crowd of some 8,000 witnessed a good first half, during which time the Celtic counted twice through McColl and Browning. Repeatedly the Airdrie side was dangerous, but they could not break through the Celtic’s sturdy defence. Later the game developed into more or less pressure from the Celts, who found the net again through McMenemy.
Glasgow Herald, Monday 5 April, 1915:
Ten minutes after the start Celtic secured the lead, and from that period their supremacy, which was most pronounced in the latter stages, was never seriously threatened. Only Brown, Mackie and Rafferty on the visitors’ side compared favourably with the winners, who all gave an excellent display.
Support Celtic Youth Development
Help raise money for Celtic Youth Development by joining the £1 weekly lottery and you could win up to £25,000 – just click on any one of the photographs below to join. Lots of our readers have already done so and they’re now doing their bit to help fund Celtic Youth Development that can deliver the stars of tomorrow and beyond. And you might even win a few bob too! And a special thank you to all The Celtic Star readers who have already signed up and are now supporting youth development to give us the Celtic Stars of the future…
