On this day 87 years ago, the press had no difficulty finding a story to report. Indeed, 18 March 1933 saw an attempt to wreck a train running during the Ulster railway strike. Fortunately the plot was discovered in time, at Lurgan, when a smouldering suitcase was found in a compartment. When examined, the item was found to contain a Mills bomb, the string of which was only partly secured by a cord, two bottles of petrol, a quantity of paper, and a lighted candle!
In the sporting domain, Motherwell reached the Scottish Cup final, whilst Everton and Man City booked their places in the English national cup last two. In the English League Arsenal lost to lowly Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa lost 6-2 to another relegation contender in Blackpool. Blackpool led 5-0 at the interval thanks to two early goals by Scottish born, Robert Dougall and a hat-trick from his compatriot Phil Watson, who formerly played for Hamilton Academical.
It wasn’t just football that was big news, as Scotland beat England by a try to nothing in the Rugby International championship match at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, thus regaining the Calcutta Cup. Witnessed by a crowd of over 70,000 spectators, Scotland’s victory assured they would at least of share the championship, and with two wins they were the only undefeated country. Victory at Dublin in the postponed match would give Scotland the Triple Crown and mark a great rugby success.
Nevertheless, the largest sporting in crowd in Scotland that day was not in the capital or indeed at any rugby event. It was in fact at Hampden Park as 87,000 people piled into the national football stadium to watch Celtic v Hearts in the Scottish Cup semi final. Unfortnately, the match wasn’t the most exciting as it resulted in a 0-0 draw. However, Peter McGonagle gave an excellent show of defensive ability from his left back position.
The replay was played on the Wednesday night, when goals from McGrory and Alec Thomson gave Celtic a 2-1 win in front of a crowd of 63, 756. McGrory then scored in the final against Motherwell, a month later, as Celtic won the trophy.
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 the photograph 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…
