Scottish Football Reminiscences and SketchesBone, David Drummond
History
Scottish Football Reminiscences and Sketches
Bone, David Drummond
Football
"The Yanks were now fairly cowed, and when another grand piece of play
by Stewart, backed up at the proper moment by Watt, put a third goal to
the credit of the Scotchmen, the visitors, in the most gentlemanly way,
heartily joined in the cheering for the victors. When the referee's
whistle was sounded, the Scotchmen were declared the winners of a
hard-fought field by 3 goals to 1. The crowd completely besieged the
pavilion at Bruce Park at the close, and cheered lustily as the Scotch
champions made their way up the steps. Nor were the vanquished Americans
forgotten. They came in for a round of hearty cheers for their pluck.
"There was a dinner given to the distinguished strangers in the evening,
and the usual complimentary toasts proposed and duly acknowledged; but,
as I was not present, I am unable to say who spoke best and gave the
most enjoyable song.
"At anyrate, a happy evening was passed, and, after spending a day in
Glasgow, the Yankees sailed on the following Monday morning for New
York, where they duly arrived without any mishap, after the fastest
passage on record, having covered the distance from Greenock to Sandy
Hook in twenty-three hours fifty-nine and three-quarter minutes."
Such is "NED DUNCAN'S DREAM; OR, THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL."
_VIII.--THE PATRONS, SPECTATORS, AND POPULAR PLAYERS._
They are to be found in all ranks and conditions of life, from the lord
of the manor down to the apprentice-artizan and newly-fledged young man
from shop and warehouse. Like love, football, for the time, at least,
levels all distinction; and albeit I know, for that of it, many a
well-matched pair, who have met for the first time on the grand stand at
Hampden Park, looking back with feelings of intense pleasure to the time
when their "infant love began." Were it not, in fact, that Caledonia is
at times so "stern and wild," and that football and frost can never
flourish together, the game would be far more extensively patronised by
the fair sex. At a cup tie or an International match, it is quite a
common thing to see the Convener of an adjacent county,[A] the city
magnate, the suburban magistrate, the Free Kirk minister, and the
handsome matronly lady, standing side by side with the horny-handed
mechanic, the office-boy, the overgrown schoolboy, and the Buchanan
Street "swell." They all watch the game and surroundings in their own
particular way. I once heard a quaint, but nevertheless true, idea of
how some of the more familiar visitors give way to a certain failing,
which in itself can scarcely be called such, but is not unfrequently
looked upon with amazement by the stranger. The Scotchman, it is said
somewhere, is not so much respected for the manner in which he goes
about a thing as the way in which he does it, and the remark, when
applied to this particular case, will be all the more potent. Here it
is:--"Where are you going to howl to-morrow (the query is put on
Friday), Jack?" "Oh! the Queen's and Vale, of course; they will have a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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