FROM A SCOTCH POINT OF VIEW
— Jonathan Oldbuck | 06/04/1896 —

Glasgow has been specially honoured this season in the matter of International engagements. Three weeks ago the great Rugby contest between England and Scotland was played at Hampden Park, and the event was unanimously pronounced one of the greatest social and football functions in the history of the Rugby game in Scotland. On Saturday we had the Association contest between the cracks of the same nationalities at Celtic Park, and if the spectacle there lacked the picturesqueness of the Hampden carnival, it eclipsed it easily in point of attendance and enthusiasm. Two years ago we thought we had reached the summit of popular patronage, the crowd on that occasion being estimated at 45,000, but on Saturday this figure was exceeded, and although I am not in a position to give the precisa dimensions of the attendance, I don't think I exaggerate when I say that there must have been at the very least close on 60,000 people present. It was an imposing sight, and I very much doubt if ever again its like will be witnessed at a football match in Glasgow. The only reason I can advance for the extraordinary attendance is the fact that there was lingering hope that the spell of ill-fortune which had attended our efforts since 1889 would at last be broken. This, as everybodry knows by this time, was accomplished. Seeing our friend the "Free Critic" was at the match, I shall not bore my readers by traversing the same grounf which he is likely to cover. It was, I may say, an interesting game, but it will not rank in history as by any menas the most brilliant that has been played between England and Scotland. Truth to tell, there is not maych in the victory. 

The English team was not a representative one any more than the Scotch team was. Both selecting committees, in my humble opinion, performed their work badly, the English, if anything, a degree worse than the Scotch. Take our forward team, for example. It was not constructed on intelligent principles. Centre position was given to a player who seems to know as much about the art of combining as a polar bear or a kangaroo. Nor were the wings selected with a view to combination. If it was essential to have Lambie in the team, and in my opinion it was, surely it was equally essential on the part of the committee to select a man familiar with that player's idiosyncrasics. This was not done, hence the want of sustained force which characterised their performance. King, excellent man as he is, did not combine well with the Queen's Park player, and though it would have been hard to have deprived the Hearts' representative of International honours in view of the marvellous success which has attended his play ever since the Scottish final, still there can be no question that Cameron would have got on better with Lambie.

Time was when men were chosen not because they were brilliant individuals but because they were pre-eminent in combination, and in those days we won our International matches much easier than now. Much the same criticism applied to the construction of the English team. They have this year taken the plunge into the "dark ages," with the result that their national honour has been greatly besmirched. It is just possible that I am wrong in my opinion when I say that the left wing, Wood and Burnup, was the poorest that has represented England for many years. The amateur was painfully weak, almost everything he did ending in utter failure. It is true he was opposed to Gibson and Brandon, the former of whom perhaps never played as he did on Saturday, but even allowing for the solidarity of the opposition it strikes me there must be in England several forwards who would have accquitted themselves better than the Cantab. Even Wood was a little disappointing, and whether it was that he was disgusted with the manner in which his passes were accepted, this much must be said, that he was little better than his partner. Smith was a long way ahead of Hyslop, although that is not saying much, for the Stoke man is likely to go down to posterity as a colossal failure, partly because of his own weakness, and partly on account of Scottish Football Association pitchforking him into a position for which he is evidently neither suited by nature or ability. The Oxonian has played for better for the Corinthians at Hampden Park than he did on Saturday. He was palpably slow, and his passes were just a shade too straight for modern requirements, while his shooting was alike freeble and not at all accurate. Goodall is still a great player, but much of his work on Saturday was blemished by a tendency to lie off-side. Either twice or three times the referee pulled him up, one of the occasions, unfortunately for his side, being after the ball had been put through. He was rather given to this sort of thing when he played for Kilmarnock Athletic, but I must say that until Saturday he has been particularly free of this pernicious habit in International matches. He was the one outstanding figure on the English side, and for a man of his years it is astounding the amount of work he can get through. There is the finish of an artist in almost everything he does, and football would be much more interesting to look at than it is were it played by everyone as the Derby County captain plays it. Bassett deserves quite as much praise as Goodall, and without these two I have a shrewd notion that England would have suffered a much severer defeat. It is not the first time Bassett has electrified Scotch crowds by the dashing way in which he goes straight ahead, and if on some of his visits to our city he may have been more brilliant, he never played with greater determination or ability. The half-back line was nothing like that which represented England on the same ground two years ago. In fact, it occurred to me that there was a general failing off all round, and if this be due to those who selected the team, then all I can say is that I would not care to be in their shoes. But the "Free Critic" will possibly be able to enlighten us on this matter, as he is possessed of opportunities which few others have of penetrating the recesses of officialdom. Oakley made a very fair appearance, and I certainly thought more of his play on Saturday than I did the last time he was in Glasgow with the Corinthians. On that occasion M'Coll once or twice beat him on the sprint, but on Saturday he covered the ground in great style when called upon to do so, and his play, generally speaking, was all that could be desired. Lodge has gone off somewhat in his play, but all the same he had some amusing bouts with his old friend Lambie. No fault could be found Raikes, who performed his part well, though some of the Englishmen present with whom I had the pleasure of conversing after the game were of opinion that Sutcliffe would have done better. I mention this, not because I am a believer in these hypothetical statements, but merely as an instance of how some regard the relative merits of England's two greatest goalkeepers.

With respect to the Scotch side I have already indicated what I think of the team in ints collective capacity. I had now better say something about the players individually. To begin with, Doig was a success at goal. Anderson might have done as well, but he certainly could not have done any better. Of the two the Sunderland man has more resource, and his general movements, on the whole, give one more confidence than those of the Queen's Park custodian. I think I shall prove myself a safe prophet when I say there are more International honours in store for the old Arbroath player. Drummond excelled himself. Not only was he sound in defence, but his kicks, skimming as they did over the heads of the players, were most effective. The responsibilities of leading the team in no way influenced his play, and it is no small credit to him that he was captain of a team which, after an interval, I think, of seven years, restored Scotland to the position it used to hold in these national engagements. Brandon, if anything, skied his kicks a little too much, though I dare say this was more apparent from the fact that Drummond was doind exactly the opposite. As a pair, however, both did splendidly, and we must go back to the time when Arnott and Paton thrilled Scottish hearts for a defence like that of Drummond and Brandon on Saturday. Cowan only made one mistake during the game — he missed his kick; otherwise his exhibition was characterised by a breadth of intelligence and finish which singles him out as certainly the best Scotch half of the present time. Gibson is another clever player, and his points were in no way dimmed by comparison with the Aston Villa man. Hogg, if not quite so brilliant as the other two, was very energetic, and the Eastern section of the crowd had every reason to be satisfied with his performance. The most prominent forwards on the Scotch side were Lambie and Bell. It's all rot to say the former is not a worker, and I hope after Saturday's reveleation the critics will be good enough to give over this parrot cry. One is only left to conjecture what lambie would have been with M'Coll in the centre and Cameron as feeder. I do not desire to be disparaging to King by saying that things might have been others so had his place been taken by Cameron. It is just possible that in his case he, too, would have been a greater success had he been partnered by anyone but Lambie. What I want to make clear is that every consideration ought to be given to club pairs, as it is only reasonable to assume that a greater development of combination is attained in the case of two men who are regularly together than in the case of two who are onl brought together for a special occasion. Bell redeemed his Ibrox failure of some years ago by playing a very good game, but Blessington was not his usual self, and here again it is the belief of many that this wing was ruined by the committee placing together men comparatively ignorant of each other's style of play. 

I have only to add in conclusion that the result has given unbounded satisfaction to Scotsmen, and little wonder, seeing so many years have elapsed since we last vanquished our English friends. The winners had a magnificent reception after the game, and the return journey into town wa a veritable triumphal procession.