JAMES McCALL
— Bauldie | 14/11/1902 —

Renton of renown! By this suggestive title I mean the Renton which won the Glasgow Charity Cup four years in succession — the Renton which won the Scottish Cup in 1885 and 1888, and above and beyond these triumphs, the Renton which won the world's championship from West Bromwich Albion on May 19th, 1858, on Hampden Park. In making this Renton of renown there were many forces and many persons at work. As to the forces, those can readily be found in the keen local rivalries aroused in the Vale district by the matches between that unsurpassed trio of Scottish provincials — viz., Dumbarton, Renton, and Vale of Leven. "As iron sharpeneth iron," so the encounters between the three and the successes or defeats which attended these nerved and inspired the participators in the heroic struggles to greater and manlier deeds. It may be claimed for Renton that as a club they were the originators of this spirit of rivalry, for, by reaching the Scottish Final v.Queen's Park in 1875, they set the heather on fire (or, should I say, with reference to the Vale, the Heather Avenue?), and bred in the hearts of the doughty "Sons of the Rock" and in the no les doughty "Leven Lads," a yearning desire to be upsides with "Pilgrim Fathers" of the "Rantin," and appear in the same honoured position in "Glesca." Having alluded to the "forces," let me mention the persons who laid the basis of Renton's fame. I must, of course, notice Peter Campbell, who, if not a player, was — and is still — a philosopher. It was him who invented that wondrous elixir known as chicken bree, the recipe of which I am told he procured from the witches of Kilmarnock at midnight's eldrestch hour when churchyards yawn, on condition that a brew of it was to be distilled in and quaffed from the Scottish Cup; and I am told that both promises were kept when in 1885 Renton romped away with the trophy. As Peter Campbell is a philosopher, I prefer to leave him for more succinct and special treatment at some future time. Meanwhile I will tackle the subject of this sketch, James McCall, to whom, as an individual and as a player, Renton and Scottish football owe a great deal.

In conjunction with dapper little W. M'Nee, James M'Call made up a left-wing club combine of the class and quality of Kay and Richmond, Baird and M'Dougall, Chadwick and Milward, Hannah and Johnstone, and of Campbell and M'Mahon. As an individual, I am going to place the Rentonian insider on a pedestal with W. N. Cobbold and Fred Dewhurst, two of England's finest forwards in this position. This is a very high honour to confer on James M'Call, but it is due him alike on his merits, on his modesty, and on his loyalty to his country and his club. So far as the Scottish talent in the position is concerned. I am almost inclined to place him first. This distinction, I know, will be challenged and claimed on behalf of one or other of the players I have named, specially it may be for Alexander M'Mahon, who by some is considered the finest of the fine, who for a Scottish club has filled the place. There are very remarkable points of difference, however, between the two "Macs" in style and in physique, and these I notice. M'Call was tall and powerfully built, and in the latter respect was the Celt's superior. He was not, I admit, such a fancy artist on the ball, but when fastened on it he moved along with greater surety and solidity, and, let me say, with greater profit to his side than the Celt, whose passion for elaborate "sand-dancing" we are all familiar with. James M'Call was an unreadable player — i.e., you could not read his moves, for the eye (which is the index of the sole) gave no indication to his opponents what was the next move on the "board" he contemplated. His crocodilian optic maintained a sphinx-like steadiness and glaciness, and was fixed dead-like, yet most purposeful, on three things — the ball, his partners, and, above all, the opposing goal, towards which, with leech-like tenacity he moved like a man. He stood erect and confident even when dribbling close, and at full speed ahead, with "Father" M'Nee in waiting, playing the part of the jackal to him. I have heard great Walter Arnott say that James M'Call was the most "ungettatable, uninterpretable, unconquerable" player he had met in his career, and well do I remember that famous Scottish Cup tie at Renton, the day the stand gave way how M'Call mastered Scotland's best and brightest back, and left him hopping and stepping after the ball he could not for M'Call's command get at.

To his club in reaching the zenith of their fame, M'Call's services were invaluable, for he contributed much to make up an eleven which for speed, endurance, and ability has never heen surpassed in broad Scotland, and in view of that, its world championship honour, I may say, in the wide world. When, however, James M'Call was transported to our representative matches, he was somehow shorn of half his powers. In this peculiarity he has not been alone, and it is one which is easily explained.

Renton was a football machine, every part of which was requisite to the proper and effective working of the whole. To take one part away, therefore, was to weaken that, and, of course, weaken the whole as well. Hence brilliant and able as this great forward was, when placed beside strange talent, he did not show the same confidence or ability, a result, mayhap, in ameasure due to his innate Modesty. But another factor which operated against his success in our "Nationals" was the rather curious and nondescript elevens of which he was a member; thus, in 1890, at Hampden Park, in the match v. England, he was played outside left to an experimentally and wofully disappointing forward line of this kind. W. Groves (Celts), W. Berry (Queen's Park), W. Johnstone (Third Lanark), J. Macpherean (Cowlairs) and J. M'Call (outside left). That was a "combine" that did not come off, and one which was extremely lucky on its irregular going to draw the match at one goal each. In the 1887 team, at Blackburn, he was, however, a member of a well-balanced eleven which defeated England by 3 goals to 2. He was a sharer of that pitiful defeat on Hampden of 1888, when England won by 5-0, but that was a general Scottish failure. James M'Call bore but a share of the deep dishonour. I finish by paying a conspicuous and just tribute to his loyalty to his country and his club. When the "Renton of Renown" was disbanded, he, although pressed on every hand to leave Leven side declined all the seductive offers, and remained faithful to the last, actually taking part in that famous tie v. Hearts, when Renton Redidvivus took the field with all the elastic buoyancy and grit of their predecessors. In this respect James M'Call is a unique personality in Scottish football, and to-day in private life he is regarded with an admiration and estem for his manly worth and lovable disposition, which all Scottish players might envy and do their best to equal.