25.1.14

The Rosebery International




The  popular aristocrat and former Prime Minister Lord Rosebery was the  Honorary President of the Scottish FA. This saw the Scots occasionaly turning out in  His Lordship's racing colours. They had previously worn the primrose and pink hoops in 1881. The game against England that year had ended in a 6-1 victory and the colours served Scotland well again as they ran out 4-1 winners in front of a world record crowd of 63.000 at Celtic Park.
Lord Rosebery, in his address after the match, described Scotland playing in his colours as 'the greatest compliment ever paid to me in my life'. 
Pres reports were tinged with nostalgia, describing the Scots play as being reminiscent of the 'old assertive paly of the 70s and 80s', when they were dominant. 



 The Queen’s Park centre-forward, R. S. McColl  scored a hat-trick and Celtic’s outside-left Jack Bell got the other.
Two strong sides indeed:



Scotland

England
Harry Rennie
GK
Jack Robinson
Nicol Smith
RB
WJ Oakley
John Drummond
LB
Jack Crabtree
Neil Gibson
RH
Harry Johnson
Alex Raisbeck
CH
Arthur Chadwick
John Tait Robertson
LH
Ernest Needham
John Bell
OR
Charlie Athersmith
Bobby Walker
IR
Stephen Bloomer
Robert Smyth McColl
CF
GO Smith
John Campbell
IL
Geoffrey Plumpton Wilson
Alexander Smith
OL
John Plant

Read the Glasgow Herald match report here