Season 1917-1918

Queens Park FC.

In August St Bernard’s informed the Eastern League Association that they could not acquire a ground on which to play their home fixtures due to their own ground, The Gymnasium, being taken over by the military for training purposes. Therefore the club had to pull out of the Eastern League, which now consisted of seven teams. For the remainder of the war the military used the Gymnasium to store and repair heavy machinery. St Bernard’s would be out of business as a club until season 1919/20, when they played in the Central League. The bad state of the Gymnasium pitch rendered it unplayable, so the Saints took out a lease on the , Leith Athletic’s old ground. Dundee and Raith Rovers were invited into the Eastern League set up after being withdrawn from the Scottish First Division. Aberdeen would lie dormant for the remainder of the war, but came back into top flight football in season 1919/20.

The season opened on 18 August and a bizarre incident was witnessed at Tynecastle in the match between Hearts and St Mirren. The Scotsman reported, "Higginbotham, the right wing forward, annoyed with some remark made to him by a spectator in the enclosure in front of the stand, went over to the paling and gave chase to the supposed offender. On his return to the field the player was ordered to the pavilion by the referee". An incident as serious as this nature would surely have resulted in a serious suspension, but on this occasion Harry Higginbotham was allowed to remain in the St Mirren team until the end of November when the committee punished him by suspending him for a few games.

An interesting case came before the Miners' Tribunal of Central on 1 September, as Celtic player Andrew McAtee wanted exemption from the Army on the grounds that he was a miner during the close season and had been a miner up until 1912, when he became a professional footballer. His appeal was refused. A couple of weeks later Joseph Dodds (Celtic) appealed for temporary exemption from the army on the grounds that four of his brothers were already serving. Two on the front, one had already been killed and the other was still in hospital with injuries received in the Gretna Rail Disaster. The appeal board recommended that Dodds should not be called up for at least one month.

King George V attended on Tuesday 18th September for an investiture. A massive crowd of 80,000 people watched as the King handed out medals to the war heroes. It was said to be the first of its kind in Scotland for over 100 years, and also the biggest of these events outside of London. The King would have gained an insight into the "War Machine" of Great Britain as he was in the industrial heart of Scotland, with shipyards and munitions factories nearby. The investiture itself was an impressive spectacle. No fewer than 143 honours had to be bestowed, beginning with Lord Strathclyde, who received the Grand Cross of the British Empire. The Military awards included three Victoria Crosses, 48 Military Medals, 33 Military Crosses, 14 Distinguished Conduct Medals and two Distinguished Service Orders.

Player registration was still causing problems for clubs. At an SFA meeting on 3 October St Mirren were fined £10 for registering Bobby Orrock as their own player, when he already had signed forms with Clydebank. At the same meeting St Mirren player Harry Higginbotham was censured for leaving the field of play and chasing a spectator in the stand! The incident had happened in the first league match of the season on 18 August at Tynecastle, but it would be November before Higginbotham served his suspension. A request from the Hearts manager, John McCartney, appeared in The Scotsman on 9th October asking for members of the public to donate footballs to serving soldiers, and he stated that in the two years since the fund began, over 500 footballs have been sent to the various parts of the continent.

Celtic suffered their first league defeat of the season at home to Kilmarnock on 13th October. Goals by McPhail 2, and Smith gave the Ayrshire side a 3-2 victory in front of an impressive 18,000 crowd. This meant that the Ayrshire side were top of the table, although Celtic had 2 games in hand over them. Kilmarnock had also inflicted Celtic’s only defeat the previous season. Kilmarnock would stay at the top of the league until

A touring side of the Belgian Army defeated a British Army side 2-1 at in November, before a very low attendance, although Rangers, Clyde and Queen’s Park were also playing at home the same day, which would have decimated the attendance. Before the last round of games on 13 April 1918, Rangers and Celtic were level on points with 54 each. If both sides had won their respective games then a play-off match would have been necessary, an event which had occurred on two past occasions in 1890/91 and 1904/05. Both sides were playing home matches, Celtic were held to a 1-1 draw with Motherwell in front of an estimated attendance of 30,000, while Rangers won their derby match against Clyde 2-1 to win the title by a single point. This was Rangers first championship success since season 1912/13 after which Celtic had won four in a row.

Born in Glasgow on 2nd March 1898, Hugh Ferguson was a Winner with in 1915. He joined John Hunter’s Motherwell side in 1916 and went on to score 284 goals in 288 league matches for the Lanarkshire side. That’s almost a goal a game! In 1925 Cardiff City lured Ferguson to Wales where he helped them to win the FA Cup in 1927. 77 goals in 117 league matches was his return while at Ninian Park. A season at Dundee followed in 1929/30 (17 appearances/two goals). Although never capped for Scotland, Ferguson played three times for the Scottish League XI. Hugh Ferguson was to die in tragic circumstances on 9 January 1930, when he committed suicide by gassing himself.

A shield to help raise funds for the Army and Navy War Fund was put up for competition in 1918 by the St Mirren Chairman, Thomas Hart. The clubs invited were Rangers, Celtic, Partick Thistle, Queen’s Park, Third Lanark, Airdrieonians, Kilmarnock, St Mirren, Morton, Clydebank and Motherwell. The trophy was won by Celtic in a close fought final against Morton at on 4 May, with Patsy Gallagher scoring the only goal of the game. The final was watched by 20,000, three thousand less than watched the semi-final at Ibrox between Rangers and Morton.

At a meeting of the Scottish League in July, it was decided that Falkirk and Ayr United would be dropped from the league for the 1918/19 season. This was due to travelling difficulties for the other clubs. The decision was soon overturned and an agreement was made that would avoid Glasgow clubs travelling by train before one o’clock on a Saturday. This was to assist the players of the travelling clubs, who would have been working a half day in government work on the Saturday. No final was played in the Scottish Junior Cup in season 1917/18, and Petershill were awarded the trophy.