It s November 2022. The football world cup is taking
place at an unheard-of time of year, because of the harsh, inhospitable
climate of a host country without any history or culture of football,
but with an unenviable record of human rights abuses and corruption scandals.
So, in order to uphold our morals and set an example to the world
Scotland didn't qualify It's a far cry from the historic
roots where international football began? If you re interested in the people places
and events in Scottish history then click the subscribe button
at the bottom right of the screen. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
This is West of Scotland Cricket ground in Partick, Glasgow.
It s not somewhere you d normally associate with football
Partick I mean but this is where the
world s first ever international football match took place
or did it? Once I ve told
you about the historic match played here between Scotland and England on St Andrew s Day 1872;
THEN I m going to tell you why it may not have been the first international game
and give you some alternatives. According to football s word body, FIFA,
The ones who agreed to hold the World Cup in Quatar
the first international match was played here.
They were very different times. Association football or soccer,
had only branched out from rugby football, rugger nine years before.
They weren t as different from each other as they are now
although the first international rugby match had been played between
these nations in Edinburgh the year before. Naturally enough Scotland won a goal to nil.
Like the match played here 4000 people went to watch the first match of rugby football.
Association football came about because a Football Association had been formed in London in 1863 to
agree a standard set of rules. Before that games would be
played between two schools or clubs and the captains would meet at the start of
the game to agree what rules to play: how many players in each team,
how big the pitch, throw ins, carrying the ball, do two shots carry
Is that pool? Football evolved in
different ways in different places BECAUSE different folks chose other rules,
but this particular Association brought together their unified set of rules
like you dribbled the ball at your feet rather than ran with it in your hands.
You weren t allowed to kick an opponent in the shins.
That was the start of a slippery slope There was no crossbar above the
goalposts, but a rope. Players could still catch a high
ball to gain a free kick... taking the mark in rugby.
When the ball crossed the touchline it was the team who got to it first who won the throw in
and throw ins had to be at right angles to the touchline
like with rugby.
There was no fixed goal keeper, so no need for a different jersey.
There was no measured penalty box to identify where the goalkeeper
could touch the ball with his hands. There was no such thing as penalties ,
so watching England wasn t nearly as entertaining as later international tournaments.
Some innovations had only recently come in like corner kicks and referees.
Before that it was assumed that there would be no need for referees as players were gentlemen
and would honestly own up if they broke the rules.
One of the key rules, of course is the offside rule.
The difficulty of understanding this rule being the main reason
that women s football never took off I did an episode on suffragettes you know?
The original offside law of Association football was simple.
All passes had to be done either sideways or backwards rugby.
Anyway, a guy called Charles Alcock, the secretary of this recently formed Football
Association issued a challenge to Scotland. I might have said English Football Association,
but don t forget the football association didn t hold sway all over England
it was a south of England thing. It wasn t the English Football Association,
it was just The Football Association There wasn t one in Scotland.
I assume when Alcock issued his challenge he just came up to the border and shouted Come and have a
go if you think you re hard enough. in a generally northerly direction:
Well somebody in Glasgow heard this and you know what the Weegies are like.
No challenge goes unmet. I met up with John Thomson from West of Scotland
Cricket Club to talk about the game here. These days Queens Park is a small,
and until very recently, still amateur club on the other side of the Clyde,
but back then they were the top dogs. To this day Queens Park are still the third
most successful team in the Scottish Cup after Rangers and Celtic even though the
last time they won it was in 1893. They must have heard Allcock shouting
at the border and said: We ll take on the English.
Aye that s right. Send up yer best. We ll take ye on with a club side.
You see it was one of their players who selected the Scottish team,
and every one of the Scottish team played for Queens Park.
Even then they had to negotiate about how many players were going to be in each side.
Remember this was wild west. Rules had to be negotiated.
What WAS agreed was that on St Andrews Day 1872 the first international match would take
place a year before the Scottish Football Association was created.
So, four thousand people paid a shilling a piece to watch a nil nil draw and it
was all acclaimed as a roaring success. It s still like that watching Scotland today.
Now to discuss whether this was really the first international let me take you to where Scotland
play their home games today. As I do let me just say that
Scotland History Tours will be playing away from home in Australia and New Zealand in 2023
If you live down under then I ll be bringing my show Stories of Scotland to Fringe Festivals in
Perth, WA, Adelaide, Dunedin, hopefully Melbourne
and if you want me to come to your town let me know in the comments section.
We ll maybe even play a bit of Aussie Rules I ll be touring live shows in Scotland when I come
back as well, so keep an eye on my website www.brucefummey.co.uk for details.
I ll leave a link to my shows down under in the comments below
What was your favourite ever football match?
Let me know in the comments. I m going to go for St Johnstone
against Dundee United in the Scottish Cup final on 17th May 2014.
For practical reasons the game was played at Celtic Park, though it
should have been played here at Hampden Park. Today it s the home of Scottish football, but it
was the home of Queen s Park Football Club who played that game against England
but was that game I described really the first international match?
You see standing at Gretna and shouting in 1872 wasn t the first time Charles
Alcock had issued a challenge to Scots. He had issued a challenge in the newspapers
a couple of years before, which led to five , that s right FIVE, Scotland v England games
before the one at West of Scotland s cricket ground.
These games aren t recognised by FIFA...
although I m sure a wee bit of oil money in a broon envelope could fix that.
I ll be honest, those games caused a bit of upset here in Scotland.
They were all held in London under the auspices of this southern Football Association
and the Scottish team was filled with players who might not be perceived as Scottish
but had Scottish roots. That s when their hair s died blonde, but you can
just see the wee ginger bits coming through. Frank MacAvennie
In fact the players who played in the first of these five
games were largely from the London area. The first ever Scotland eleven consisted of
James Kirkpatrick: born in Ontario, Canada Arthur Kinnaird:
born in Hyde Park Gardens, London William Gladstone MP (son of the
Prime Minister): born in Hawarden Castle, Wales Robert Crawford: born in Elizabeth Castle, Jersey
Charles Baillie-Hamilton: born in Greenwich, Kent His brother William Baillie-Hamilton:
born in Brighton, William Lindsay: born in Benares, India
Wingfield Malcolm MP: born in London Kenneth Muir Mackenzie:
born in Perthshire. Yaaaaay he was one of us! George Gordon: born in Kensington, London and
Alexander Morten: born in Paddington, London. So you see there may have been five first
internationals before the first recognised international
though you might consider them diddy internationals.
but for an older game still I want to take you to Stirling
This is the Argyll and Southern Highlander Museum in the inner
courtyard in Stirling Castle, and I ve brought you to see what,
to my knowledge, is the oldest ever football medal.
This is exciting! In Commemoration of a
match played between the 93rd Regiment and The Edinburgh University Foot Ball Club
gained by the former 25th January 1851 Isn t that incredible
but I ve got one more surprise for you to see AND my suggestion for what WAS
the first ever international football match We re going to have to head down the hill.
This is the Smith Museum in Stirling Having seen the world s oldest football
medal, we ve come down the hill to see the world s oldest football.
and here it is. This football was discovered up the hill
in Stirling Castle, where we ve just come from. When they were renovating the castle as part of
its transformation from the barracks of the Argyll and Southern Highlanders
to the wonderful tourist attraction it is today, behind the panelling of The Queen s Chamber,
which had been decorated in the 1540s they found this ball.
So this must have been lying there since at least two years before the birth of
Mary Queen of Scots. Isn t that incredible?
This lay there behind decorations and tapestry as Mary was taken there as a child
to avoid the clutches of her great uncle Henry VIII.
As an adult she recorded a game of football in her diary.
That wasn t at Stirling Castle. In fact it was when she was a prisoner of
Elizabeth of England in Carlisle Castle. Not only did Mary watch the game,
but it was her who started it, by throwing the ball down from
the castle walls to the players below. Those players were made up of her attendants.
Half, her Scottish attendants on one side, and the other half
her French attendants on the other side. So the first ever international football match
was in fact between Scotland and France in the north of England in 1568
and the first person to take a throw in at an international game was Mary Queen of Scots.
If you think different then let me know in the comments below
and, of course tell me What was your favourite ever football match.
If you want to know more on Scottish sport, or the time Mary set off that football game
in Carlisle Castle I ve got a really
good video coming up on screen now. If you ve enjoyed this one and would like
to support the channel please become a Patreon member by clicking the link or buy us coffee in
the description below. In the meantime