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MR. WM. M'GREGOR, 306 Summer Lane, Birmingham.
Saturday, 8 April 1899
Home International Championship 1898-99 (16th) Match


England 2 Scotland 1
[2-0]
 



Football League Record

Season Record

"It had been arranged for the final for the Villa Schools Cup to be played after the International, the competing schools being Gower Street and Oakley Road, but it was eventually decided to postpone the match until Monday."

Aston Lower Grounds, Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham, Warwickshire
Kick-off (GMT): 'at 3.32pm
'
Attendance: '23,390 persons paid for admission'; 'gross attendance was 25,590'; 'some 26,000 people'; 'about 30,000'; '35,000 spectators'; 'in the presence of 40,000';
Receipts: '£2065'; '
£2120.10s;'
England's first visit to Aston, to Birmingham and to Warwickshire (but second to the home of Aston Villa).
Gilbert Smith won the toss Bob McColl kicked-off

[1-0] Gilbert Smith 21
 
'a 25 yard left-foot shot in off the upright'; 'tried a happy-go-lucky shot, but unfortunately for Doig, the sun shed his rays more brilliantly.'

[2-0] Jimmy Settle 38
 'an easy shot from a splendid Athersmith centre'; 'left by Smith'

[2-0] goal from a freekick: disallowed
<150th goal under the ISC


"The second half was commenced at half-past four."
25th second half goal conceded at home>
Sheffield Independent, Weekly Dispatch and Scottish Referee state Morgan, in fact, the Referee also stated Hamilton, Sporting Life state Jack Bell
[2-1] Hugh Morgan 52
'Hamilton shot in hard, and Robinson falling full length just stopped the ball on the line. Morgan was close in, and through it went'.
[2-1] John Campbell scores disallowed: offside
, .
 

"THE ROSE TRIUMPHANT" Sporting Life

Officials       

England Team Records Scotland
Referee
James Torrans
33/34 (1865), Belfast, Irish FA
Linesmen
George Stuart Sherrington
37 (20 August 1861), Islington, Suffolk FA
John H. McLaughlin
Scotland (SFA President)

England Team

 
Rank No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 1st
Colours "The Whites"; "England went solid in white shirts"; "dark blue knickers and white shirts"
Captain Gilbert Smith Selection The five-man FA International Selection Committee
P 9 of 13, W 7 - D 0 - L 2 - F 37 - A 9. P 36th of 195, W 29 - D 4 - L 3 - F 150 - A 34.
ninth, tenth or eleventh captaincy team chosen on at The Royal Hotel, Bristol on Monday, 20 March 1899, following the Wales match
England Lineup
  one change to the previous match (Howell>Williams) league position (20th March) ave lge pos: 7th
  Robinson, John W. 28
351 days
22 April 1870 G Southampton FC (SL1 TOP) 7 6ᵍᵃ
=most gk apps
  Thickitt, Henry 27
11 days
28 March 1872 RB Sheffield United FC (FL1 12th) 2 0
final app 1899
  Crabtree, James W. 27
106 days
23 December 1871 LB Aston Villa FC (FL1 TOP) 9 0
  Howell, Rabbi 31
178 days
12 October 1867 RH Liverpool FC (FL1 2nd) 2 1
the third Liverpool FC player to represent England final app 1895-99
  Forman, Frank 23
320 days
23 May 1875 CH Nottingham Forest FC (FL1 7th) 5 1
  Needham, Ernest 26
77 days
21 January 1873 LH Sheffield United FC (FL1 12th) 10 2
  Athersmith Harper, W. Charles 26
333 days
10 May 1872 OR Aston Villa FC (FL1 TOP) 10 3
  Bloomer, Stephen 25
78 days
20 January 1874 IR Derby County FC (FL1 11th) 11 19
mst gls
Smith, Gilbert O. 26
134 days
25 November 1872 CF Old Carthusians AFC & Corinthians FC 16 10
Settle, James 23
215 days
5 September 1875 IL Bury FC (FL1 10th) 3 4
oldest youngest player so far
  Forman, Frederick R. 25
151 days
8 November 1873 OL Nottingham Forest FC (FL1 7th) 3 3
final app 1899
reserves: Charlie Sagar (Bury FC (FL1 10th)), Tom Crawshaw (Wednesday FC (FL1 7th)) and Bill Oakley (Corinthians FC)
team changes: In the days leading up to this match, original right-half, Wednesday FC's Tommy Morren, dropped out after sustaining an injury.
"In the event, however, of the originally capped being unfit at the eleventh hour, Crawshaw will take Morren's place, Crabtree Needham's, and Oakley Crabtree's as left-back." However, "Howell, of Liverpool, was brought into the eleven, sat as right half back, Frank Forman going into the centre."
There was a thought that Harry Thickitt could also miss the match through injury, but he was brought over by a doctor from Manchester prior to the match.
team notes: Fred and Frank Forman are brothers and are the second set of brothers to make three appearances together.
appearance notes: Gilbert Smith is the fourth player to have made sixteen England appearances, and Steve Bloomer is the ninth to have made eleven. With the appearances in this match of Ernest Needham and Charlie Athersmith, it means that twelve players have the distinction of playing for their country on ten-or-more occasions, resulting, for the first time, four of them appearing in the same starting eleven together.
Jimmy Crabtree is the eighteenth player to have made nine appearances and Jack Robinson, who now also shares the record of most-appearanced goalkeeper, is the 27th player to have made seven. Frank Forman is the 37th to make five. 89 players have made three appearances and 139 players have now played for England more than once.
Smith is the second player to make sixteen appearances under the guidance of the ISC. Bloomer is the third to have made eleven.
For the first time since the three-match season, there have been eight ever-presents (six) out of a record-low fourteen players used overall.
Jimmy Settle is the youngest player of the eleven starting the match, thus breaking a record set in the previous match by Bill Williams, by 156 days. Settle will be the oldest youngest player until 1908.
records: This is the sixth time England have won all three matches in one season.
The first time England have scored nineteen goals in a season.
Gilbert Smith is the tenth England player to score more than once against Scotland.
"Most of the England representatives arrived in [Birmingham on Friday] and put up at the Queen's" 
 
2-3-5 Robinson -
Thickitt, Crabtree -

Howell, Fk Forman, Needham -
Athersmith, Bloomer, Smith, Settle,
Fd Forman.
Averages: Age 26 years 211 days Appearances/Goals 7.1 3.7
England teams v. Scotland:
1898: Robinson Williams Oakley F.Forman Wreford-Brown Needham Athersmith Bloomer Smith Wheldon Spiksley
1899: Thickitt Crabtree Howell Settle FR.Forman

 

Scotland Team

 
Rank No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 2nd
Colours "the Lion Rampant, blue-jerseyed men"; "adhered to their traditional colours, the dark blue shirt with the rampant lion worked in, and white knickers"
Captain Nick Smith Selection "The Selecting Nine" The Scottish Football Association Selection Committee, of nine members
P 2nd of 2, W 1 - D 0 - L 1 - F 7 - A 2. team chosen on Saturday, 1 April 1899, following the inter-league match.
Scotland Lineup
  Doig, John Edward 32
171 days
29 October 1866 G Sunderland AFC, England 4 4ᵍᵃ
  Smith, Nicol 25
104 days
25 December 1873 RB Rangers FC 5 0
  Storrier, David 26
165 days
25 October 1872 LB The Celtic FC 3 0
final app 1899
  Gibson, Neil 26
44 days
23 February 1873 RH Rangers FC 10 1
  Christie, Alexander Jack 25
192 days
28 September 1873 CH Queen's Park FC 3 1
final app 1898-99
  Robertson, John Tait 22
42 days
25 February 1877 LH Southampton FC, England 2 0
  Campbell, John William 21
188 days
2 October 1877 OR Rangers FC 3 4
  Hamilton, Robert Cumming 21
330 days
13 May 1877 IR Rangers FC 3 2
  McColl, Robert Smyth 22
360 days
13 April 1876 CF Queen's Park FC 7 10
Morgan, Hugh 24
244 days
7 August 1874 IL Liverpool FC, England 2 1
final app 1898-99
  Bell, John Watson 30
184 days
6 October 1868 OL The Celtic FC 8 3
reserves: Davidson Berry (Queen's Park FC) and Harry Marshall (The Celtic FC)
"The special corridor train with left the Central at 1.55 p.m. on Friday created a record run, reaching Carlisle ahead of all previous bests. The pace was maintained right to Crewe, where the Scottish team dropped off and proceeded to Royal Spa, Leamington. They reached the Crown Hotel at 10.15."
 
2-3-5 Doig -
Smith, Storrier -
Gibson, Christie, Robertson -
Campbell, Hamilton, McColl, Morgan, Bell.
Averages: Age 25 years 150 days Appearances/Goals 4.5 1.9
       Match Report The Birmingham Sunday Mail, Sunday, 9 April 1899

The recent rain had made the ground very wet on the surface, and the going promised to be fairly heavy. The Scotchmen were the first to step out and their appearance was a signal for a loud cheer, to which the visitors from over the border gave full vent. The Englanders followed, and were received with an outburst of cheering and cries of 'Good old England.' Before the serious business of the afternoon was entered upon the teams were photographed. There were 35,000 spectators present when the match started. A loud cheer went up when it was seen that England had won the toss, and Captain Smith chose the advantage of the wind, playing towards the City goal.
 
Play started in an exciting fashion, for within a minute of the kick-off N. Smith conceded a corner, and shortly afterwards Fred Forman was knocked off the ball when close in the goal mouth. Christie attempted to set his forwards going, but England were soon making progress toward the Scottish goal, where Settle made a splendid attempt. England were forcing the game, and another corner was taken on the right after Doig had handled the ball from a foul. The N. Smith when hard pressed by Forman gave another corner, but this also was unproductive, three corners having fallen to England in five minutes. Another rush by the English forwards spelt danger for the Thistles, for Needham lifted the ball in and Bloomer just headed the wrong side of the post. A brilliant burst away on the part of the Scottish forwards looked ominous. for Hamilton and Campbell took the leather well in, and Robinson came out and speedily fisted away a shot from Hamilton and saving a return from McColl. Another dashing attack by Scotland was ended, amid cries of disappointment from the Scottish section of the crowd. Scotland held the advantage for some time, and at length Thickett changed the scene of operations with a long kick. A foul to England resulted in the representatives of the Thistle conceding a corner, but again England reaped no advantage. The home team now pressed hotly. Needham neatly pulled up Campbell and Hamilton, but McColl made a gallant effort to put through, which was, however, baulked by Thickett. A smart pass from McColl to Morgan was negatived by Thickett, but Robertson sent to the front, and Hamilton, who secured, put some sting into his shot, which went a foot wide of the post when a goal seemed almost a certainty. Then a foul to England enabled them to get up, and Gibson gave another fruitless corner. The next minute Fred Forman missed with a beauty, the ball going wide by inches only. The reward of England's pressure came a minute later, and with a long shot G.O. Smith struck the upright and the ball bombed into the net. Enthusiastic cheering followed the first success of the Rose, the point being a lovely one. Then Frank Forman tricked Morgan, and G.O. Smith narrowly missed scoring again. The Scottish goal had a remarkably narrow escape from a corner, but Storrier whipped the ball out of danger in the nick of time. Again the English right forced the ball out, and a fine piece of tackling by Crabtree followed, which was much to the taste of the home spectators. This was followed by a fine piece of work by Fred Forman, who successfully dodged Gibson and shot, the leather passing slightly wide, and only wanting a touch from Settle to push it into goal. The Scottish forwards came along in a line very prettily, passing cleverly, but Bell shot yards wide. England, however, still held the advantage, the forwards being faster and showing more dash than the visitors, and Frank Forman was playing a powerful game at centre-half. Splendid work on the English left followed, but Fred Forman again only just failed, and Frank Forman shot over the next minute. The English team still pressed, and showed more cleverness in their method than the Scotchmen. Thirty-six minutes from the start a nice centre by Athersmith was pounced upon by Settle, who scored a beautiful goal amid tremendous cheering. Doig was twice called upon after this, and then a nice pass-out by G. O. Smith was placed wide by Fred Forman. By a fine effort Scotland forced their way to Robinson's charge, but Thickett and Crabtree were all there, and the ball rapidly travelled to the other end. A fast and exciting scrimmage took place in the mouth of the Scottish goal, but the charge was saved in a somewhat lucky fashion. England continued to attack till the whistle blew for the interval.

   Restarting with the wind, Scotland were early on the aggressive, and some very effective play was witnessed, Robinson having to handle twice in the first few minutes. The home goal was surrounded; the ball was bobbing about everywhere, but still the defence prevailed, and the goal was maintained intact. At length Athersmith secured possession, and carried the ball well along, but Bloomer was robbed, and the Scotchmen going down the field with irresistible dash again stormed the English goal, and amid a scene of great excitement Morgan opened up the scoring for Scotland six minutes from the re-start. The ball being forced through in a scrimmage, the Scottish throat giving vent to a yell which shook the grand stand. Athersmith cleverly ran through and passed forward to give Bloomer a chance. The Derby man was offside, but he sent in a shot which Doig saved brilliantly touching the ball out while lying full length on the ground. The Scotsmen held a distinct advantage for some minutes after this, but without further disaster to the English goal, and the home forwards breaking away finely, G.O. Smith gave over to Fred Forman, but the Forester was unable to turn it to account. Then some splendid passing work between McColl, Morgan, and Bell was witnessed, and the last-named swung the ball over to the right and Campbell, standing offside, placed the ball in the net. A brilliant rush by the English forwards followed, but Settle sent yards wide of the mark. Retaliating strongly, Scotland again got to work and Robinson saved finely from Bell. A shot from Morgan shortly afterwards went on the wrong side of the post. Fred Forman receiving from his fellow club-man Frank, a nice run on the wing followed, but his centre was intercepted by Smith, and the advantage was lost. Gibson was penalised for tripping Settle, but the free kick came to nothing, and Scotland again made tracks for the England goal. A free kick close up was awarded to them, but Robinson saved twice from Bell and McColl. Needham cleverly tackled Morgan and Bell, but the ball was soon returned, and Thickett conceded a corner. The leather after an exciting scrimmage was got away, and another incursion into the Scottish territory followed by means of good play on the left wing—a somewhat unusual occurrence in this half. Athersmith got in a fine effort, but his centre went begging. Another dashing run by the Scottish forwards succeeded, only to be neutralised by Hamilton sending over. The attack was resumed, however, but Needham's tackling once more sent the Englishmen racing away in the direction of Doig's charge. Nothing, however, came of it, and the Scotsmen speedily transferred, making a grand attempt to draw level, Robinson saving brilliantly in the last minute. The Englishmen again carried the ball to the other end, but when the whistle blew play was in midfield. There was not a great deal of difference in the play, but England undoubtedly had the advantage.
    

       Match Report The Times, Monday, 10 April 1899
The Association match of the year maintained its high traditions of excellence, and it was only after a great demonstration of the finer arts of football that England beat Scotland, at Birmingham, on Saturday, by two goals to one. To the average spectator perhaps the game was lacking in some of the picturesqueness which is expected in fixtures of this international kind, but to those of practical experience in the game Saturday's  match was full of excellence. And the thing that must have been most appreciated by those keener judges of the play was the work of the English half-backs, with whom lay really the secret of England's success. For some years now the development of the duties of half-back in Association football has made this line in the game as vital as it is in Rugby Union ; and that this is so was well illustrated on Saturday...
England scored their two goals in the first half of the game at periods of 25 minutes and 40 minutes from the start. The first was by G. O. Smith, to whom fortune was kind ; he lofted the ball at a 20 yards range over the heads of the halves and full backs, and the shot took effect in the top angle of the left post, the ball rebounding into the net off the post. But the second goal was a masterpiece. Athersmith got down on the right, and, with his opponents closing in on him, he middled to Settle, who had the goal at his mercy.
The Scotsmen played a tremendous game at the beginning of the second half, and in seven or eight minutes the ball was bullied through after the goalkeeper had fallen... Their large ground at Aston was thronged by a company 40,000 strong, and the methods for dealing with such a company were perfectly carried out.
 
       In Other News....
It was on 7 April 1899 that an eleven-year-old boy, Edward Bates, was killed in a horrific accident whilst taking part in a stage play at Oadby in Leicestershire. He was shot in the face and his jaw was shattered when an old muzzleloader gun unexpectedly produced a violent discharge during a fight scene. The gun had been tested beforehand and fired twice without any danger, but it was thought that the testing had dried the pellets inside and they were to injure another seven people with one boy being blinded.
”””””
Teams in a silver box denotes a player representing Englandd>
Domestic Football Results (8 April 1899)
The Football League Division One:
Burnley 1 Sunderland 0
   Turf Moor, Burnley (6,000)
Ferguson
Sunderland were without Ted Doig

Bury 2 Notts County 0
   Gigg Lane, Bury (3,021)
Brimblecombe, Wood
Bury were without Jimmy Settle, but did start with Charlie Sagar

Liverpool 4 Derby County 0
   Anfield Road, Liverpool (15,000)
Walker (3), Raisbeck
Liverpool were without Rabi Howell and Hugh Morgan
County were without Steve Bloomer, but started with Jack Cox and John Goodall

Newcastle United 1 Blackburn Rovers 0
   St. James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne (12,000)
MacFarlane
Rovers started with Tom Booth
 
Nottingham Forest 1 Bolton Wanderers 2
   City Ground, Nottingham (3,000)
Spencer (pen) ~ Morgan (2)
Forest were without Frank & Fred Forman
Wanderers started with Jack Sutcliffe
 
Preston North End 2 West Bromwich Albion 0
   Deepdale, Preston (2,976)
Pratt (2)
North End started with Bob Holmes
Albion started with Joe Reader, Tom Perry, Billy Bassett and Ben Garfield
 

Stoke 2 Everton 1
   Victoria Ground, Stoke (3,000)
Tooth, Johnson ~ Boyle
   

Division One Table
Team P
Liverpool 31 39
Aston Villa 29 37
Burnley 31 37
Blackburn Rovers 32 35
Notts County 32 35
Everton 31 34
Wolverhampton Wanderers 32 33
Bury 31 32
Sunderland 32 32
Derby County 32 31
Nottingham Forest 32 31
Stoke 31 31
West Bromwich Albion 32 30
Sheffield United 32 29
Newcastle United 32 28
Preston North End 31 27
Wednesday 32 23
Bolton Wanderers 31 22
Although Liverpool hit the front with only three games left, Aston Villa still had two games in hand. Yet they didn't return to the top until their penultimate game, and then only on goal average. The two teams met in their last game, level on points, in the ultimate Championship decider at Villa Park. Villa won 5-0 and picked up their fourth title in six years.

     
   
The Football League Division Two:

Darwen 0 Blackpool 2
   Barley Bank, Darwen (1,500)
Leadbetter, Morris
  
Glossop North End 0 Burslem Port Vale 0
   North Road, Glossop (3,500)
 
Linclon City 1 Grimsby Town 6
   Sincil Bank, Lincoln (5,000)
Swan ~
Ratcliffe (2), Cockshutt, Richards, Mountain, Greenwood
Town started with Charlie Richards
 
Luton Town 0 Newton Heath 1
   Dunstable Road, Luton (2,000)
Lee
 
Manchester City 2 Small Heath 0
   Hyde Road, Ardwick (20,000)
F.Williams (2 (1 pen))
 
Woolwich Arsenal 4 New Brighton Tower 0
   Manor Ground, Plumstead (3,000)
Cottrell (2), Haywood, Hunt
 
Manchester City became the first ever Football League club to win automatic promotion by virtue of their league position, when a large crowd saw them clinch the Second Division Championship as well. The test matches had been abolished after the manipulative collusion between Stoke and Burnley in the previous season

Division Two Table
Team P
Manchester City 32 48
Glossop North End 32 43
New Brighton Tower 31 41
Leicester Fosse 31 41
Small Heath 31 39
Woolwich Arsenal 32 39
Burslem Port Vale 33 39
Newton Heath 31 39
Walsall 32 38
Grimsby Town 30 31
Barnsley 32 29
Lincoln City 31 29
Burton Swifts 32 26
Gainsborough Trinity 32 23
Luton Town 30 21
Blackpool 32 18
Loughborough 31 16
Darwen 31 6
   
   
       Source Notes
TheFA
Scottish FA
England Football Factbook
Richard Keir's Scotland - The Complete International Record
Scottish Sport History
Rothman's Yearbooks
The Football Association Yearbooks
Original Newspaper Reports
Ancestry.com
London Hearts
LFC History
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