Author: The Author

2018 Round the Lakes 10K, Poole, Dorset

“Proving he has what it takes, at 79 years of age, Tom Cochrane completed the race in a solid time of 54:03 to take 4th place in the M70 category and 212th place overall.”

‘Once a runner, always a runner’ might not be true for us all, but it is certainly true for Tommy Cochrane.   Look at the picture above – he’s on the inside of the bend and look at the running action – it’s not somebody just making his way round as a means of getting some exercise.   Of course he appears in the club race reports such as this one from Boscomb Pier 5K, in December, 2014, “1st 75-79 was Tom Cochrane in 24.38. Yes, Tom really is over 75 years of age, hard to believe! ”   

On an earlier page he listed his best times at age 40+, 50+, 60+, 70+ and even 80+.   If we look at his performances as noted on the power of ten website, there is a note of his recent and fairly recent best times.   These include

His entry on the RunBritain website shows a series of 21 events between 2014 (when he was 74) and 2018 (when he was 78).   Races are mainly 5K in distance but include 10K and half marathon.   If we are looking at rankings, then he was ranked in Britain (not just in the club, or County, or Region, or England – in Britain) at number 4 for his parkrun as a Vet 80 in 2018, at number 8 as a Vet 75 in 2017 over 800m and again at 8 as a Vet75 over 5K in 2014.   

Many of his age would find the half marathon distance a difficult walk but it’s just a way of life for Tom.

Coach Cochrane

Tommy was for 37 years a middle distance coach at Bournemouth Athletic Club where he was able to coach athletes to represent England, and Great Britain and also had a lifestyle influence on the many young Middle Distance athletes who passed through the group over the years.  He says,   “In addition [well past my sell by date] being approached by Bournemouth AC committee at 72 Yrs. to come out of retirement and become President. As president I could see a number of areas that required attention, Coaching Secretary. Junior Development Co-ordinator and Middle Distant Coaching. The Junior Development Group [Young athletes 8 – 14yrs] co-ordinator gave me a lot of satisfaction recruiting and organising the coaching education of assistants and coaches [all volunteers and a great bunch of people] to meet EA coaching requirements and the growing number of young athletes.”   

Prior to Covid we had 120 young athletes and 16 coaches attending the Development Group on a Wednesday throughout the year.   For the work that he was doing over this period he was awarded the England Athletics Regional Award for Services to Athletics in 2014,    This is pictured below. 

The coaching did not come out of the blue – coaches don’t just appear, no matter how good a runner they are, they have to learn the trade.   

Tommy took his Assistant Club  Coach qualification when he was just 20 under John Anderson who was the Scottish National Coach at that time. The coaching structure at the time was in three stages – Assistant Club Coach, then Club Coach and finally Senior Coach.   One of the sessions with John was at the Dirrans Sports in Kilwinning.    He didn’t return to coaching for some years after his National Service due to some more serious concerns like getting married, developing his career, etc. He progressed his Coach Education under Frank Dick at Inverclyde in Largs which went from Friday night to Sunday evening on two or three weekends in the year.     He moved south to Bournemouth in August 1984 due to work and joined Bournemouth Athletic Club [BAC] in August. He didn’t start coaching at Bournemouth until almost Christmas 1984 as he had to wait until his coaching qualification [Level 3] was transferred from Scotland to England Athletics.    And that’s how it started.   He started out as a coach when he was 20 years old and the picture below was taken of his development group on his 80th birthday.

They say that if you want a job doing, ask a busy man, they also say that a good club member ‘does what his club needs him to do’.   Whichever of these you believe, or even if you believe both, Tommy’s your man.   Runner and coach, he is also a qualified official.   When asked about that – he didn’t offer the information to start with – he said,  “Yes, I am a level 2 UKA  track official but only started doing in my 70’s due the club being short of officials for League, County and District Championships.”     A track judge does not get the position unless he is experienced and reliable – and he only started doing it in his 70’s.    

We’re still not finished.   Many in athletics don’t seem to recognise the difference between officials and administrators.   They are two different sorts of person.   

*The officials are the people at the long jump pit, on the high jump fan, at the hammer cage, beside the track in all weathers making the event run on the day and dealing with sometimes anxious and stroppy senior athletes or Under 13’s who have forgotten some item of equipment;

*the administrators are the backroom people who get the permits, organise training nights, sort out the running of the meeting, invite the officials, decide the programme of the meeting and so on.   

Tommy has also done his work on the club committee.  He tells us that he has been a Bournemouth AC  Committee member on a number of occasions over the 37 years, only stepping down when he thought the committee needed new or younger people with fresh ideas on it.   He has in fact held the very top post of club president.   On the club website he is currently noted as Coaches Representative.   The photograph and extract below are from the Bournemouth Echo.

“A DEDICATED volunteer who gives up three nights a week to help run an athletics club was given an 80th birthday surprise on Wednesday.   Tom Cochrane, who is originally from Scotland, started working with Bournemouth Athletic Club 34 years ago, shortly after moving down to the area for his work.   For three days a week ever since, he has helped run the club’s children’s sessions, becoming a valuable member of the entirely voluntary coaching team.   At Wednesday’s session, his close friends and family joined more than 100 youngsters in wishing him a happy birthday and thanking him for his “invaluable” efforts.”

The whole article can be read on the paper’s website.   In addition to all of the above, Tom is also a member of South West Vets AC.   A runner, an official, a coach, an administrator – and a wonderful example and role model to any athlete of any age.

Tom in second place, running in the inter-services in Germany

Tom’s running career was in three inter-linked phases.   First as a good club runner with Beith Harriers, then as a National Servicemen with the Army in Germany, and then back at Beith (he had never left it) as an even better runner after his experiences racing and training with the Army.   Tom’s replies to the questionnaire have given us a lot of information about his career highs and lows so it would be right to look at some of the championship statistics on the Scottish scene, starting in 1959.   Abbreviations:   AHCA is Ayrshire Harrier Clubs Association, here stands for the Ayrshire Championships and SWD stands for the South West District.

That is a small selection of results taken from championships – County, District and National – where they were available.   eg County results were few and far between as far as newspaper reports are concerned.   However we should maybe look a bit more closely  at the two seasons where he gained international selection, 1962/3  and  1963/4.

 The Scottish winter season starts  with the short relays, and on 3rd November, 1962, the South Western District Relays were held at Kilmarnock and Beith were second to Ayr Seaforth and Tommy had the fastest time of the day.   A good start for his campaign.   A week later the club was again defeated by Ayr Seaforth, this time in the County Championships and Tom was beaten for fastest time by Jim McLatchie of Ayr, a Scottish track internationalist over one mile,   He was only four seconds down on McLatchie’s 13:12.   McLatchie also beat him in the match between the SCCU Select and Scottish Universities.   That race was won in a tie between McLatchie and Fergus Murray who crossed the line with arms linked, Tommy was fifth with Martin Craven and Callum Laing separating him from the winners.   He was only 24 seconds behind the joint winners.   On 12th January, 1963, he won the Ayrshire title by over 200 yards leading Beith to a team victory.   A week later he won the South West District title from C Aitken of Wellpark by 67 seconds and was clearly in good form for the upcoming national title race.   On 2nd February, Tommy was representing Ayrshire in the Inter-Counties championship at Paisley and finished third behind  Andy Brown and Lachie Stewart and only 11 seconds behind the winner.  He had been racing frequently and was obviously in great form.  Then came the National Championships, held at Hamilton Park Racecourse over the notoriously heavy trail with the big hill incorporated into every lap, Tommy ran well and finished ninth.   The selectors picked the first six runners (Linaker, Wood, Brown, McKay, Craven and Taylor) with the next three (Kerr, Laing and Cochrane) as reserves.   As luck would have it, there were a couple of call offs and Tommy was in the team.   It was held at San Sebastian, Spain, on 17th March.   57th of the 94 runners, he was fourth of the six scoring runners for his country – ahead of Callum Laing (63rd) and Bert McKay (68th)

The following summer, Tommy raced well and at the end of the year had a track best of 14:37.3 for Three Miles.. 

The 1963/64 season was also a good one, marked with racing often and well.  On 26th October, Beith turned out a strong team in the District relay championships.   The South West was a hard championship to win with such clubs as Paisley Harriers, The two Greenock clubs (Glenpark and Wellpark) plus all the Ayrshire teams.   Tom ran on the fourth ‘glory’ leg, turned in the fastest individual time of the afternoon by 26 seconds and the club ran out comfortable winners by 48 seconds.   Shortly after that, 9th November at Kilmarnock, Tom again ran the fastest stage of the day in the Ayrshire County Relay championships but the team was not so fortunate, being defeated by Ayr Seaforth AC.   Tom’s first representative outing of the winter was on 14th December at the Glasgow University HQ at Garscadden, when he ran for the Scottish Cross Country Union against Scottish Universities.   He finished 8th in a race which featured runners of the calibre of Mel Edwards, Ian McCafferty, Fergus Murray and Donald Macgregor.   Ian Harris had by now joined the parachute regiment and was running well for them but he was home in January and on the 18th he defeated Tom in the District Championships by half a minute with the club second in the team race.   With the National Championships coming closer the Inter-Counties Championship was held at Cleland Estate in Lanarkshire on 1st February.   The race was won by Ian McCafferty and Tommy was seventh, just behind Andy Brown and Kenny Ballantine and two places up on Lachie Stewart.   A week later and it was the County Championships on his home course of Beith and he duly won the race with the club taking the team championship.   After a few weeks rest the National Cross-Country Championships were held at Hamilton Park and selection of the Scottish team for the world championships followed immediately after  the race.   Tommy was sixth in a very good field indeed.   The first ten were:   1.   Fergus Murray;  2.  Jim Alder;  3.  Alastair Wood;   4.  Andy Brown;   5.  AIC Heron;   6.   T Cochrane;   7.  S Taylor;  8.   Calum Laing;  9.  Jim Johnston;   10.   Graham Everett.    Given that the top eight were automatically chosen for the international, Tommy went to the race which was held at Leopardstown, Dublin, on March 21st.   He finished 57th of the 79 starters and seventh Scottish scoring runner with Lachie Stewart eighth.   

There were other races in which the club was involved but the biggest road race of the winter was the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight-stage relay with only 20 teams selected to contest the race.   Even ‘making the race’ was a target for many clubs in the land, Beith was one of them and they had been in the race in 1958.   The race had four sets of medals awarded – gold, silver and bronze for the first three teams plus an extra set for an award to the team that in the opinion of the judges had put in the ‘most meritorious performance’.   It was often assumed, wrongly that these were for the most improved club.   However in 1958 Beith had started off with Ian Harris finishing ninth on the first stage.   Ian handed over the baton to Tommy who had the very difficult second stage – a long stage of over 6 miles it was the one where all the big stars ran, it was probably the most competitive stage and the one where, because of the quality of the athletes concerned, it was hardest to pull up a place.   Tommy picked up three places to take the club to sixth, then Ken Phillips picked another on the third stage, followed by A Napier who took the club up to fourth place.   Then it happened – the final four places saw the club drop to 6th, then 10th, 11th  and  12th at the finish.   The following year, 1959,  the Beith Harriers team was a good one, Beith Harriers hoped  to win the prize for the most improved team.    They had a real chance to do so and Tom ran on the first stage and finished a very good fifth crossing the change-over line side by side with Springburn’s Eddie Sinclair, to hand over to the star man, Ian Harris.  Ian had unfortunately fallen off his scooter on the outskirts of Edinburgh prior to running the second lap and never recovered properly, finishing 14^th.   Jim Sloss had to drive Ian’s scooter to the next changeover point, with the result that he did not get a proper warm-up and he also had an off day.   All the other runners ran to form or slightly above and managed to finish in 15^th place.   

Beith had many fine runners in the club at that time – Ian Harris would be SAAA marathon champions and cross-country internationalist but joined the Para Regiment and had a superb athletic career subsequently but was not available for club running, Danny McFadzean was another very good runner who finished high up in marathons at Boston and Kosice as well as domestically but joined the Navy and was unavailable for the club teams, Tommy was a consistently good competitor for the club but had two years away on National Service.   The dream at Beith was to have all three able to run together for the club.    

Although the short report above from the ‘Glasgow Herald’ (the source for the headlines above) reports that it was Tom’s fifth consecutive, it was his seventh overall and although a worthy victory in its own right, over two excellent opponents.    

In the centre row 3rd. from left John Wright [Clydesdale] and 4th. Tommy
[Beith]. In the front row 5th. from left Danny MacFadzean [Beith]

In the post-war period, all boys when they reached the age of 18 had to serve in the Armed Forces for two years National Service.   It took the form of ten weeks basic training before a posting to your regiment for the remainder of your time.   There were regiments known for their sporting prowess – it was good for Britain if their teams performed well and sportsmen usually managed to be able to train and compete regularly.   As a class athlete, Tommy was allocated to a regiment with a good athletics squad.   There were some competitions at home with one of the majors being that between the three arms of the forces – the Combined Services competition featuring the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.   The picture above is of the three teams at one such match.   Tommy, in answering the questionnaire said that one of his best performances was finishing  fourth in the Combined Services Championships at Aldershot. 

His spell in Germany covered the home athletics seasons of 1960/61 and 1961/62 where he was competing for the 28th Signals Regiment, BAOR Athletic Association in International Forces Cross-Country and Track.   Like many other sportsmen in the Army at the time, he was also a member of a German Civilian Athletic Club, Bayer Uerdingen,  that I competed for at weekends in Belgium, Holland and Germany.   

Tommy going on to win the 5000m on the Berlin Olympic warm up track 1961

Where it started:  at Beith, Tommy kneeling in front with trophy

Tommy Cochrane from Beith Harriers was a top class runner over the country where he won Scottish international honours and on the track.   After his career as a top level athlete, he became a very good coach, official and administrator.   As a coach I met him several times at the British Endurance weekends organised by Norman Poole which were held in Manchester, Stoke, Stafford and other points in the North of England – a fair hike from Bournemouth.   Whatever role he filled in a club, he was a great club servant as well as a successful one.

The Cochrane talent was not only seen in Britain – he served his two years National Service mainly in Germany and he raced well there in the company of several GB, Scottish and English international athletes.   If we have a look at some basic statistics for his career we see that 

(a) His best track times domestically were as listed below (figures taken from the SATS ranking lists); it should be noted however that many of his best times  were run ‘furth of Scotland’:

1963, 3 Miles , 14.37.8, 25

1964, 2 Miles, 9.16.01, 9

1964, 3 Miles, 14.32.8, 17

1966, 3 Miles, 14.22.8, 22

1966, 3000m S/ch, 9.31.2, 8

Note however that he also ran on the Continent and in England and these statistics were probably not available to the compilers – no internet in those days.

(b) Over the country he ran for Scotland and for the British Army.  Tommy won the South West District senior cross-country championships seven times (five of them consecutively).   This last was a record for the title which had been won by many Scottish internationalists including the Stevenson brothers from Wellpark Harriers, Ian Harris from Beith,   Jim McLatchie of Ayr Seaforth,  Bill Stoddart of Wellpark Harriers and  Lawrie Spence, Glenpark Harriers.   In view of this outstanding record, he was given the championship trophy to keep in perpetuity when the District merged with the Midland District in 1976.   

Tom completed the questionnaire about his career for us and it provides an insight into his career and personality.

Tommy is in white in the centre of the line up at Beith

Name:   Thomas [Tom] Cochrane.
Club:   Beith Harriers & Bournemouth Athletic Club.   Life Member of both.
D.O.B:   9th. May 1938.
Occupation:   From age of 15 yrs through to retiring at 65 yrs Electrician, Work Study Engineer, Dept. Manager, Management Consultant, Company Director, UK Technical Manager for a German Company

In 1961 at 2TAF HQ, Rheindahlen Germany   

How did you get into the sport initially?   By chance – in October 1953. My friend Ian Kerr and I had been asked by the Kilbirnie Church of Scotland Youth Fellowship to purchase a record player for the fellowship. This involved a 20 mile journey by Western bus to Glasgow. Once we had completed our purchase and arriving home my friend Ian asked what I was doing for the rest of the day as he was going to Beith Harriers in the afternoon and would I like to come along. This was the start of my running for 67 yrs with a break of 2 yrs due to illness.

Personal Bests. [NB: Tommy adds, “All questionable due to necessity of moving south and not being able to take all of his records. To which I would add that there are some things serious runners never forget!]
Track/ Road
800m – 2m 01s ? 10mls – 51m42s?
1500m – 4m 01s ?
3000m – 8m 35s ?
3000m S/c. – 9m 06s ?
5,000m – 14m 55s ?

Since starting running again [but not serious] at over 40 yrs.
40 yrs 10k. 35m 53s
50 yrs 10k. 35m 12s
60 yrs 5k. 20m 42s; 5m. 34m 28s; 10k. 39m 46s; 10m. 72m 16s; 20m 2h 42m; 

70 yrs 800m 3m 52s; 5k 24m 23s; 10k. 54m 03s; HM 2h11.14m
80 yrs. Park 5k 25m 38s  [I was fastest in the UK for a short time before dropping back to 4th. later the same year.]

Has any individual or group had a marked effect on either your attitude to the sport or your performance? 

Firstly, my girl friend Morag, now my wife [of almost 60 years], who has supported and encouraged me since we first met at the age of 19 yrs and who still does today.

Secondly, the old members of Beith Harriers –  George Morrison, Jock Calder, Jack Millar, Matt Dunbar, Alex Neilson and George Murdoch – who talked about their past performances, the competitions they took part in, and the many friends they had made along the way.

Then, one senior club member Kenny Phillips who contributed to my running greatly just by being there every Tuesday Thursday and Saturday for training, travelling to races and giving encouragement.

Others such as Harry Maxwell, Hugh Walker and George Lightbody also had a finger in the pie.

Most recent photograph of Morag and myself at our grandaughter’s wedding PIC

What exactly did you get out of the sport?     A discipline which has enabled me to get the best out of the time available in any one day. Respect for others, their possessions and property as you were representing your family, club or country. Misbehaving in any form in the 50’s and 60’s was frowned upon as Athletics at that time was referred to as the Cinderella sport. Making lots of friends some that are no longer with us and many that I still keep in touch with.
Can you describe your general attitude to the sport?   My attitude to the sport has changed over the years as the management of it has changed. Those early days in Scotland 1950’s to 1980’s there were honourable people who did wonders with a very meagre budget  Men such as George Dallas, Duncan McSwein, Alex Neilson, Bill Armour, John McClurg and many others at that time, who organised and ran the sport in Scotland annually on a shoestring compared to what one elite athlete gets in support from UKA annually. My standard answer to this is that we used to have an amateur sport run by professionals now we have a professional sport run by amateurs. Maybe this is a bit unkind but it does make you think as the depth [not the performance] in any one distance event has diminished.
What do you consider your best performances?   Winning the Ayrshire County and The South West District Cross Country Championships six times. Finishing second. to Ian McCafferty in the British YMCA CC Championships at Paisley. Finishing sixth. in the Scottish CC Championships at Hamilton Park Race Course, getting into the Scottish Team on two occasions. Finishing fourth in the British Forces Combined Services [Army Navy & RAF] Champs. at Aldershot.

Going on to finish 6th. in Scottish CC Champs at Hamilton Race
Course.

Worst performances?    Stepping up from a youth to a junior without really knowing that I should have doubled my training quantity. This ignorance resulted in me taking part in the Senior 6 mile South West District Cross Country Championship when I finished last but one. Needless to say you learn by your mistakes. The same year Andy Forbes, a great friend who was in his mid 40’s at the time, came up alongside me at the Beith New Years Day Race and said come on son when I was nearly dying on my feet and ready to give up. 

What goals did you have that remain unachieved?  Running the Glasgow Half Marathon and the London Marathon. Taking part in the Ayrshire Cross Country Championships one more time just to say farewell to Cross Country but in Scotland. 

What has running brought you that you would not have wanted to miss?  Firstly my wife as we were introduced to each other at Beith Harriers by Kenny Phillip’s sister Agnes and husband George. All the friendships that were made, a healthy lifestyle over many years and the experience gained from running before, during and after my National Service in Germany. My 37 years middle distance coaching at Bournemouth Athletic Club where I was able to coach athletes to represent England, and Great Britain but also to have a lifestyle influence on the many young MD athletes who passed through the group over the years.   In addition [well past my sell by date] being approached by Bournemouth AC committee at 72 Year. to come out of retirement and become President. As president I could see a number of areas that required attention, Coaching Secy. Junior Development Co-ordinator and Middle Distance Coaching. The Junior Development Group [Young athletes 8 – 14yrs] co-ordinator gave me a lot of satisfaction recruiting and organising the coaching education of assistants and coaches [all volunteers and a great bunch of people] to meet EA coaching requirements and the growing number of young athletes. Being awarded the England Athletics Regional Award for Services to Athletics in 2014, pictured below.

Prior to Covid we had 120 young athletes and 16 coaches attending the Development Group on a Wednesday throughout the year. 

Can you give some detail of your training?       In the 1960’s when I was in my 20’s I would do the following. 

Summer

Monday. 12 x 400 yds with 200yds recovery
Tuesday 16 x 200 yds with full recovery.
Wednesday 6 Miles steady run on road or grass [ grass preferred]
Thursday 4 x 800yds with 400 yds recovery.[ If racing Saturday do Fridays 400 yds session]
Friday 8 x 400 yds with 200 yds recovery [ Rest if racing Saturday]
Saturday 8 mls over country. If not racing on Saturday
Sunday Rest or go for a 3 – 6 ml. Walk in the hills or on the road.

Winter.

Monday 5 mls hill run at lunchtime.
3mls easy run home from work in the evening.
Tuesday 3 mls easy run in morning.    2 x 2 mls or 1×3 mls threshold run on road with 1 ml jog recovery.
Wednesday 10/11 mls long run 5m40s pace
Thursday 5 mls hill run at lunchtime.   3 mls easy run home from work in the evening.
Friday 3 mls easy run in morning.  4 x 1 ml threshold run on road with half mile jog recovery.
If racing Saturday, do Friday session on Thursday.
Saturday 7/10 ml easy run over country or in a wooded area.
Sunday Rest Go for a 3 – 6 ml. Walk in the hills or on the road.
Note: – All the above changed to metric when I was posted to Germany in 1960 to do my National Service and joining the German athletic club Bayer.   The changes included doing track sessions during the winter and doing a variety of distances from 100 -1200m in training during summer for the track distances of 800m to 5000m.
From the mid to late 60’s the weekly mileage increased from 70 to 110 in winter and 40-50 during summer track just to stay in the top 12 in Scotland.

Picture above the Army Championships at Aldershot 1961 Ben Grubb
leading, Ernie Pomfret 2nd. both GB Internatioals and myself 3rd. at the         
halfway stage

Those are Tom’s replies to the questionnaire and there is lots to pore over in it.   He mentioned Ernie Pomfret as one of his team mates in the Army – Pomfret was an Olympian, having run in the steeplechase in the 1964 Summer Olympics, and then two years later he raced in the 1966 Empire and Commonwealth Games in Jamaica.   Ben Grubb was also a British international athlete.  There is a bit more about them on the next page.   Note too Tom’s account of the training he was doing when he was running at his very best: they are still worth close attention and pondering over.      

Now read about   Tom Cochrane – the runner.       Then read about Tom as a veteran athlete and as an administrator and coach

Katie Skorupska was a very good endurance athlete who excelled on the track and over the country.   Running at a time when the country had many very good women runners – Sheila Fairweather, Hayley Haining, Susan Partridge, Vikki McPherson – she won Scottish and British honours on the track as well as over the country.   Yet very little is known of her – possibly because her career was relatively short but it should be looked at closely.   How good was she?

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Emil Zatopek & Les Perry.

I feel we are all by now well aware of Zatopek’s incredible gesture in gifting to Ron Clarke one of his Olympic Gold Medals (1966).

Certainly a not so well known story is Zatopek’s gifting of his competition uniform (singlet & shorts) to one of Australia’s all-time greats – Les Perry – in 1952, at the Helsinki Olympics

Les Perry meets Emil Zátopek

The long and middle distance of the world runners were in awe of Emil Zátopek and wanted to try and meet him. Emil was the 1948 gold Medal winner of the 10,000 metres and Silver medal winner in the 5,000 metres, plus many other world and European records. After a few days training in Helsinki and after a good deal of more chatter and sharing of ideas on how meet their hero between Les, Percy Cerutty and John Landy, Les decided to find Zatopek. The Russians and other Eastern Bloc countries had their own Olympic village, at Otaniemi, across the other side of Helsinki from the main village in Kapyla. The concerns were that the Russians and others were protected in their camp and it would be impossible to get in, or out. After lots of talk, Les decided to head off to Otaniemi and find Emil. Of he went, a decent training run across Helsinki to the Eastern Bloc camp where he found no problems getting in and headed to the training track where he found Emil. Les introduced himself to Emil who straight away said, “Les, come and training with me.” So he did. Les met others in the Czech team, including Emil’s wife Dana, After training, Les made his way back to Kapyla Village to tell the others of his day with Emil. The others joined Les the following day, heading to train again with Zatopek at the Otaniemi camp. Emil took a real shine to Les.

Later in the week, Les again visited Emil and after training, presented Emil with a badge from the Williamstown Amateur Athletic Club in Melbourne. No more was said and Les returned to camp.

Later, after the 5000 metres

After the help from Zatopek in progressing to the final of the 5,000, Les Perry, dubbed the ‘Ironman, ran 60.2 second faster than ever before in placing 6th in the final, just 100 metres behind the winner, Emil Zatopek. The whole team praised Les for his courage and a wonderful personal best in the final.

Soon after the race, Les and Emil were talking and Emil promised Les his red singlet with the famous number, 903 and his running shorts to take back to Australia. Emil said, “You must wait till I run in the marathon – I’ll need them for that.” The friendship developed between Emil and Les was very strong.

And after the marathon…

The next day, Les Perry went to visit his friend Zatopek at the Eastern Bloc village. After a warm welcome and congratulations, Emil presented Les with his original, and clean, running shorts and the famous red singlet that he wore in winning his three gold medals. Emil also gave Les a book by Gunder Hagg, the famous Swedish miler which the world record holder had presented personally to Zatopek.

“I would like the Australian running coach, Percy Cerutty, to have this book,” said Zatopek. “He is my good friend.”

Perry said it would be a proud moment for him when he lands back in Australia with the Zatopek running gear. Les said he was going to give the singlet and shorts to Geoff Warren, a promising Melbourne three and six mile runner as an inspiration to Geoff to try and emulate the feats of the great Zatopek.

(Geoff Warren fulfilled his potential – representing Australia at the 1954 Empire Games over 3 & 6 Miles)

Wooderson was always a favourite in Glasgow

1940 was an important year in that Maley retired, and with no Celtic Sports the Rangers Sports were undisputedly the biggest in the country and Struth was the man responsible for the continuation and organisation of them.   It was also a much more important year for everyone in that it was the first year of the Second World War which imposed constraints on all walks of life.   There were only seven years between their dates of birth Maley 1868, Struth 1875) and Maley had run the sports at Celtic Park for the best part of 50 years with a hiatus for a World War, while Struth would go on to be in charge for 42 years, also with a World War with which to contend. 

THE WAR YEARS

There were sports in 1940 but it was a vastly different world from 1915, a vastly different war and for civilians some things went on with a degree of normality.   Would there be sports in 1940?   There certainly would.   

A 40,000 crowd, top talent in the invitation mile, and the best of local talent.   And the mile produced an all-comers record.   The 120 yards also upset the Daily Record’s prediction – note the photograph below.

Bill Struth was mentioned in the text and had his photograph welcoming Wooderson to Glasgow to join his unit.   What more could we want?   We could want more in 1941 and we had it.   The Sports that year had both Watt and Mumme –  Watt won the 129 yards off a yard and a half and Mumme was unplaced in the 100 yards final where he was ‘handicapped out of it.   Wooderson was unavailable but there was an international dimension when a Canadian serviceman won the half-mile.   There had been a crowd of 40,000 and approximately 600 competitors.

The Glasgow Herald tells us that Wooderson was back at Ibrox for the Sports in 1943 before a crowd of 35,000 and there were no records this time – it is a measure both of his talent and esteem in which he was held by  Glaswegians that one was hoped for.   Conceding starts of up to 145 yards, he did catch his English rival DG Wilson who would go on to great things but was nowhere near the front men in the handicap.   It was another competitive meeting but there were no records and no stars but the club must be given credit for putting the meeting on.

With newsprint at a premium, coverage was slight at the best of times but the sports in 1944 were of a high standard.   The complete report from The Scotsman is below.

The Scotsman gave maximum coverage to the English miler, who did run well, but the buzz was all about the high jumper from Hutcheson’s.    Note the headline from the Glasgow Herald:

The Sports of 1945  were held on 4th August with an estimated 40,000 spectators present, and the papers – whether the Daily Record, the Glasgow Herald or the Scotsman – all homed in on three events.   These were the high jump (Boy Clears 6’3″), the quarter mile, and the 100 yards.   In the High Jump Paterson was jumping from scratch while the AAA’s champion had an allowance of 1″.   Paterson cleared 6 feet 3 inches while the best the Englishman could do with the 1″ added was 5’9″.   In the 440 yards invitation, the Victoria Park runner John Panton won from Denroche of the AAA’s and Arthur Warton of Garscube in 49.6 seconds, and in the 100 yards Cyril Holmes ran an unofficial time of 11.5 seconds.   

The War was now over and Mr Struth’s Committee had had ‘a good war’ in that

(a) there had been sports every year

(b) they were always before good crowds with 35,000 – 40,000 spectators being the usual;

(c) they were always of a good standard with class athletes in the invitation events and large numbers in the open ones.   In the photograph below we see Sydney Wooderson in uniform talking with Allan Watt of Shettleston Harriers; 

(d) there were even records set at some of them.

AFTER THE WAR

The first peace time Games were a tremendous success with Alan Paterson setting a new Scottish record of 6 feet 6 1/2 inches to break the existing record set by the American Osborne at the same ground in 1925.  There were huge fields for the open events and a good following wind which helped the sprinters.   For instance, MacDonald Bailey in the 120 yards was beaten in his heat but ran a time of 11.5 seconds – 5 yards inside even time.   His conqueror by a matter of inches was Whigham of VPAAC running off eight and a half yards.   Artrhur Wint, the tall Jamaican, was third in the 440 yards invitation where, running from scratch, he was beaten by two men with handicaps of 16 yards and 10 yards.    Struth had done it again and he was mentioned by name in the Daily Record preview on the Saturday morning: note this extract from a very long article

A hard act to follow and the prospect led to a record crowd of 72,000 (seventy two thousand) paid the entrance money and once again Alan Paterson was the local hero.   There was a terrific high jump competition with Bill Vessie (USA) in which they both broke the British high jump recordwhen they cleared 6′ 7 1/2″ – everybody else was out at 6′ but they battled it out on their own with the crowd enthralled by the head-to-head.   Vessie won but only because he cleared the height first time while Paterson had one failure.   There were stars aplenty in 1947.

• MacDonald Bailey won the 100 yards in 10.4 seconds
• Harrison Dillard (USA, pictured below) beat Don Finlay (GB) by two yards in the 110 yards hurdles in 14.9 seconds
• EQ Cofie (EUAC) defeated Walter Smith (USA) in the 440 yards
• T Perkins (USA) defeated Bill Nankeville (GB in the 880 yards;
• Curtis Stone (USA) won the eight laps steeplechase by 100 yards from AA Robertson (AAA’s champion)
• USA won the Mile medley relay from the AAA’s A tema dn AAA’s B team with Scotland fourth;
• R Richards won the pole vault with a height of 13′ 6″

All the open events were very well supported and the programme took 4 hours to get through.   

1948 was another good year but the heavy rain on the day had a drastic effect on the crowd size and, more importantly, on the standard of performances – eg Alan Paterson could ‘only’ clear 6’4″ despite having opposition from Canada, USA and Singapore.   It was of course Olympic year and most of the top names that Struth might have wanted were still in London.   The report in trhe Scotsman was fairly short.

Despite the presence of English and American Olympians competing the best performance of the day was from an Irishman in the invitation 2 miles race where JJ Barry, from Clonliffe, won from Andy Forbes (VPAAC) and J Reid (West Kilbride AAC).   Barry was living and running in Scotland at the time and ran in the colours of the St Machan’s club.   Other notable victories was Don Finlay winning the sprint hurdles from Dick Attlesey (USA), Brown (USA) beating DK Gracie (Scotland) in the 440 yards hurdles and Alan Paterson (“only doing what he needed to to win”) in the high jump from Richard Phillips (USA) and Mondschein (USA) with a best jump of 6′ 4″.   Irving Mondscheing was also second in the shot putt behind J Drummond of Heriot’s.    Even on a wet and miserable day, Struth had managed a programme that brought tens of thousands into the ground.   He always had something to bring in the crowd – Willie Waddell was playing in the five-a-sides but his actual registration as a professional Rangers player back in 1939 had been delayed by the manager/promoter.   Why was that?
“Early in his Army career when he (Allan Watt) was stationed in Orkney, he was given three days leave to travel to Glasgow to compete in the Rangers Sports.   A summons had come from Bill Struth, the legendary Rangers manager, asking the army to give Allan time off to take part in the invitation 100 yards against the American Clyde Jeffrey.   Fifty years later Allan was to learn that Mr Struth had another reason for wanting him to appear.   The American was the scratch man.   Allan was off one and a half yards and Willie Waddell, the famous footballing Deedle Dawdle of Rangers, was off three yards.   The Yank won, Allan was second and ‘Deedle’ third.   In the early 1990’s Allan was at Ibrox as a guest of Rangers at Ibrox when the wife of the Rangers doctor recalled the wartime race.   She claimed that Struth had deliberately kept Deedle an amateur so that he could take part and the crowd would see a Rangers player beat the American guest and the Scottish star.   The Deedle turned professional immediately after the race.”

It was wet again in 1950 but there were 35,000 spectators inside Ibrox to see three records broken – Mal Whitfield, the 26 year old Olympic champion from America won the half mile in 1:50.7, Arthur Wint won the 440 yards beating USA’s R Pearman in 47.7, MacDonald Baily won the 120 yards in 11.3 which was a British record while the former two were Scottish all-comers records.   The otheer invitation event victors were 

• 110 yards hurdles:   W Fleming USA  15 seconds
• 220 yards:  Arthur Bragg (USA) 21.5 seconds
• 2 Miles:   H Ashenfelter (USA)   9:15.6
• High Jump:  AS Paterson  6′ 4″
• One Mile DG Wilson  4 min 17.3 secs.

The Americans were now becoming a regular feature at Ibrox and Olympic year of 1952 was probably the best ever collection of athletes who were taking part in the Rangers Sports at the same time.   The Olympics were held between 19th July and 3rd August; the Sports were held on the 2nd August.   The result of that was

•   5 Olympic champions: Lindy Remigino, 100 metres,   George Rhoden, 400 metres,  Walt Davis, high jump,  S Iness, Discus, R Mathias, decathlon;. 
•  2 winning Olympic relay teams, with only minor modifications eg the Jamaican 4 x 400 team substituted  L Beach for Laing
• 4 Olympic silver medallists, Herb McKenley, Arthur Wint, Don Laz,  D Hooper
• Many of the GB team from the Olympics, eg Bill Nankeville, Geoff Elliott,  J Savidge, Brian Shenton, MacDonald Bailey
• Local heroes who were in the GB team – Bill Jack (VPAAC), Alan Paterson (VPAAC) and David Gracie (GUAC)
• The weather was good, the crowd was over 50,000, and there were several British and Scottish records set in the course of the afternoon

It was a wonderful year all round for Scottish athletics – many of the Olympians were taking part in one, two or even three events in the country that year.   On the last Saturday in June, before the Games, there were many intending competitors at the Glasgow Police Sports, then just one day before the Games ended there were man who by now were medalists, at the Rangers Sports and two weeks after that there was the Edinburgh Highland Games.   Some athletes even waited a further week and took part in the Cowal Highland Games at Dunoon.   The three Games are covered at  this  link  .   Of the three, Rangers Sports probably had the athletes at their best, immediately after the Games, by Edinburgh they were starting to get tired and several of the athletes had gone home, but the Australian and New Zealand women who had not been at Ibrox were there.   The promoters in August were two big men who knew how to promote a meeting – Struth at Ibrox and Carmichael at Murrayfield.   It is impossible to doubt that they were in contact with each other – remember that Maley had taken his international guests to Loch Lomond for the weekend between the two Celtic Games (Saturday and Tuesday).   There were three weeks between the meetings and the athletes had other meetings to attend.   One wonders why they came back all the way to Scotland but come back they did.    One week took care of itself – the Saturday after Ibrox saw many of the athletes at the White City in London, some even added a meeting at Berlin on the Sunday.   Ibrox, White City and Berlin in 9 days.   Then came Edinburgh   It had been a superlative year of athletics.

1953 was inevitably a bit of a comedown for the Sports – in reply to the shout of “Follow that!” would come the reply “How?”    Well, there was a decent selection of runners from outwith Scotland: 

• from the USA came the winners of the 220 yards, 880 yards, pole vault and half mile;
• from Ireland came the winner in the high jump and
• the long jump was won by a Nigerian.   
• In addition there was a strong team from the AAA’s whose representatives took part in the open events as well as the invitation events. 
•  The two races highlighted were the short limit invitation 2 miles where Ian Binnie took AAA’s Len Eyre through the mile in 4:26, with the limit man, John Stevenson of Greenock Wellpark well clear.   On the last lap, Eyre passed Binnie but couldn’t get on terms with Stevenson who won and took home a canteen of cutlery as a reward for his efforts.   Stevenson was a Scottish international runner and it would seem that 150 yards was a biggish start.   The other race highlighted was the 440 yards hurdles where the American D Bright went off swiftly and fell at the 7th hurlde leaving Scotland’s David Gracie to win in 53.7 which was a native record.   Another record was set in the pole vault where NG Gregor beat his own Scottish record.   The 120 yards invitation was won by R Quinn of Victoria Park from Crawford of Bellahouston.   It was well attended too with approximately 40,000 spectators.

1954’s Rangers Sports clashed with the Empire Games and that obviously reduced the numbers of international participants but there were again a number of good Americans and a representative team from the AAA’s.   Among the top home Scots a young schoolboy high jumper (shades of Alan Paterson) from the John Neilson Institute called Crawford Fairbrother was second in the high jump.   Top domestic sprinter was undoubtedly Robert Quinn of Victoria Park who won the Invitation 120 yards and the open 220 yards from the back mark of 3 yards.   The 50’s were really good years for the club and their athletes were peppered through the lists of prize winners.   Results:

It had been mainly sprinters exciting the spectators in the Sports in the previous few years but in 1955 there was a marvellous 880 yards with the four top men from three different countries, the mile was also a cracker and the two miles did not let the standard down.   The Glasgow Herald report read:

“Never has so brilliant a half mile been run in Scotland – eight yards covering the first four, three of whom returned times inside the previous all-comers record of 1 min 50 sec.   T Courtney (USA), BS Hewson and DJN Johnson (AAA) and A Boysen (Norway) have all been in record breaking form in recent days, so when the first lap, with s Oseid (Norway) in the lead, ended in 52.8 sec and Boysen, holder of the record, went to the front, a stirring finish was inevitable.   Up the finishing straight it was still anybody’s race.   Only over the last 30 yards did Courtney gain the front and, despite determined efforts by Hewson and Johnston, the American held on and won by a yard in the marvellous time of 1 min 49.2 sec.   His performance is rated even better than the time indicates, for a troublesome wind faced the runners on the finishing straight and the track was very loose – factors that may well have added two seconds to the time and deprived Courtney of a World record.”   

The photograph below is from the Scots Athlete report.   The Mile was another top class event.   The runners this time were Seaman (USA), Ken Wood (AAA) and Breckenridge Ken Wood (AAA) and Breckenridge (Scotland).   “A 2 min 10 sec first half almost ruled out the prospect of mile record until the native record holder, AD Breckenridge, shot to the front but what a race developed round the last lap.   Neither R Seaman (USA) nor K Wood (AAA) however could hold the easy-running G Nielson (Denmark) who beat Wood by five yards in the new all-comers record 0f 4 min 8.9 sec.   Had this race been run differently two or three more seconds would have been lopped off,”

The 2 mile race was won by Derek Ibbotson from the other AAA representatives, A Barrett and F Norris in 8 min 54.2.   Winners of the other invitation races were

120 yards:  R Blair USA  from B Shenton (AAA) in 11.4 sec;  220: R Blair from E Sandstrom (AAA) in 22 sec;

440 yards: MG Wheeler (AAA) from A Christiansen (Denmark) in 48.8 sec   220 Hurdles:  PB Hildreth from RD Shaw (both AAA) in 24.4

One hour run: G King (Wellpark) 10 miles 1625 yards.   H Fox (Shettleston) second.   Pole Vault: I Ward (AAA) from G Schmidt (AAA).

4 x 440 yards Relay:   AAA from Scandinavia in 3:19.8

It had been another triumph for Struth and his team with athletes from USA, Denmark, Norway and England as well a good numbers of local Scottish athletes.  

Bobby Quinn of Victoria Park has been mentioned in these sports but in the 1956 version it was his brother Harry who won both open sprints.   Talent was spread over all distances this time round.   35,000 spectators saw athletes from Scotland, the AAA’s, Nigeria, and Sweden taking part.

In 1957 the meeting was back at middle distance racing challenging records.   The headline in the Glasgow Herald of 5th August 1957 read –

MA Farrell (AAA) won the half mile invitation event by less than three yards and equalled the all-comers record of 1 min 49.2.   The next three in the race, D Johnston, B Hewson and M Rawson, were credited with the same time of 1 min 49.6.   The native record of 1 min 57.9 sec held by JV Paterson (Edinburgh Univ) was broken by JR Boyd (Glasgow University, who finished fifth in 1:50.7sec.   Paterson himself set so fast a pace that he completed the first lap inside 52 1/2 seconds and held a comfortable lead from the more experienced half milers, who did not, however, show any anxiety until 300 yards from the finish when they closed with Paterson.   There ensued a magnificent finish in which Paterson was left training.”

The Glasgow spectators were quite knowledgeable about aathletics but they were Scots and were generally sympathetic to the athletes but get this from the report on the Mile in 1957.   “K Wood was the main attraction in the Mile, and he was subjected to slow hand clapping for what was considered a slow first quarter and half mile, yet he finished in 4 min 3.9 – the second fastest time for the distance recorded in Scotland.”   As for the rest of the events, theresults are below and indicate that Mr Struth had done his job well in attracting athletes from around the globe – this time, instead of the Americans and Canadians, it was from Pakistan that they came.  There were also athletes from Ireland and Nigeria as well as the AAA’s squad.

Ibrox was probably the only athletics sports in the country which included a steeplechase and many very good athletes from abroad took part as well as our own runners.   By 1954 when  Struth retired as Rangers manager he was 79 years old and he died in 1956.   We will, for the sake of continuity follow the sports until they ended in 1962.

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1952 was undoubtedly the best year – other Olympic years saw the Games too far from Scotland or the dates were wrong, and the two years when there were Empire Games near home, there were AAA events at White City which clashed with the Rangers dates.   

1958 was Empire Games year and they were held in Cardiff, Wales, between 18th and 26th July and the Empire was well represented at Ibrox that year.   Athletes from South Africa, Uganda, Jamaica, Canada, Nigeria, all the home countries and from Europe, Holland.   Top man was Gerd Potgieter from South Africa, Empire Games champion and world record holder.   Unfortunately the meeting clashed with the Britain  v  the Commonwealth at the White City in London where most of the medalists were involved.   

1959  was almost entirely a domestic affair and the attendance was down to 15,000.   Top billing after the event went to Graham Stark in the Mile who won in a new Scottish native record of 4:06.3, and Derek Ibbotson who set a new Scottish all-comers record of 8:48.6 to be nominated as top athlete of the afternoon.   The meeting clashed with a GB  v  West Germany in London and that robbed the meeting of many potential athletes.

In 1960 the Olympic Games were held in Rome between 25th August and 11th September which was too late really to benefit the Scottish promoters.   However there were large squads from India and Pakistan who, along with some West Indians and the AAA’s group produced some sterling performances and attracted the spectators.

Lots of well known names there but note athletes who won gold or silver at the 1958 Empire Games Robinson (gold 220, silver 100), Milka Singh (gold 440) Gardner (gold 120y hurdles, silver 220), Mal Spence (silver 440), Raziq (bronze 120y hurdles)   !960 was another very good year.

1961 was the penultimate Rangers Sports, and it was a wet afternoon with a sodden track but there were nevertheless athletes from Australia, USA, Eire and the ever present AAA’s team.   Among the Scots athletes were Mike Hildrey, who won the invitation 120 yards, WM Campbell who was third in the 440,  and Lachie Stewart, who won the 8 laps steeplechase.   The remaining invitation event winners were J Cooper (AAA, 440), N Carroll (Eire)  880, JT Anderson (AAA Mile), B Craig (AAA  2 miles), L Taitt (AAA 120y hurdles), C Ridgeway (Australia high jump) and SR Porter (AAA pole vault).   

The last Rangers Sports was held on 4th August, 1962.   The programme for this meeting can be seen here .  It was another dreich afternoon with an estimated 10,000 spectators in the ground.   There were gusty winds reported to be between 15 and 30 miles per hour, and even when it dropped to 11 mph, a record for the 120 yards hurdles was not recognised because of the following wind.   Results of the invitation events:

And that’s where it finished.   

1952 was Olympic year; it is often described as the’last real Olympics’ because it is seen as the last where true amateur values and the Olympian spirit appeared.   They were certainly a magnificent Games from the point of view of the standard of competition.   Being so close to the venue of Helsinki, Scotland had an attraction for the competing countries, many of whom had had athletes competing in earlier years at the Celtic Sports, the Rangers Sports, and then at the Edinburgh Highland Games.   The country and city were well known in athletics circles.  So it came about that there were three huge sports meetings in Scotland in 1952.   The Glasgow Police Sports were held that year on the last Saturday in June and had no fewer than 15 invitation events of which were 11 were for men, 3 were for women, and one was a schools relay race.   Athletes from Britain, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were all competing and sharpening up for the Games which began on 19th July.   The Rangers Sports were on 2nd August and had a host of athletes from the Olympics, not exactly the same as at the Police Sports – for instance the Australian women called off by telegram on the Thursday before the meeting but it did have the advantage of knowing who had won the events and could name the gold, silver and bronze medalists.   And finally the other big meeting at the time was The Edinburgh Highland Games on the short Murrayfield track two weeks later.   By now the Australian and New Zealand women had arrived in Scotland but some of the others had departed.   Remember that the grass track at Murrayfield was not of a standard distance, and the races were run on grass.   

Yvette Williams, NZ, who competed at the Police Sports,  and then broke the world record when winning the long jump in Helsinki returned after the Games for the Edinburgh Highland Games, following this with Cowal Highland Games the following Saturday!

The Police Sports were held at Ibrox on 28th June and with competitors from Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and all over Britain it was no real surprise when six Scottish all-comers records were broken.   With a crowd estimated at 38,000 on a good afternoon, and on the fast track at Ibrox, there were good times all round.   In addition the proliferation of top names and the teaser of guessing who would win medals a month later in Finland had the crowd entertained.   Each of the three women’s events would be won by athletes who would win gold – Marjorie Jackson in the 100 yards would win both short sprints, Shirley Strickland in the 80m hurdles and Yvette Williams would win the same events a week later.   For the men, Rhoden of Jamaica won the same event and other medal winners were there in numbers with the spectators particularly excited by the Jamaican 4 x 400m relay team which was comprised of the four men who would win the Olympic relay – Laing, Wint, McKenley and Rhoden.   

The superb reslts are above, but no matter how high the quality or how renowned the athletes, the Police Sports were BEFORE the Games and no matter how good the athlete, the addition of Olympic gold or silver adds extra lustre.    In addition, there were no Americans competing in June and they had always been favourites with the Glasgow public.   

The Rangers Sports of 1952 was the first big athletic meeting I had been to.   I was 14 years old and after local meetings like the Singer’s Sports it was a completely new experience.   Singer’s was a good local sports and one where they had the ocasional top class runner from England (eg June Foulds of the AAA) as well as some very good Scots.   The ground was small but it was usually full but the Ibrox meeting was just so different.   The size of the arena, the size of the crowds (50,000 in ’52) the whole infield was swarming, or so it seemd to me, with athletes competing in the field events, and there was the  glamour of all these champions from America and England as well as the domestic Scots.   If Singer’s Sports was the typical bread and butter meeting for athletes, the Rangers Sports was the apex.   In 1952 the weather was very good indeed, the spectators knew what to expect, even if many had come for the 5-a-sides they knew a bit about their athletes and could appreciate quality when they saw it.

Lindy Remigino (981 above, winning the Olympic 100 metres) was one of the star turns – he had won the Olympic title from Herb McKenley of Jamaica and Britain’s MacDonald Bailey and all three were running in Glasgow.   Mac Bailey also ran in the special 120 yards race to give the public two of the first three in the Helsinki 100m in action.   Running inot  a headwind of 6 feet per second, Remigino defeated Bailey by 1 1/2 yards in 11.8 seconds.  Here’s an interesting fact – the runners in this special invitation sprint had to run in heats and the American won his heat in 11.2 seconds which, as the Herald pointed out, was still remarkable even with a following breeze of 8.5 feet per second.  That wind was 2 feet a second more than was allowed and his time was not recognised as a British record.   Third in the race was Jamaican Byron La Beach – a man very unlucky not to have an Olympic gold medal: the Jamaicans had a group of five 400m runners, any four of whom could have been in the relay team, in any other country they would have been.  On the day of the final, the team was Wint. McKenley, Rhoden and Laing.   They won in record time.

The Jamaicans had a wonderful Olympics in 1952.   One of their outstanding squad of runners was Herb McKenley, known possibly better as a 400 metre runner, he was also a class sprinter.   Second in the Olympic 100m, he was also a member of their 4 x 400m relay team.   McKenley ran in Glasgow that August and after running in the 120 yards won the 220 yards from Remigino and fellow Jamaican J Laing in the very good time of 20.9 seconds which was two tenths inside the British record and five tenths inside the Scottish record.   And he did it in the outside lane.   Third was another Jamaican 200/400 runner called J Laing.   He did have a gold from the Olympics.   

The invitation 440 yards was won by one of England’s best, PG Fryer running from a handicap of 14 yards, but Jamaican GV Rhoden, from scratch ran 46.8, which was faster than Arthur Wint’s British record of 47.2 and nine tenths faster than the Scottish all-comer’s record held jointly by Wint and McKenley.   

                               Bill Nankeville 

Bill Nankeville was one of England, and Britain’s, best and ran in both 1948 and 1952 Olympics and in 1952 made it through to the semi-finals where he was ninth.   He didn’t make any mistakes in Glasgow though where he ran in the Invitation three quarter mile beating Seaman of AAA’s and Landy of Australia in the process in a time of 3 min 00.4.   This was 5-10ths faster than Wooderson’s of 15 years earlier.   

The Mile Invitation medley relay was one of the meeting’s high spots with the Americans (Olympic 4 x 100 metres champions) against the Jamaicans (Olympic 4 x 400 metres champions) and a very good AAA’s team.   Wint, silver in the Olympic event, Nankeville and G Barnes of the USA (an Olympic semi-finalist in the 800m) contested the half mile stage to set the event off and at the finish Jamaica defeated the Americans by a mere two yards in 3:25.9 – beating the joint Edinburgh Southern Harriers and Glasgow University jointly held all-comers record by 5.8 seconds.   The Jamaican team of Wint, La Beach, Rhoden and McKenley differed from the Olympic winning team only by the substitution of La Beach for Laing, while the American team had Barnes, Remigino, Gourdine and Pearman – Gourdine won Olympic silver and Pearman was also an Olympian).   All four of the Jamaican Olympic team ran at Ibrox that day – Laing in the 220 yards.   It was a pity that Bill Jack of Victoria Park who had been in the GB relay team in Helsinki was not part of the quartet in Glasgow which consisted of Nankeville, Shenton, Bailey and Derek Johnston.   

The quality of the athletes competing at Ibrox that day was astonishing by any standards – the Olympians just kept appearing, and if if weren’t Americans winning, it seemed to be Jamaicans.   The inspirational aspect is obvious, but the educational aspect for the domestic athletes was also considerable – any sprinter not watching and learning from the likes of Remigino, McKenley and company was not worth his salt.   As for the field events, look at these events.

• Two Americans broke the Scottish discus record of 155′ 3″ – S Iness with 164′  1″  and D Hooper with 159′  11″.   Iness had won the Olympic discus event and Hooper had been second to Parry O’Brien in the shot putt. 
• Hooper also won the shot putt at Ibrox that day from John Savidge, the British champion and who also competed well in Helsinki. 
• Walt Davis, Olympic high jump champion, won the event at Ibrox in a new British high jump record of  6′  8 1/2″ which was three quarters of an inch better than the existing record held jointly by Alan Paterson and D Vessie.   Second and third were the AAA’s representatives. 
• Another medal winning American Olympian won the pole vault.   Don Laz, silver medallist at Helsinki, cleared 14′ 4″ to win from English Olympian GM Elliott and Scot NGA Gregor whose 13′ 2″ was a Scottish record.
• Two Americans were first and second in the Long Jump.   Meredith Gourdine, second in the Olympic long jump, won with 23′ 10″ from D Laz and GM Elliott.  Three from Helsinki once again. 

Eleven invitation events, over two dozen Olympians, every invitation event had three or more from the Olympics and most had two medal winners.   The open events were more than well supported and many of the times, heights and distances were of a high standard too.   The complete results were as follows, but you will see that the women are noticeable by their absence.   That was not for want of trying but the last day of the Olympics coincided with the Rangers Sports and the women withdrew from the event.

Edinburgh’s  Highland Games took place on 23rd August on the short, grassy track of Murrayfield but there were still three all-comer’s records.   It was another superb meeting before an audience of 50,000 and with athletes from Britain, America, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Jamaica, and Holland.   There were four women’s events with two – 80m hurdles and long jump – won the the olympic gold medalists in these events, plus a 100 yards and 220 yards which were both won by Holland’s Brouwer who had been second to Marjorie Jackson in the events.    

Olympic champions at Murrayfield that day:  

G Rhoden, M Whitfield,  W Davis, J Biffle, P O’Brien, R Mathias;   S Strickland, Y Williams

Olympic silver medalists present were H McKenley, R McMillen; R Brouwer.   

There were also several bronze medal winners and many unplaced athletes.   

The Rangers meeting was of course organised by the indefatigable Bill Struth, by then possibly at his very best as a promoter, and the Edinburgh meeting by Willie Carmichael, the wonderful organiser who won the 1970 Commonwealth Games for Scotland.   Both top class administrators, they each had estimated spectator turn outs of approximately 50,000, while the Police version had 38,000 present to see these exotic foreign athletes competing against each other and against the local stars.   138,000 in total for three meetings.   

Eric Liddell winning the 220 yards at Celtic Sports in 1922

When the 1920’s started Maley was the elder statesman who had been around athletics since 1896, been a sports promoter since 1890 and was President of the SAAA as well as being a successful football team manager.   Struth was the coming man: a professional runner up to the age of 32, trainer with Hearts and then with Clyde from 1908 until he joined the Rangers in 1914 and promoter in his own right from 1920.   Both had been officials in meetings – Maley as judge and Clerk of the Course, Struth as starter, a post he must have held at the Clyde Sports simply because he would not have been given the job in his first season at Ibrox had he not been experienced, and Clerk of the Course.    Both clubs had kept the sports going during the war, albeith on a much reduced basis – there were events confined to military men – a stretcher race, a 10 mile marathon confined to the army, etc – and a lot of fund raising for the war effort was done with fairly generous donations made by the clubs.   The first meetings after the war were held in 1918

In 1920 both were well supported by spectators with 30,000 estimated to be at the Celtic meeting, and by the runners with 22 heats of the 100m and 19 of the furlong; while at Ibrox the previous week there were 40,000 in attendance, and there were new Scottish records by McPhee (Scottish native record) and AG Hill (Scottish all-comers’ record) in the invitation 1000 yards.   Both meetings were very successful but there was an almost entirely domestic field in the events.   If anything, Rangers had a slight advantage in the appearance of two or three good English runners with AG Hill the pick of the crop.   And so it continued for the first few years of the decade with respectable attendances (promoters in the 21st century would give their eye teeth for such numbers) but, quality domestic fields containing a few Englishmen, rarely anyone from abroad.   ie: 

In 1921,  Randgers Sports:  Attendance 15,000, top athletes Eric Liddell, Duncan McPhee, AG Hill and American high jumper B Howard Baker;    Celtic Sports: Attendance 18,000, Eric Liddell, D McPhee, AG Hill. 

1922, Rangers Sports:  30, 000, R McGrath (Manchester, D McPhee (against another 141 runners in the mile); Celtic Sports  15,000 (Very wet day) E Liddell, D McPhee.

1923, Rangers Sports:  40,000  WH Calderwood, D McPhee (T Riddell of Glasgow High School almost won Mile); Celtic Sports,  16,000J McIntyre, C Blewitt, D McL Wright.

But 1924 was different for two reasons.   First, it was Olympic year and they were held in Paris between 5th July and 27th July.   Close to Scotland and just after the Games, with expenses to and from Scotland paid, there was every incentive to come along.   Mr Struth must have been convincing because, well see the heading from the Glasgow Herald:

The international stars lived up to their billing with good performances all round.   JV Schols (USA) won the invitation 120 yards, SJM Atkinson (South Africa) won the 120 yards hurdle race, Eric Liddell won the 440 yards and C Griffiths (Wales) won the 880 yards.

Second, the Glasgow Herald was not as complementary to Celtic as it had been in 1923.    Let me quote from the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of August 11th 1924.   “In former years the second Saturday of August saw the last of the big amateur athletic gatherings in Scotland.   Rangers Football Club occupied the first Saturday, Celtic the second; but this year there has been a change, the East-End club giving up their sports in favour of a five-a-side football tournament.   The estimated attendance at Parkhead on Saturday, 15,000, compares badly with the 40,000 or 50,000  that assembled at Ibrox a week previously, but the Rangers offered attractions of an almost unprecedented nature, the competitors including some of the most famous competitors from the Olympic Games in Paris.    Had Celtic followed suit they might have had an equal attendance, but on this occasion they chose to follow a more prudent but less heroic course.   The performances of the Olympic giants at Ibrox were not impressive, and it might not have happened that the glamour had gone off, and that the Parkhead club might have been saddled with the heavy expense of a first class meeting and missed the reward.   Still, the decision to abandon an old-established meeting, and one that has always been held in the highest repute, is to be regretted, and all interested in athletics in Scotland and hope that the meeting will be revived next year.”  If I read that properly, then the reporter insinuates that the Celtic management were afraid of making a big loss.   I would not have thought that such was the Maley style.   It might as easily have been the start of the Scottish football scene exactly seven days later.   Preparation for the opening matches could more easily be included in a football tournament a week in advance than in an open and invitation sports meeting.   Coming when it did, the Celtic Sports would eventually suffer from the situation.   

However the year passed and Struth built upon the previous year and  the Glasgow Herald said

 The results were all of a very high standard: Ray Dodge (USA) was timed at 2 min 13.6 for 1000 yards was a new Scottish all-comers record but also a new British record, the previous British best having been 2:14.5.   This had been a really close race between Dodge and Griffiths with Dodge just getting the verdict.   ‘Existing figures were also beaten in the hurdles and pole jump.   On a day of brilliant weather there was a crowd of approximately 35,000.    The restored Celtic meeting was held the following week and the report read as follows.

Rangers again had a very large crowd the following year when 30,000 went along to see a meeting consisting mainly of home Scots with several very good English athletes and a single athlete from abroad in the form of a French high jumper.   No records but very good sport.   However the football season started on the second Saturday of the month.   What would Celtic do?   Would the meeting be abandoned altogether in view of the fact that the opening matches had been brought back a week by the SFA?   The answer was that it would not be cancelled.   It was a difficult decision to take since almost every Saturday in the summer months was a traditional date for some meeting or another – many by other football clubs, so for 1925 the meeting was held on the Tuesday after the Rangers Sports.   Why then?    Read the following: 

The report on the meeting on Wednesday in the Glasgow Herald read:

Successful by present day standards but the relatively small crowd for a meeting that included a five-a-side tournament four days before the season tells a tale.   Unless they could find a regular Saturday slot for the meeting, the Celtic Sports were doomed.   Incidentally the football final was won by Rangers (Cunningham, McKay, Craig, Archibald and Morton) with 2 goals over Celtic (W McStay, J McStay, Thomson, McGrory and McLean) who had nil.

What happened in 1927 was an attempt to fins another Saturday for their meeting but there were problems.   Their range of alternative dates was circumscribed (a) by all the other regular meetings, and (b) by the lengthening football season – ending later and starting earlier.   Queen’s Park FC Sports were on the first week in June, the Glasgow Police on the third week in June, SAAA Championships a week later, Greenock Glenpark were on the last week in July, Rangers on the first week in August and so on.   It had to be a move back and the second Saturday in July seemed a good choice but – in 1927 it fell on the same day as the English championships.   Nevertheless it went ahead on 27th July although it was not the first big meeting at Parkhead that year – the SAAA Championships had been held there in June.   The Glasgow Herald began its report – “There was a time in the past when Celtic Football Club’s meetings scintillated with most of the stars that shone in the athletic firmament, but this year the bringing forward of the gathering, due to the encroaching of the football season and its consequent coincidence with the AAA championships compelled the management to rely entirely on home talent.  Frankly the absence of the imported element did not affect the afternoon’s sport, so varied and well balanced was the programme. ”   Maley knew his business and continued to host the Celtic Sports every year despite the difficulties.   .   In contrast the Rangers match was held before a crowd of 35,000 and was held to be a tremendous success.   Struth had managed to persuade parties from Polytechnic Harriers and the Achilles Club to come along.   Notables included Douglas Lowe and Lord Burghley – names which would draw crowds on their own – but the top athlete on the day was JWJ Rinkel of the Achilles Club who won the invitation 120 yards handicap from scratch as well as the open 220 yards.   Other events won by the southerners were the invitation 440 yards hurdles by Lord Burghley  (also second in the 129 yards hurdles), JE Webster the eight laps steeplechase, C Ellis the first class open mile (there were two open miles because of the numbers entered – the best runners being in the first class race), and JE London the high jump.   

Problems arose on the new date almost immediately – the triangular international with England and Ireland which had previously been held on the last Saturday in June moved to the second Saturday in July in 1929, and was still there in 1930.   The reason is understandable.   It was the week after the SAAA Championships.   To compete in two such high profile events in successive weeks was not ideal and they were moved.   This left Celtic with another headache.   Almost every Saturday in June and July was taken up with one event or another, some of the major events are listed above but other football clubs such as Partick Thistle and Falkirk had their own dates, and there were meetings all over the country from Golspie to Lockerbi via Aberfeldy, Beith and Catrine.

Rangers Sports in 1928 were another success as is shown by the brief report in the Scotsman on the following Monday.

A

Americans as well as Englishmen – high jumper Osborn was one of the Americans from Illinois in his second year at Rangers Sports.   It was again an Olympic year and fixtures were all over the place trying to avoid the Olympic period.   Celtic seem to have found the task impossible and the next Celtic Sports appeared in the papers in 1930.   Mreanwhile the Rangers Sports of 1929 had an estimated attendance of about 20,000 who witnessed some very good athletics from some excellent English athletes including the Olympic sprinter Jack London and the One Mile (medley) Relay was won by Birchfield Harriers from Polytechnic Harriers.   

The Rangers Sports of 1930 were held before a crowd of 20,000 and the best performance was that of Tom Riddell who beat John McGough’s Scottish record for the mile with his time of  4:19.6 in the special mile which he won from R Thomson of Bellahouston Harriers.   It was   an entirely domestic field with only a few Englishmen who turned in undistinguished performances.   Celtic held their sports the following Tuesday before a moderate crowd.  The Glasgow Herald report below indicates that it was a good sprts meeting but virtually every race wasbetween domestic athletes althouth there were a couple of Irish competitors also present. 

In contrast, the Ibrox meeting of 1931 showed Struth at his finest.    In the photograph above he is shown welcoming Paavo Nurmi an d his manager to Glasgow for the Rangers Sports of 1931.   Possibly the most famous athlete in the world, the Finn was a great capture for the Rangers Sports and Struth had his picture in the papers on his arrival, during the meeting and made sure that he himself, as representative of the Rangers FC, was in them.   Nurmi wasn’t the only star athlete on display but he was the name on the publicity.   The Herald on the following Monday said –

He ran in two races, the two miles and the four miles, before a crowd of 45,000 spectators who saw during the afternoon four records broken.   Nurmi set an all-comers record of 19:20.4 for the four miles and Cyril Ellis of England set a record of 4:15.2  for the mile.   .Tom Riddell set a native record for the mile of 4:15 and JF Wood set a native record for the four miles of 14:44.2.   It was a total success by any measure – attendance, quality of athletics or just as entertainment.  As for the Celtic, Despite the success of the 1930 meeting there was apparently no follow up meeting in 1931 – at least not on the three dates previously used by the club – second Saturday in July, second Saturday in August or second Tuesday in August.

In 1932, the  triangular international was again on the second Saturday in July and the Tuesday in August which had previously been the club’s alternative date of choice saw most of the regular athletes (Bobby Graham, Walter Calderwood, etc)  in action at the Springburn Harriers meeting at Helenvale.   At Celtic Park, Celtic FC had their final trial before the opening of the football season the following Saturday.   The Saturday before that saw the 46th Rangers Sports with a crowd of 23,000 or 25,000 depending on which paper you read.   The conditions were all against good times as the Glasgow Herald tells us, but the performances were all of a good standard with the first three in the invitation 120 yards hurdles being R Murdoch, M Rousseau (Racing Club de France) and J Bell (Cliftonville  Harriers) to maintain the international aspect of the meeting.   It was only won by a yard but a relatively closer finish was the invitation 1000 yards where Calderwood won by only three yards from RE Clark of Plebeian Harriers.   Wylie of Darlington won the three miles, and in the relay, Maryhill Harriers beat a French Select and Polytechnic Harriers by 18 yards.    There was also a 17 miles road race in which England’s Ernie Harper was second to Donald Robertson with Wilson of Irvine third.   There were even three handicap prizes as well as for the first three.   A big day for the road runners.  All finishers received a certificate, see below, which was another novelty and the certificates were treasured.   Another successful day for Bill Struth’s organising committee.   It was just a pity that the SFA had spoiled the Celtic meetings or the Glasgow (and Scottish) public would have had several wonderful meetings.   

There was a reprise of the road race in 1933 but the headlines were not for the road men at all.   Have a look at this from the ‘Glasgow Herald’

Mr Struth with another star or two at the Rangers Sports.   This time it was Jack Lovelock from New Zealand who was the star draw – and unlike many other top names, he did not disappoint.   He was not the only top notch athlete on parade that afternoon:

• TH Scrimshaw (Belgrave Harriers) broke the Scottish record for the half mile
• Don Finlay, AAA’s champion won the hurdles race ina hard fought battle with GUAC runner AS Kitchin
• Ernie Harper won the 17 miles road race from Dunky Wright and JF Wood who was running in his first ling road race
• GT Saunders (Poly Harriers) equalled the Scottish record when winning the invitation 100 yards.

But the race of the day had to be the Invitation One Mile in which four quality athletes from four countries – NZ, England, Wales and Scotland all started from the scratch mark..   The ‘Scotsman’ report on the race and the photograph from the same source- 

The Celtic  Sports had already been held – 10th July was the date and there was a good turnout on a windy afternoon at Parkhead.  Riddell ran in an invitation 1000 yards race and there were several very good Scots competing with quality Englishmen.   The report in the Scotsman read:

The Celtic meeting had been a good one, held during the west of Scotland holiday month of July  while the Rangers had been an international meeting after all the holiday trips but while the atmosphere was still high and a tremendous success.   It speaks highly of the desire of Celtic to hold an athletics sports that they should carry on in such difficult circumstances.   Their problems had been accentuated by the SAAA changing the date of the international track match to the second Saturday in July which had looked as though it would be a good date for the club’s sports.   The Football Association had brought back the season’s starting date causing the search to begin with, and then the SAAA had exacerbated it by moving their date forward.    In 1934 the sports were held on Tuesday, 7th August and although the event was covered there was no report on the athletics – the entire report was devoted to the fact that a Celtic player called Crum (we were never told his Christian name by the ‘Glasgow Herald’) had his leg broken when he fell in a tackle by a Clyde player called McPhail during the first five-a-side match.   Five paragraphs were devoted to the event.   There were six races, two cycle races and a five-a-side tournament.   The races were all domestic affairs with not a single big name or champion among them.   

Laurie Lehtinen being give lap times by Borje Strandvall at Ibrox.

The Rangers Sports on the other hand were well covered by most of the quality Scottish papers with a big international cast for the spectators to feast their eyes on.   The name on most lips was that of the Finn Lauri Lehtinen who set new Scottish figures for the three miles of 14:15.4.   There were many Scottish names in the race which were or would become good runners in their own right.   eg Alex Dow of Kirkcaldy and David Brooke of Garscube Harriers who would be a timekeeper at the 1970 Commonwealth Games and other major fixtures.   The special quarter mile was a real battle between Borje Strandvall (Finland), JM Hucker (USA), R Boisset and K Stravisky (both France): they all ran from scratch but the race was won by C France (Bellahouston) who had been given 12 yards.   The high jump was won by CA Scott (Cornell) and another American JM Curran (Princeton) was second in the open 220 yards.   RF Hardy the American inter-collegiate champion entered three sprints but did not survive the heats.   Boisset and Dondelinger (France) both qualified for the final of the open 220.   It had been a really high class match with 13 open events, 4 invitation and a five-a-side tournament.   

The picture below tells us all we need to know about the value of Maley’s Celtic Sports and Struth’s Rangers Sports to Scottish athletics when they were operating at their best.   A Scot running on home soil with a New Zealander and two excellent English runners.  The publlicity gained from running in front of a big crowd and the inspiration passed to the hundreds, literally hundreds of club runners, competing on the day.  Any runner in the open mile, having seen these and others in the invitation mile must have been inspired to greater things and run better on the day.   If you doubt the ‘hundreds of club runners, start with a not-uncommon twenty five heats of the 100 yards with eight men per heat and there are 200 men already, add in 140 plus in the Mile, again not unusual, and we are already up to 340 club runners.   Athletics owed these two organisers a lot.   Had the Celtic Sports been able to continue to the 1960’s as Rangers did, both sports would have been the better of it. 

The meeting highlights are noted in this extract from the Scotsman of the following Monday – and manager Struth is given credit for the standard of the meeting:

The outstanding attraction was of course the invitation mile where Lovelock was well beaten and the race was won by Reeve (25 yards) from Riddell (35 yards) with Wooderson (scratch) third.    In the 5-a-side competition, the Rangers side (Meiklejohn, Brown, Venters, Smith and Gillick) defeated Celtic (McGonagle, McMcDonald, Morrison, Buchan and Delaney) 2 – 1. 

Was Willie Maley still involved in the organisation of the Celtic Sports?   They were increasingly difficult to organise, problems were being created by both football and athletics governing bodies and the Rangers Sports were greatly enhanced in status.   Had he delegated the athletics to another member of the organising committee?   The answer comes in the programmes where the list of officials occupied a prominent position in the opening pages.   The programme for 1935 lists them as –

There he was in the traditional place as Clerk of the Course.   It was a full 24 page programme for the meeting on Tuesday, 6th August 1935.    Just when you thought the event was on its last legs, an excellent meeting came up on Tuesday 6th August 1935.    The headline read: 

“NEW SCOTTISH RECORD AT CELTIC SPORTS:

R GRAHAM’S SUCCESS OVER THREE-QUARTER MILE.  

The annual sports meeting of Celtic FC was held last night at Celtic Park, Glasgow, in fine weather conditions and before a moderate attendance.   Some excellent sport was witnessed, and in the special invitation race over the three-quarter mile, R Graham set up a new Scottish record of 3 min 4 6-10th sec, this time being 1 6-10th sec faster than that set up by Tom Riddell at the Queen’s Park Sports three years ago.   Graham ran from the scratch mark, instead of the 10 yards as originally intended in the handicap and he was accompanied by J Gifford and JP Laidlaw to both of whom he conceded 10 yards.   He covered his first lap in 61 seconds, but took 63 4-10th for the second.   In his final 300 yards however, he put in a great finish catching the leaders at the last bend went on to win by six yards from W Gunn. “   There were six races, three cycle events and a five-a-side.    

1936 was a year when the Scotsman headline read “FEW THRILLS AT IBROX” before going on to explain.

That was the same story in most papers – “interesting but not exciting.”   The Olympics were not just any Games, but it was 1936 with the ‘Gathering Clouds over Europe’ and Jesse Owens winning in Berlin and a lot of attention was focused in that direction.  There was still a crowd of sizeable proportions (30,000) and interesting athletics.   Celtic suffered likewise from the Olympics and also from a midweek evening date and coverage in both Glasgow Herald and Scotsman was scanty with almost identical content in their brief coverage.  This is from the Herald

1937 was another very good year for the Rangers Sports with very good, if not magnificent, performances studded through the programme with many of the old favourites on view.   The Scotsman photograph below is of one of these, and a Scotsman too.

“SC WOODERSON BREAKS BRITISH RECORD”.   “BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE IN THREE-QUARTER MILE AT IBROX.”   “THREE TENTH OUTSIDE WORLD RECORD FIGURES.”   “ROBIN MURDOCH’S TRIUMPH”   “WIND THWARTS WOODERSON OF FIRST WORLD RECORD.”   These were just some of the headlines over the reports on the Rangers Sports in 1937.    The pictures of Murdoch and Wooderson here are from the Scotsman on the following Monday.   The result of the invitation Races were as follows. 

 Quarter Mile:   1.   RTH Littlejohn (Edinburgh H, 15 yards);  2. W Roberts (Salford H, scr);  3.  FF Wolff (London AC, 10 yards)

120 yards hurdles was  1.  R Murdoch (Atalanta, 1 1/2 yards);  2.  AW Sweeney (Milocarians, scr );  3.  W Rangely (Salford , 1 yard)  1.6 sec

Half Mile:   1.  JW Alford (Roath H, 8 yards);  2.  O Hoel (Field Events Club, 8);  3.   AJ Collyer (Watford H, scr).   1 min 54.2

Three Quarter Mile was: 1.   SC Wooderson (scr); 2.   RH Thomas (RAF and Surrey AC, 10 yards); 3.  RC Eden (Watford H,  12 yards).   3 min 0.9 sec.   Scottish and British all-comers record.   

It was a good well attended meeting where, by universal opinion, the wind deprived Wooderson of a world record. 

In 1937 and 1938, team trials seemed to be the order of the day for the club in the week leading up to the start of the season, and there were no notes of any Celtic FC Annual Sports on the usual dates available to them in the past.   After the SFA brought the start of their season back a week, the search for a new date was thwarted again and again by facts outwith their control and it was a real pity – and a loss to all sportsmen in the country when the Celtic Sports came to an end.

The Rangers event continued – why should it not as long as their date remained available?   The Glasgow Herald headline for 1938 is below.

In front of nearly 70, 000 spectators – yes, SEVENTY THOUSAND – and in ideal conditions, what was one of Struth’s best ever meetings took place.   Four records were broken, including a British and Scottish all-comers record; athletes from Scotland, England, Wales, South Africa,  America and Canada were competing in invitation events and hundreds of Scots club athletes took part in 10 track and field events (including for women and Youths) and a marathon, plus two cycle races and a five-a-side competition in which Partick Thistle defeated Celtic in the Final.   

This is not the place for a full report on the meeting, that would take a page in its own right, but the results of the invitation events can be noted:

Half Mile:  1.  FR Handley (Salford, 6);  2.  RTH Littlejohn (Edinburgh H, 12);  3.  AJ Collyer (Watford).   Collyer’s time of 1:52.8 was a Scottish All-Comers record)

Quarter Mile:   W Fritz (Canada  scr);  2. JW Loaring (Canada  6);  3.  CF Campbell (Springburn 1 7)   48 sec

1500m:  1.  DP Bell (Herne Hill, 30);  2.  SC Wooderson (Blackheath, scr);  3.  AV Reeve (Polytechnic, 42).  3:46.9.   Wooderson’s time was 3:49.0

120 yards: P Walker (USA scr); 2.  JM Cole (Glasgow Police, 5 1/2);  3.  AA Clarke (Dumbarton  5 1/2)  11.7 sec

120 yards hurdles:  1   D Finlay (RAF 2.  J Patterson (USA);  3.  A Tolmach (USA)  14.7 sec.   A Scottish all-comers record.. 

Pole Vault:  1.  DM Hastie (Hillhead HS, 3′ 9″);  2.  H Hood (Edinburgh Police, 2′ 6″);    14′ 7″   Cornelius Warmerdam (USA) vaulted 14′ 3″ to establish British and Scottish all-comers records.   

The marathon race which had started in Gourock  was won by TF Lalande (South Africa) in 2 hours 46 minutes 58 sec , from TA Strachan (Glasgow YMCA) who ran 2:54:12.   

It really was a wonderful meeting and one worth reading about in detail when you are browsing old newspapers.  The picture below is from the Scotsman.

…

The 1939 Sports were equally good with star athletes from many countries taking part – Scots, English and of course Americans were there , they were joined by quality Finnish and South African runners.   Two new British records, four invitation events, eleven track and field events, a marathon race, two cycle races and a five-a-side competition.   And a crowd of at least 60,000.

Again it was a Finnish distance runner who excited the crowd  most.   Tasto Maki ran in the Three Miles and ‘reeled off lap after lap with effortless ease.’  He had to make all his own pace and although he didn’t catch Bingham, the handicap winner he was 4:37.4 at the mile, 9:26 for two miles and 14:03.4 for the three miles.   The American Charles Beetham was one of three men on the scratch mark for the 1000 yards, the others being the star American Blaine Rideout and AJ Collyer (England).   Collyer took them through the quarter in 57 seconds, at the half mile Beetham was just inside 1:57 and at the finish he was timed at 2 minutes 11 seconds.   

.The results of the invitation events were as follows.

120 yards handicap:  1.  Clyde Jeffrey (USA); R Cochran (USAS, 4); 3.  JM Bone (Bellahouston, 6 1/2)  11.8 seconds

440 yards:  1.  R McGregor (Maryhill,  32);   2.  Erwin Miller (USA, scr);  3.  JAM Robertson (GUAC, 9)  48 seconds

1000 yards:  1.   EA Sears (Essex Beagles 16); Charles Beetham (USA  scr); 3.   J Gifford (Bellahouston, 20)   2:10.9   Beetham’s time was 2 min 11 sec, a new British and Scottish all-comer’s record.   

Three Miles:  1.  M Bingham (Finchley H, 190);   2.  Taisto Maki (Finland, scr);  3.  W Nelson (Maryhill, 360)   13:55.6.   Maki’s time was 13 min 03 2/5th sec, a new British and Scottish all-comers record.   

In addition note these results:   Eight laps steeplechase:  1.  V Iso-Hollo (Finland, scr);  2.  W Wylie (Darlington Harriers, 150),  3.  JSD Nosbet (Gala Harriers, 360).   10 min 22 2/5th sec

Marathon Race:  1.   D McNab Robertson (Maryhill)   2:42:02;   2.  TF lalande (DSouth Africa and Poly Harriers)  2:48:40;  3.  TH Richardson (Mitcham)  2:50:27  

We all know what happened next in Europe but none of that takes away from the history so far of the Rangers and Celtic Sports over the years since Maley and Wilton started the drive for excellence in athletics to set before the Scottish public.   Over the years since then, these two Sports have had competitors from Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales, from Commonwealth countries like South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and other lands such as USA, Canada, Poland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France and Italy.   And there were more than that.   There were Olympians, EWuropean champions, Empirs Games champions and records at one level or another at every track distance as well as pole vault, high jump and most field events.   The story of these game – now, alas, only the Rangers Sports – from the War Years up to 1962 will be taken up nect,

We have noted Maley’s athletics pedigree and the fact that he was a member of the SAAA Committee right up to and beyond the War and being elected President in 1921/22.  We should look equally at the development of Struth the athlete into Struth the Promoter.    As an indication only of the racing done by Struth, the range of distances and his willingness to travel at a time when transport was a bit more difficult than at present, the following prize winning events around the turn of the century are noted.   There were many others.

Two more points to make.   

*First, he was still running right up until he started football training and conditioning as the following result at the end of 1907 shows – he was second in a 220 yards on 1st December 1907 off 17 yards almost immediately before he went to Clyde in 1908.   In 1907 he was 32 years old so it was a long career in athletics terms.   

**Second, judging by the results and the handicaps awarded, he was at the very least a very good club standard runner – and maybe a wee bit better than that.   We are told that in 1902 when the great English distance runner Fred Bacon made an attempt on the one hour record on 17th May at Powderhall, his chosen pace-makers were C Thomas, A Patterson and W Struth.    His credentials were impressive both for length of career and standard of performance.      

He had been a pro for a long time, and when he went to Clyde they started up their sports agin.   Clyde FC Sports were different from those at most other grounds in that they were professional games and it was natural that his experience be used to assist with the organisation.  H e was the trainer and Alex Maley the manager and they were responsible for one of the biggest professional meetings in Scotland.    In July 1911,  “Almost everybody who is anybody in football was at the Clyde club’s sports on Saturday.  There were Messrs Wilton (Rangers), W Maley (Celtic), H Low (St Mirren), T Moore (Hamilton), M Dunbar (Celtic), J Kelly (Celtic), James Brownlie (Third Lanark) and Herbert Lock (Rangers.) 

 Two years later and he was getting a name check.   The following is from the Glasgow Herald of 21st July, 1913: 

“The Clyde Football Club are apparently “whole hoggers” as far as professionalism is concerned, and in this respect  they are at least consistent.   Instead of running amateur sports, as so many professional clubs do [amateurism in Scotland is practically subsidised at the expense of Association Football] Clyde are running a purely professional gathering on Saturday first.   Of course football is the trump card, but in addition they are introducing Jack Donaldson, the eminent sprinter, and a runner of his impressive accomplishments should attract many to Shawfield on Saturday.   Largely through the influence of Struth, several of the best professionals in Scotland will take part in the proceedings.   Professional running in Glasgow has been pretty low in the water for years, but the Clyde are serving up in an attractive manner on Saturday, and will no doubt be rewarded for their enterprise. ”   

A year later and he was at Ibrox and under the influence of Wilton.   He had started with Clyde and professional meetings, then went to Ibrox where he learned from a top notch organiser.   We all need a model when starting out.  eg when Maley started the Celtic Sports at the start of the 1890’s the Rangers events were coming up for 20 years of age and they had learned a lot in that period.  At the period we’re talking about William Wilton was the man and no doubt Maley, intelligent and sharp as he was picked up a few things from him.   Similarly Struth probably learned a lot about sports promotion from under studying Wilton and watching Maley.   When Wilton died in 1820, Struth had been part of the friendly and competitive rivalry for six years.    Like Maley, Struth officiated at meetings – note this extract from the 1914 sports where he was the starter.  Other names to note were Maley as a judge, Sam Mussabini (Harold Abrahams’s coach)as a timekeeper, .A Ross Scott as a timekeeper (a time keeper in 1908 Olympics who officiated at the Halswell 400 metres), Fred Lumley (Proprietor of Powderhall) and of course William Wilton as Clerk of the Course.

Struth was now in control of the sports and his first meeting was in August, 1920,  a mere two and a half months after the death of Wilton.   How did it go, and how did it compare with the Celtic version a week later?   The two men were at different stages of their careers as managers and as sports promoters.   Struth with a lot of momentum going and in his first big jobs after a superb learning curve, while Maley had been organising meetings since 1890.   In addition Maley was still involved with the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association.  He was Vice President in 1919/20 and President in 1920/21, and Immediate Past President in 1921/22.   I quote:

Maley was of course a fairly senior member of the SAAA by 1918 and after the War at the SAAA AGM in February 1919 he was elected vice president and on to many sub committees.   He was on the Finance Committee (as was Matthew Dickson), on the International Conference group, on the West District Permits Committee, the Handicapping Board of Control and the Reconstruction Committee.    If ever there were a record of his involvement in athletics, it is in this imposing list of responsibilities.

He presided over a meeting in Edinburgh in 1919 to review the recommendations of the Reconstruction Committee referred to above.   There were seven recommendations to be approved:

1. Applications for reinstatement from pre-war professionals were to be decided on their merits;  applications from amateurs who may have forfeited their status during the war be viewed sympathetically;
2. The Scottish Police Force, still outside the Association should be approached with a view to getting them into line with those forces affiliated with the SAAA.
3. That an endeavour be made to persuade the Executives of Highland Gatherings to hold their sports under SAAA laws.  
4. To ask clubs to hold events for schoolboys in their sports programmes, and in the case of clubs with grounds of their own to allow for training facilities and to endeavour to get old athletes to attend the leading grounds  to coach boys in field and other events;
5. Give greater encouragement to field events;
6. To approach the railway companies with a view to getting reduced fares for competitors at athletic meetings;
7. To circularise all Higher Grade and Secondary Schools to hold sports wherever practicable and to send a similar circular to clubs whose one time annual sports have been allowed to lapse.

Other recommendations included (a) the setting up of a organisation with a subscribing membership in each county; (b) the promotion of county championships for track and field, cross country, elementary schools championships, secondary schools championships; (c) to form similar organisations in each county and burgh, rural and urban districts; (d) “believing that prizes of large intrinsic value are prejudicial to true amateurism, the Committee recommends that the limit of value for an individual prize shall be £1”: in this respect I quote from the club’s Committee Meeting Minute of 24/2/20, “Mr McGregor reported that he had attended a meeting of the SAAA and that the motion to increase the prize limit from £7:7:0 to £10:10:0 had been passed unanimously”  (e) a manual for the organisation and management of athletics should be prepared for circulation.”

He was a busy man – it was all good work and they couldn’t have found a better.   His involvement in athletics was as strong as ever.

Willie Maley

Struth’s first sports in his own right were on the first Saturday, 1920, less than three months after the death of Wilton.   So how did he do, and how did it compare with the Celtic event seven days later?

We have seen that Willie Maley had a background in athletics, as well as in other sports such as cricket and football it has to be said, but what got him interested in sports promotion?   The picture above is from the ‘Scottish Referee’ of August 1890 when he organised the first Celtic Sports.   From the photographs available he looks a rather burly individual but the drawing indicated a more athletic figuire and a man who could win races.  It was six years before he won the SAAU 100 yards.   Football clubs had been organising amateur athletics meetings in various parts of the country – Kilmarnock, Edinburgh, Ayr, and of course in Glasgow where the Rangers FC Sports was the biggest meeting in the country.   He had written a chapter for ‘Fifty Years of Athletics’, published by the SAAA covering the half centenary of that organisation.   The article was called ‘Memories of a Sports Promoter’ in which he said –

“Tell how I got involved in athletics?   A short story.   Pride of place must be given to the lads of the village – Cathcart the village.  We lads used up all our spare time in athletics.   My strong suits were football, quoiting and running.   I had even a short lived reputation as a cricketer.”

Andrew Dick, his boss in his office, signed him for Clydesdale Harriers and he ran cross-country and track until approached by the Celtic FC representatives,  and  “Celtic the new football club absorbed me and my time ever since.    Why not sports for the new club?   Why not, indeed!   The MacLeans had their own boat, we will have our own sports.   Hard work it was to convince the Committee, but ably backed up by my brother Tom and the late J.H. McLaughlin I succeeded.   Some audacious deed was that.   Our old enclosure at Dalmarnock Street was all right as a football ground, but as a sports holding enclosure it left much to be desired.   Willing workers had made the ground; they did their best to produce a track.   Certainly it did look well – so long as it was not used.   It bore strong kinsmanship to a garden path.   I am mindful of course that there were very few good tracks at that period.   In the Western area, Hampden stood out as the best.”

As he said, other football clubs had their own sports meetings with the best in the west being Rangers, Queen’s Park and Morton while Hearts was the biggest in the east.     But back to the first meeting.   The Scottish Referee said in its issue of 4th August, 1890, 

“On Saturday the Celtic Football Club made a beginning at sports holding and a promising one it was.   Next Saturday the by event comes off and Celtic Park will be big-crowded indeed.   The various events have been filled well, and sport will be good, in addition to which it is well to remember that the meeting will be under good management.   Entries can yet be made with Mr William Maley.”

The Rangers had been holding their sports since the 1870’s and 1890’s version had been the week before this first Maley venture.   It was also a bit different from past years, let the Glasgow Herald tell of it.

Celtic on the other hand had the preliminaries for their sports on that very day – 2nd August 1890 – with the following comment in the Scottish Referee:

.

The events at the ‘preliminaries’ which were confined included the 100 yards heats featuring Willie Maley who won his Heat as well as the Final and Tom Maley who was unplaced in his having been, as they say, handicapped out of it.   There was also a 300 yards and a 220 yards in which they both ran.   Tom was third in the 300 and Willie won the 220.   There was also a 5-a-side tournament with Celtic No 1 playing Celtic No2 with Willie Maley scoring a point for No 1 and they won the match.   

This report from the’ Scottish Referee’ of 11th August says:   “The experiment made by the Celtic FC on Saturday of holding a sports meeting was fully justified by the magnificent success which attended the venture.   We have witnessed all the leading athletic events this season but in point of enthusiasm we must give the palm to this immense gathering.”

The paper even gave three reasons for the triumph:

1.   The fact that it was the Celts’ debut on the path;
2.   The excellence of the sporting bill of fare;
3.   The value of the prizes “which the executive without regard to cost have secured.

Another feature in evidence was an earnest of what was to come while Maley was organising the sports was the appearance of Irish athletes.   For instance Daniel Bulger raced in this meeting.  Daniel Delany Bulger was a multi title winner from Dublin who had won the Gaelic Athletic Association 100 yards in `886, 1887, 1888, 1889 an 1890, and the Irish AAA’s 100 yards in 1888, 1889 and 1890 and the 220 yards, GAA, in 1885, 1886 and 1887, and IAAA in 1885.   He was not the only nor was he the last.   

Cycling was a major draw at all big sports meetings of the day and Celtic supported the sport whole heartedly – note the cartoon for the 1893 sports above.   The second Saturday in August 1893 saw Parkhead occupied by a match between Celtic and Queen’s Park so the Sports were shunted back a week.   Given the standard of athlete promised, they were none the worse of it: the report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ the following Monday began “The annual sports of the Celtic FC held at Parkhead on Saturday afternoon attracted the largest crowd ever witnessed at an athletic meeting in Scotland, it being estimated that 20,000 spectators were present.   Nearly all the English and Irish cracks were present, and this, combined with the fine weather, no doubt partially accounted for the large attendance.   The arrangements were excellently carried out by Mr William Maley and an able committee.”

The name Maley appeared in meeting previews and reports right from the start and kept on coming.   In 1894 the preview of the 1894 sports in the ‘Scottish Referee’ waxed lyrical: “Celtic are busy completing their arrangements for their Saturday and Monday Carnival.   To the club that has competed such athletic triumphs in the past, nothing is impossible, and, great though their previous records be, we expect from the  labour and enterprise they have devoted to this meeting that it will result in all previous records being bust.   

The grounds and tracks have been magnificently worked up by Master-of-Works McKay and all who are privileged to look upon them on Saturday will pronounce them the finest in Scotland if not in Britain.   Mr W Maley is responsible for the list of attractions which are sufficient to please the daintiest athletic palate.  It is indeed a meeting of the champions of champions, the creme de la creme of the Scottish, English and Irish athletic paths   …..   The arrangements of the secretary, Mr William Maley, were excellent and the sports were an unqualified success.   Representatives from the Queen’s Park, the Rangers and nearly all the leading clubs gave assistance in carrying out the programme. ”      Not only was Willie organising the meeting but borthers Tom and Alex were both running in them by now.   

Celtic had now held five successive and successful sports meetings – the enthusiasm and drive of W Maley had no little part in it but it is good to note the amount of help they received from other football and sports club personnel.   Names like Gow and Vallance appear as officials as well as competitors, Farquhar Matheson and many other members of Clydesdale Harriers officiated every year (the Maley brothers and many others were members of the club before the Celtic FC appeared on the scene), men from Queen’s Park and other clubs were also in evidence. 

“There will be no Irish competitors at the Celtic Sports on Saturday but it is just possible that one or two prominent Irish athletes may figure in the flat events.   They of course run the risk of disqualification if they compete under the rules of an alien Union, but that would seem to have little or no terror for them.   The Celtic, as is well known, have a powerful influence on Irish athletic circles, and from the temperament of the people across the channel all the restrictions in the world will not prevent the men from competing if they make up their mind to do so, and can find the time to travel to Scotland. 

The Irish contingent w-as by 1995 an integral part of the Sports but sports have politics just like other important parts of our lives and the Press reported that year 

“There will be no Irish competitors at the Celtic Sports on Saturday but it is just possible that one or two prominent Irish athletes may figure in the flat events.   They of course run the risk of disqualification if they compete under the rules of an alien Union, but that would seem to have little or no terror for them.   The Celtic, as is well known, have a powerful influence on Irish athletic circles, and from the temperament of the people across the channel all the restrictions in the world will not prevent the men from competing if they make up their mind to do so, and can find the time to travel to Scotland. 

Scottish athletics had its problems – The top club in any sport, whether it be football, athletics or any other will be the subject of criticism and at times unfair discrimination.   In 1895 Clydesdale Harriers was the strongest club in athletics and Celtic was one of the strongest in football.   The Scottish Amateur Athletic Association was in dispute with the Scottish Cyclists Union which was allied to Clydesdale Harriers.   One thing led to another and Clydesdale broke away from the SAAA.   With powerful members of Celtic also members or former members of Clydesdale, eg the Maley brothers, PJ Gallagher, etc, the club left the SAAA and joined the Union.  Many of the bigger Scottish football clubs also signed up for the SAAU.  With the SAAA allied with the AAA in England and the IAAA in Ireland, it meant that no athlete of any club affiliated with these bodies could run at SAAU events without being disciplined by their governing body.   Celtic were outside the SAAA pale and had cast their lot with the SAAU.    Back to Scotland in 1895.   But the sports at Parkhead went ahead and were again a success.   On the day of Rangers Sports Willie was at Strathallan negotiating talent for the CFC Sports while Alex was at Ibrox booking athletes for Parkhead the following week.   When the day came there was a sight seldom seen at any sports meeting: the team manager running in the competition and even winning a prize from a low mark.   Willie Maley was second (scratch) in the first heat of the invitation 100 yards and second in the final, beaten by JB Auld (1 yard) with the first 4 all very close across the line.   Winning time was 10.8 seconds.   Another initiaprovided, it was certain to become and annual event.tive was the re-introduction of the steeplechase to a sports meeting and it was reported that after the amusement and entertainment it would be an essential part of future Sports.

Some competitors from the Celtic Sports, 1896:

SAAU Champion bottom right

That was nothing however compared to his running the following year when he won the SAAU 100 yards championship on 27th June, 1896, from the same JB Auld.   It was almost certainly the first and last time that a Scottish football team manager had won a Scottish national 100 yards title.   He ran in the 130 yards on the Monday supplementary meeting which had 66 runners.   He was the only runner off scratch and although he made the final, he was ultimately unplaced.   He kept on organising and running and on 9th August, 1897, Scottish Referee said “W Maley was at Newcastle on Saturday looking for talent and secured not a few stars.”   The  Glasgow Herald, also of 9th August, started its preview of the event

The sports were on Saturday, 14th August in 1897. as follows.   “Everything the Celtic do, they do well; there are no half measures with them.   Since the institution of their sports it has been a rule with them to introduce eminent athletes from England and Ireland .   Bradley, Bacon, Perry, Wittenberg and Kibblewhite, an others of less note, have all helped to throw lustre over meetings at Parkhead from time to time, and though the amateurs of the present day are made of different stuff from these men, there are several who stand high in public favour, one or two of whom we are to have the pleasure of seeing on Saturday first.”   It went on to name some of them,  starting by saying that Bradley was not a certain starter, FW Cooper ( superb sprinter and Welsh rugby international), W Elliott, AAA quarter mile champion would run in the 300 yards, and W Tysoe would turn out in the 1000 and mile handicaps.  They had invited 12 to 15 men to take part in the mile, including the three prize winners from the Rangers Sports the previous Saturday.   

There was no doubt that he wanted the best available for the meetings – even recruiting competitors the week before the meeting.   Remember that the meeting would have had 15,000 or more even without these late arrivals but the sport was the thing that seemed to move him.   There had always been Irish athletes at the Celtic meeting but in 1899 a special effort was made.

“If records did not fall on Saturday at Parkhead like grouse on a Highland moor, the excellence of the sport was such as has not been equalled at any athletic function in Glasgow this season.   Nor is this surprising when the eminence of some of the competitors is taken into account.   Hitherto the Celts have culled from the rich athletic stores of England, but this season Mr William Maley has directed his attention to the not less wealthy resources of Ireland, several of whose more distinguished athletes accepted the invitation, and their presence more than anything else contributed so largely to the success of Saturday’s meeting.   If there is any place in Scotland where those of Irish nationality are warmly received it is at Parkhead, which overflows with a kind of exile enthusiasm, making Irishmen feel thoroughly at home and inspiring them to lofty achievements.”      The result of this drive, was the appearance of several top class athletes but none quite so celebrated as Denid Horgan.  Horgan won a total 42 shot put titles during his athletic career, including 28 Irish championships, 13 English championships (all for the 16 pound shot) and one American championship.    

Willie Maley

In 1900 the bill of fare at the Celtic Sports had a marvellous spread of international athletes on offer.

Willie Maley had been at the AAA’s Championships and ‘succeeded in inducing AF Duffy the 100 yards champion; W Long, 440 yards champion; John Flanagan, world’s record holder for hammer throwing; and John Bray, Canadian half-mile record holder, to compete at the Celtic Sports meeting on Saturday and Monday next.   This is a big catch, and all interested in athletic science must be indebted to the Celts, and through the Celts to Mr Maley for bringing such an accomplished quartette of athletes to Glasgow.’   There were of course events at the Celtic supplementary meeting the following Monday so, after they had all performed well on the Saturday Mr Maley had a surprise in store:  “At the conclusion of the Celtic FC meeting on Saturday, Mr William Maley, accompanied by the American athletes, journeyed down to Rothesay for the week-end.   They will be back fresh and well for tonight’s meeting, when no doubt they will again accomplish some startling performances, so be sure you do not miss this treat.”   Going to London, signing the top talent, then schmoozing them after the Saturday so that they would perform well on the Monday.   Not many tricks being missed by Maley – and note the upgrading of expectations – a few years earlier he had been at Strathallan signing up Scots, this time it was the White City and American athletes.   The results of these meetings and others between 1900 and 1910 can be found at Celtic Sports: 1900 – 1910 – Anent Scottish Running

1901 was another good one with the Glasgow Herald saying:  “It has been said by one whose opinion in athletic matters is valued highly that the Celtic meeting is the greatest in the country, and with the recollection of many fine gatherings which the club has celebrated, we are not inclined to question the verdict.”    More Americans, more big crowds.   And so it continued and in 1904 there was an attendance estimated at 30,000.    1902 was Coronation year and many events were cancelled because of that but Celtic went ahead with their Saturday and Monday Supplementary meetings as usual.    The Monday evening meeting itself had a very good turnout with runners from England, Ireland and England all taking part along with big numbers of Scottish athletes (eg 18 heats of the 100 yards and 10 of the 220 yards).   With the two major meetings of the year coming so close together (Rangers first Saturday and Celtic second Saturday) it was ever the case that the one would influence the other and the Glasgow Herald of 10th August 1903 started its report as follows:

The Rangers Sports the previous week had been good, very good: the same paper had reported 

William Wilton was the mastermind behind the Rangers sports at that time and he and Maley had a good and friendly rivalry.   At times one suspects that they co-operated to get some major talent to both meetings.   A healthy competition between sports promoters is usually a good thing for the sport with each trying to out do the other in terms of athletic quality (star names, athletes from abroad),  quantity of local athletes (20+ heats of the 100 yards, over 100 in the Mile, etc), big crowds to run before and in the quality of the prizes.   Maley was a master in every department while Wilton would have done the sport proud in any generation.   

There were stars aplenty in 1905 but from all over Britain and of those the brightest was Alfred Shrubb who had been a favourite in Glasgow for some time and particularly after his historic run at Ibrox in 1904.   The field on the Monday evening four miles included such as John McGouch, Sam Stevenson and James Reston.   Shrubb had come north specifically for the Celtic meeting and won the event from the specially selected field where the limit man had over a lap start in 19 minutes 34 seconds from McGough who set a Scottish record of 20:06.2.   The following year – 1906, saw an even bigger star in Scottish eyes when Lt Halswell was the headline performer.       

The Celtic Sports had been a late comer to the ranks of sports promoting clubs but was known a an innovator as far as organising and pleasing the public was concerned.   From the Scottish Referee of 6th August 1906: “The entries for the Celtic Sports promise to be as large as previous years whilst the quality of the sport to be provided looks like being a record.   The Celtic open handicaps have always been the aim of Scotch athletes and this year seems likely to supply very keen racing.   The Celts have led the way in sports promoting, and in the way of special events such as invitation handicaps and scratch races, and have this year no less than eight such special tit-bits.   They have also arranged to take over the Western District SCU championship for quarter mile.”   The SCU was the Scottish Cyclists Union and cycling was a big draw at sports at the time.   On the running side of things, they had Lt Halswell/   He had run disappointingly at the Rangers Sports the previous weekend but he was to race in three events at Parkhead   The report read:  

“Lieutenant Halswell was the “magnet” and it goes without saying that he rose to the dignity of the occasion.   He gave no fewer than three very noble turns, all of which were greatly appreciated, though of course the one that caught the fancy most was the 49 sec in the quarter mile, which is three-fifths better than his previous accomplished if we mistake not, in the West of Scotland Harriers June Sports at Ibrox Park.    Halswell on Saturday could have easily given the concessions that proved too severe for him at Ibrox, so full of life was he at the finish.   He was also second in the invitation 100 yards off one and a half yards, and was just defeated in the half-mile scratch by George Butterfield of Darlington Harriers in 2 min”

And Maley was given most of the credit for the continued success of the meeting.   The badge below, which we have courtesy of Hugh Barrow, is from Halswell’s trophy cabinet.    20 years of promoting sports meetings and there were still initiatives and enthusiasm being shown by the managers.

Success followed success for both clubs with Wilton and Maley competing for the public support and, say it quietly, maybe co-operating to bring top sportsmen to Glasgow on successive Saturdays.   What persuaded them to spend a week in Glasgow?   Read this one:

Last week was a memorable one in the sporting history of the city, [reported the Glasgow Herald of 10th August 1908].   On Monday the Rangers FC concluded what from every point of view had been the most successful meeting that they had held for a very long time, while on Saturday Celtic FC added one more to their brilliant list of triumphs.   Both are in the fortunate position of having money to spend, and money judiciously handled will yield, as we have just seen, as big a return from athletics as from most forms of public amusement.   That there was more lavish expenditure this season than previously is frankly acknowledged by the two managements and, without pausing to inquire how this sort of thing squares with official notions, we would merely mention that the Glasgow public has much to be grateful for to the Rangers and Celtic for introducing so many of those who distinguished themselves at the recent Olympic Games.  But for those clubs it is just possible that we might never have had the privilege of seeing Melvin Sheppard, Reginald Walker and others who, by their achievements at the stadium, have enrolled themselves in the lists of the immortals.

The Press was not slow to identify those responsible for the magnificent meetings being held and after the 1910 events, the Glasgow Herald said:  “Considering the magnitude of the programme, the arrangements were highly creditable to Mr W Maley who deserves special credit for the triumph which crowned his labours on Saturday.”

1911 was a big one for the club and no effort was spared for the sports and the Glasgow Herald reporter started his article thus:

“Besides FL Ramsdell, HE Gissing and JJ Flanagan of America, several distinguished English athletes and cyclists took part in the annual sports of Celtic FC at Parkhead on Saturday and, as a consequence, competition in many events was very much above the average of what is usually witnessed in the city, celebrated as it is for its rare sporting associations.   The Celtic management spare neither money nor time in connection with their sports, and this season by way of celebrating an interesting epoch in their history, they extended more invitations than they usually do, with the result that Saturday’s meeting in many respects will hold a cherished position in the club’s records.   Large as the attendance was, it it would have been larger still but for the tramway strike.   As it was, the official estimate was 30,000.   The arrangements of Mr Maley were in advance of anything previously witnessed at Parkhead, and when we mention that over and above football there were 53 different events all of which were disposed of in three hours and a half, it will be admitted that there has been nothing better in the way of athletics management seen in the city.   Every item was so rapidly dealt with that there was scarcely any time for reflection.  “

There were at least three Olympians – two of them American – competing and the open handicap events were well supported too.   Maley is mentioned here yet again.   By now he was a fixture on the SAAA General Committee and he would go on to be an honorary life vice-president and and later President of the body.   The sports went on with top runners from all over the world.   1912 was an Olympic year and there were Olympic athletes from America, Ireland and Germany as well as from the UK.   You can read a complete report  at this link.   We have already mentioned that athletes often competed at both venues as Wyndham Halswell had done already.   In Olympic year there were several Olympic athletes, and not a few who had been contenders for a place, who competed in the two meetings, with the half mile being the outstanding example.   At Ibrox on the first Saturday in the month the 880 yards featured Mel Sheppard (USA), Hans Braun (Germany), JL Meredith (USA alongside DF McNicol and George Dallas, the latter being second in the invitation handicap race,  and at Parkhead the first three in the half mile were Sheppard, Braun and Meredith.   There surely must have been some collaboration between both sets of promoters to cover the legitimate travelling and accommodation expenses of these athletes.   The following year the outstanding sprinter W Applegarth ran at both meetings, and in 1914 an even better American middle distance runner ran at both Games – he was Homer Baker who was  “much pleased with the cordiality experienced at Ibrox and Parkhead and the hospitality of the Celtic will remain in his own words “a cherished memory for years.”  

The War started later that year and that changed things a bit – and it was also the year that a former professional runner called Bill Struth arrived at Ibrox as an assistant manager, meanwhile William Wilton remained at the helm of the very successful Rangers Sports.   Maley remained at Celtic of course.    

For more about the Celtic Sports, follow  this link. for the 1890-94 sports, this one for the 1895-1900    and all the others are also on the website www.anentscottishrunning.com if you type in Celtic Sports at the top of the page.