Thursday 8 November 2018

“Don’t let it be said that footballers are shirkers and cowards”


“Do not ask where Hearts are playing and then look at me askance. If it's football that you're wanting, you must come with us to France!”
Private George Blaney, Castle Brewery, Edinburgh, December 1914


Last week I attended Tynecastle for the Hallowe’en fixture between Heart of Midlothian and their cross-city rivals Hibernian. It was my first Edinburgh Derby since August 1989, which had been my first ever Hearts live game. Since then I’ve watched the ‘Boys in Maroon’ in such diverse places as Bologna, Prague, Madrid and, er, Falkirk. They are my ‘Scottish team’ and, thanks to the antics of the Allams, they have come pretty close to usurping Hull City in my affections these past few years.
But why Hearts?
My affinity with The Jam Tarts began back in the mid-Eighties, when the unfolding tale of their heart-breaking 1985/86 season resonated strongly with somebody still scarred by the events of Turf Moor ’84. My involvement with the football fanzine movement then helped move things on. Among the many fanzines we struck up relationships with in those early days of Hull Hell & Happiness was Heartbeat, produced by a group of Hearts supporters based in and around Manchester. What their A4-sized publication lacked in quality of production it more than atoned for in quality of content; especially its attacks on its bitter rivals in which the editors certainly didn’t hold back. Many were not only very funny but bordered on tasteless. It was the sort of thing we were wanting to do at HH&H prior to our summoning by The Don. As such, we quickly adopted Heartbeat as our favourite other fanzine. Editor Mike Van Vleck was a man with allegiances to various sports teams and it was through his support of Salford Rugby League that I finally made his acquaintance, courtesy of a game against Hull Kingston Rovers in March 1989. A follow-up visit to see The Tigers entertain Hibs the following pre-season cemented our friendship and a month later, I joined the Manchester Hearts at a raucous Tynecastle where a goal from “the big Moose” was enough to secure victory on a sodden summer afternoon.
Almost thirty years later, my second derby experience would be remembered more for the accompanying crowd-related incidents than for the quality of football on the pitch. But even though the game itself was poor, the anticipation and atmosphere was something I’ve not experienced at a City match for some time. Furthermore, as I wandered around Edinburgh in the days before and after the game – as part of a half-term mini-break with the family – it reinforced the affection I now have for my adopted team and the city that spawned it. This weekend, when we mark the centenary of the Armistice that ended the Great War, those bonds will be strengthened even further. As I gather in Ypres to mark the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, along with many others uppermost in my thoughts (my family ancestors and the ‘Easington Fallen’ who I travelled to France and Flanders to honour last year) I will think of Heart of Midlothian Football Club – “the team that went to war for Britain”.
The story of the involvement of Hearts FC in the First World War has been brilliantly described in two books (Jack Alexander’s McCrae’s Battalion: The Story of the 16th Royal Scots (Mainstream, 2004) and Tom Purdie’s Hearts At War 1914-1919 (Amberley, 2014)). It was also the subject of a couple of fine newspaper articles, courtesy of Alex Massie in The Guardian from 2005 and The Independent’s Robin Scott-Elliott four years ago in a piece to mark the centenary of the start of the First World War. It is a tale guaranteed to stir the emotions, describing how “the best team in Hearts’ history” turned their backs on footballing glory to go to war.
At the start of the 1914/15 season, Hearts were described as the “young pretenders” of Scottish football but a 2-0 opening day win over champions Celtic at Tynecastle underlined their title credentials. Six wins from their opening six games had them sat proudly atop the league, a position they would maintain for much of the campaign. By November the only points dropped in the first fourteen games had come courtesy of a careless defeat at the hands of Dumbarton and a surprise draw against Queens Park. They were looking increasingly good for a first Scottish League title since 1896/97. Then the Great War intervened. Having already seen army reservists Neil Moreland and George Sinclair called-up at the outbreak of hostilities, winger James Speedie joined them immediately after a 2-0 home win over Falkirk on 14 November, having answered a half-time appeal made on behalf of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders. The Edinburgh Evening Dispatch proudly proclaimed, “Three Hearts men with the Colours now”. That number would soon increase dramatically.
As the military crisis deepened in France, the pressure on young men to ‘volunteer’ became intolerable. Football became a target of “an orchestrated campaign of abuse”[i], with satirical magazine Punch printing a cartoon urging men to take part in the ‘Greater Game’ – played not for trophies but on the field of battle. In Parliament, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was urged to “introduce legislation taking powers to suppress all professional football for the continuance of the war”. As the “leaders of the Scottish League and considered by many observers to be the most irresistible footballing combination in Great Britain”, Hearts became a principal target. A letter from ‘The Soldier’s Daughter’ in the Edinburgh Evening News basically accused Hearts players of cowardice and suggested they adopt a nom de plume of ‘The White Feathers of Midlothian’. It enraged those in the Tynecastle dressing room. A few days later the popular local businessman and Liberal MP Sir George McCrae asked manager John McCartney about the possibility of some of the Hearts players joining the battalion being raised by him, “telling him that such actions would make for a large following and a speedy formation of the unit”. His request was granted and eleven players immediately signed-up, with five others turned down on medical reasons. Among the few who didn’t join immediately were brothers Archie and Jimmy Boyd, who first wanted to discuss the matter with their mother. In the event “Young Jimmy made the decision for them both. Archie was engaged to be married and had more to lose”.
Between August and November 1914, sixteen Hearts players became ‘soldier footballers’ – a figure unequalled in the United Kingdom and one that would almost double over the next two seasons”[ii]. Among those enlisting later was the captain, Bob Mercer who had originally been turned down due to a torn knee ligament. Along with his team-mates he now “traded the playing fields of Scotland for the killing fields of France (and) the roar of the crowd for the roar of gunfire” By their actions, Heart of Midlothian FC became the first British football team to sign up en masse. At the Hearts AGM of July 1915, it was reported that “the lead established by these gallant youths reverberated through the length of the land” and “some 600 supporters and shareholders followed suit and joined up”. Many of these supporters enlisted in direct response to a Press Statement released by the Hearts Board of Directors, in which they stated their “earnest desire” that “an entire ‘Hearts Company’ be formed of players, ticket holders and general followers”. The Statement read:
“Now then young men, as you have followed the club through adverse and pleasant times, through sunshine and rain, roll up in your hundreds for King and Country, for right and freedom. Don’t let it be said that footballers are shirkers and cowards. As the club has borne an honoured name on the football field, let it earn its spurs on the field of battle.”
Those answering the call were offered free admission to the Edinburgh Derby on Saturday 5 December. “Eight hundred men duly turned up and marched into the ground prior to kick-off” before “both teams emerged to thunderous applause”. Conditions matched the reception but Hearts made light of them to “sweep Hibernian back to Leith”. Tom Purdie said their play “lit up grey leaden skies in a 3-1 win”. 
Heart of Midlothian were not alone in answering McCrae’s call. In total some 75 clubs were represented in the 16th (Service) Battalion, The Royal Scots, otherwise known as ‘McCrae’s Battalion’. These ranged from junior clubs to the likes of Raith Rovers, Falkirk, Dunfermline and Hibernian. In addition there were representatives of other sports, including rugby union, cricket, field hockey, swimming, athletics and bodybuilding. The 16th Royal Scots was the original Sporting Battalion and the first to earn the ‘Footballer’s Battalion’ sobriquet.
By the start of 1915 the players’ military training had begun, involving long, exhausting runs in the nearby Pentland Hills. The rigours eventually began to take its toll, with bouts of influenza and blisters a recurring issue. Having won 19 of their opening 21 games that season, playing football previously described in the Press as "dainty, dazzling" and being "full of pace and panache”, Hearts players (unlike those of either Celtic or Rangers) eventually succumbed to the exertions of having to combine weekly military drills with weekends playing football. They won only eight of their 17 games post-mobilisation and when “a lacklustre Hearts team” were beaten 1-0 at St Mirren on 17 April, Celtic “hurried past them” to eventually take the title by 4pts. An embittered Edinburgh Evening News stated:
“Hearts have laboured under a dreadful handicap, the like our friends in the west cannot imagine. Between them the two leading Glasgow clubs have not sent a single prominent player to the Army. There is only one football champion in Scotland and its colours are maroon and khaki.”
Tom Purdie describes how the Hearts players came off the Love Street pitch “totally and utterly disconsolate, mentally and physically exhausted. They sat within the changing room in numb silence”. Manager John McCartney addressed them and expressed his utmost pride in their efforts before leaving the room to stand alone in the corridor, where it was said he too had tears in his eyes. He knew in his heart that some of those players he’d left in the changing room would never play together in a maroon jersey again. McCartney later told the Edinburgh Evening News that his team had played at times when they were so tired they could hardly stand. In addition, the league’s top scorer Tom Gracie had been diagnosed with leukaemia but had asked his manager to keep it from the other players. Yet despite all this, they had taken things to the final day. He said, “Edinburgh is proud of them”. It’s cruelly ironic that, similar to the season that first wooed me to the club, finishing second didn’t deprive the Hearts players of the glory their efforts deserved. However, in this particular case, “they had (also) won the hearts and admiration of the nation”.
On the morning of 18 May 1915, McCrae’s Battalion went to war. Purdie wrote: “1,100 men marched proudly down the Mound and Market Street to Waverley Station to the sound of the pipes and drums. Thousands turned out to wish them a fond farewell and a safe return”. But what must have seemed at the time like a ‘glorious adventure’ descended into anything but. In total, seven first team players failed to return. James Speedie was the first to fall, killed in action at the Battle of Loos on 25 September, just eleven weeks after arriving in France. A month later Tom Gracie succumbed to his illness. Duncan Currie, Ernest Ellis and Harry Wattie fell on the first day of The Somme, to be followed later by John Allan and the aforementioned Jimmy Boyd who also gave their lives before hostilities were ended. Several more sustained injuries that ensured they would never play football again. A detailed list of those killed and wounded is available on the excellent McCrae’s Battalion Trust website but suffice to say no other football club in this country paid such a price – on or off the field.
Hearts continued to function as a team during the War years, largely helped by servicemen home on leave or those players involved in vital war work at home. Amid falling attendances, struggling finances, ongoing team disruption and continuing bad news from the Western Front the Scottish League somehow carried on. Hearts managed a creditable fifth-place finish in 1915/16 but that proved their best. Mid-table placings followed over the next three years. Five days after the Armistice in November 1918, The Jam Tarts produced their best display of the season to beat Third Lanark 5-0 at Tynecastle in front of a 7,000 crowd, many who joined in the singing of patriotic songs, led by the Grassmarket Band. As Purdie writes, “There was a special welcome back to Tynecastle for some brave individuals”. Honouring a promise made at the time of their departure, “a Main Stand season ticket was given to the returning members of 16 Royal Scots C Company who had been season ticket holders, shareholders, officials or indeed players”. On the reverse of the ticket, along with the Royal Scots crest and the person’s name, rank and service number, was printed the following:
“Voluntarily these men went forth to fight for King and Country. The gloomiest hour in the nation’s history found them ready. As pioneers in the formation of a brilliant regiment, sportsmen the world over will ever remember them. Duty well done they are welcomed back to Tynecastle; Hearts of Oak!”
To mark the end of the fighting, it was announced that a Victory Cup would be competed for in 1919 (the Scottish Cup having been suspended for the duration of hostilities). Eighteen teams were entered and it was widely agreed that a Hearts victory would not only have been “pleasing” but “fitting”. In the event, they again came up just short. A bye in the first round was followed by away wins at Third Lanark and Partick Thistle, before Airdrieonians were subjected to what Purdie terms “a devastating display of football” in a 7-1 scoreline in the semi-final at Tynecastle. The final saw Hearts face St Mirren in front of 60,000 at Celtic Park on 26 April 1919. Purdie writes: “Outwith the ‘Saints’ fans, this was a game that probably the whole of Scotland wanted Hearts to win due to the sacrifices they had made during the war years”. Three extra-time goals for The Buddies ensured it was not to be. Hearts were runners-up. Again.
It’s widely acknowledged that had the Great War not come along, the Hearts side of that era “might have established a dynasty in Edinburgh”, leading to Scottish football being “carved up between three rather than two powers”. In his 2005 piece, Massie went so far as to suggest that the Kaiser can perhaps be blamed for the lack of competitiveness in the Scottish game! As it is, since the Great War Hearts have largely remained also-rans, which is possibly another reason I – as a Hull City supporter – was drawn to them in the first place!

Sadly, I believe the story of the Hearts ‘soldier footballers’ is one that still remains largely unknown to most football supporters. Indeed, had I not been drawn to Hearts by that 1985/86 season, it may have been one that I too would have easily overlooked? There have been attempts to address this. In November 2014 BBC Learning produced Footballers United as part of its World War One season and more recently, A War Of Two Halves is enjoying a second run at Tynecastle having proved a big hit at the Edinburgh Fringe. Sadly, my visit was a week too early for the latter but simply sauntering around the streets of ‘Auld Reekie’ brought the words of Alexander and Purdie to life; from the recently re-named McCrae Place, and Castle Street in the New Town to the Haymarket Memorial and Tynecastle itself. Walking along Princes Street I allowed myself to imagine the gridlock as huge crowds of well-wishers gathered to provide the brave Hearts lads with a magnificent send-off. I even looked up at the Castle and imagined the “weather-beaten fortress nodding its head in approval”. Many a passing tourist – and local for that matter – must’ve wondered who this Sassenach was wandering around with a fixed smile on his face, seemingly staring into space. But before I got too carried away on a wave of nostalgia, I was away to Ryries for a pre-Derby livener or three… (As an aside, a bus ride along Easter Road to Leith in order to visit the former HMY Britannia had me chuckling as I imagined that 1914 Hibs team being “swept back” along the very same route over a hundred years earlier)
The Hibees certainly weren’t swept away in my latest Edinburgh Derby, the game finishing goalless with the visitors surviving a second half sending-off and a late disallowed goal. It was a game played in a tetchy atmosphere far removed from that described by Purdie, with Hearts keeper Zdeněk Zlámal and Hibs boss Neil Lennon both going to ground after separate spectator-related incidents. These incidents provoked far more post-match talking points than the game itself. The Edinburgh Evening News back page led with the headline “You Coward”. Despite the dropped points and a subsequent weekend defeat by Celtic, Hearts arrived in November sitting above the Glasgow side at the top of the league, just as they had done in November 1914 – when the term “Coward” had a far more sinister connotation and the ‘Boys In Maroon’ really were the ‘Talk o’ the Toon’.
Lest we forget.

FOOTNOTE:
My previous blog posts around the subject of the Great War commemorations are as follows: A Greater Game (24/11/2014); Oppy Wood, Hull Pals & finding Easington’s Fallen (09/11/2017)



[i] From http://www.mccraesbattaliontrust.org.uk/white-feathers-of-idlothian/
[ii] From http://www.mccraesbattaliontrust.org.uk/the-sporting-battalion/

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