There's a strong case for Scotland having been the strongest team in World football for much of the period before 1930. And yet they were slow to take any interest in continental opposition. When one considers the influence that Scottish football and footballers had on the development of the game on the continent (particularly central Europe) you can't help thinking that people in Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia or Germany would have packed out any ground where the Scots appeared had they gone to Europe.
Scottish clubs, of course, were another matter: There were club tours by
Queen's Park to Denmark in 1898; Celtic and Glasgow Rangers to Vienna and Prague in 1904; Aberdeen to Prague and Poland 1911; Heart of Midlothian to Denmark in 1912; Third Lanark to Portugal in 1914 (Third also toured North and South America in the 1920s)
Select Scottish Juniors played Brann Bergen (Norway) in 1920.
But the national team played 143 internationals without meeting anyone other than England, Wales or Ireland (admittedly Wales and (Northern) Ireland were even slower to take to continental fixtures, but they would never have held the mass appeal that Scottish football enjoyed).
The delayed entry onto a broader stage could be attributed in part to the political climate in the post 1914-19 era, which was not conducive to the 'Home Nations' playing in Europe. This was due to the firm stance that they took on sporting relations with their recent enemies.
26.05.1929 Norway 3 Scotland 7 (Bergen)
Imrie was actually the scorer.
01.06.1929 Germany 1 Scotland 1 (Berlin)
04.06.1929 Holland 0 Scotland 2 (Amsterdam)
Scotland selected an inexperienced squad for the tour, including 9 uncapped players in the party of 14.
There were 3 survivors from April's 1-0 win over England. All three of these players (Crapnell, Nibloe and Cheyne) had been debutants in the England game.
Squad:
Sandy McLaren* (St Johnstone)
Jimmy Crapnell (Airdrieonians)
Joe Nibloe (Kilmarnock)
Dougie Gray (Rangers)
Willie Imrie* (St Johnstone)
Hugh Morton* (Kilmarnock)
Allan Craig* (Motherwell)
Tully Craig [c] (Rangers)
Jimmy Nisbet* (Ayr United)
Alex Cheyne (Aberdeen)
David McCrae* (St Mirren)
Bobby Rankin* (St Mirren)
Jimmy Fleming* (Rangers)
Bobby Howe* (Hamilton Academical)
*9 men made their debuts on this trip.
Scotland had become affiliated to FIFA in 1910 ( five years after England). In 1919 the four 'home' associations withdrew from FIFA. There is a modern version of events that this was to do with amateurism, whereas in fact it was in order to sever sporting contacts with teams from the countries that had comprised The Central Powers during the 1914-18 war ( Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia).
The rigor with which the home FAs pursued this policy can be seen in the fact that it extended to not playing against teams who had links with these nations ( see - British Football's Post-War Ostracism of The Defeated Powers in Scoring for Britain: International Football and International Politics, 1900-1939 by Peter J. Beck).
The Home Associations did not renew their affiliations to FIFA until 1946, but in the interim Great Britain had competed in an Olympic tournament (1920- despite the protests of the USA that as England was not a member of FIFA they should not be allowed to enter theOlympic football tournament) and both England and Scotland played full internationals against a number of nations who had been part of the Central Powers. In 1930 England visited Berlin and Vienna , and were in Prague and Budapest 4 years later. Also Belgium and France readily played matches against the non FIFA England during the decade in which FIFA threatened sanctions against teams playing the non FIFA Soviet Union.
But this is a digression. what I originally intended to write about was Scotland abroad. The tour of 1929.
26.05.1929 Norway 3 Scotland 7 (Bergen)
01.06.1929 Germany 1 Scotland 1 (Berlin)
Scotland selected an inexperienced squad for the tour, including 9 uncapped players in the party of 14.
There were 3 survivors from April's 1-0 win over England. All three of these players (Crapnell, Nibloe and Cheyne) had been debutants in the England game.
Squad:
Sandy McLaren* (St Johnstone)
Jimmy Crapnell (Airdrieonians)
Joe Nibloe (Kilmarnock)
Dougie Gray (Rangers)
Willie Imrie* (St Johnstone)
Hugh Morton* (Kilmarnock)
Allan Craig* (Motherwell)
Tully Craig [c] (Rangers)
Jimmy Nisbet* (Ayr United)
Alex Cheyne (Aberdeen)
David McCrae* (St Mirren)
Bobby Rankin* (St Mirren)
Jimmy Fleming* (Rangers)
Bobby Howe* (Hamilton Academical)
*9 men made their debuts on this trip.
McLaren and Imrie- St Johnstone legends...
Sandy McLaren remains the youngest goalkeeper to play for Scotland, as he made his debut aged 18 years and 152 days. Willie Imrie remains the only St Johnstone player to score for Scotland.
