Scotland v England 1884

Played at Cathkin Park 15.03.84.
This was the inaugural season of the British Home Championship and the Scotland England clash was always likely to be the decider. This was the 13th meeting between the 2 sides. Scotland had won 8 of the previous 12 matches and England had not beaten them since 1879.
For the first time in international football admission was by ticket only.
Dr John Smith scored the only goal of the game in the 8th minute to give Scotland a 1-0 victory.
The illustration shows 'A Bailey' but it is in fact Norman Coles Bailey, while E.C Bambridge Swift is E.C Bambridge of the club The Swifts. Francis Marindin , here acting as Umpire for England was so well known as to be recognizable only by the title The Major.
The contrast in stature between the illustrated English and Scotch (sic) players is worthy of note. The era of the gentleman amateur was drawing to a close, but the England approach was still largely based on the muscular public schools approach whereas Scottish football was more tactically refined.

The final table:

	P	W	D	L	F	A
Scotland	3	3	0	0	10	1
England	3	2	0	1	12	2
Wales	3	1	0	2	7	8
Ireland	3	0	0	3	1	19

Goodison Park

'The first purpose built football stadium in England'- Goodison Park opened on 24 August 1892. FA dignitaries Lord Kinnaird and Frederick Wall were present, but strangely there was no football match- a 12,000 crowd saw athletics followed music and a fireworks display. Everton's first game at the new stadium was on 1st September 1892 when they beat Bolton Wanderers  4-2. 2,000 less people were present than had been for the fireworks!. The first Everton XI to take to the pitch at the new stadium was:
Jardine, Howarth, Dewar, Boyle, Holt, Robertson, Latta, Maxwell, Chadwick, Millward.
The same line up faced  Nottingham Forest in the opening League fixture on September 3rd (a 2-2 draw).
Out of Doors magazine commented in  October 1892:
No single picture could take in the entire scene the ground presents, it is so magnificently large, for it rivals the greater American baseball pitches. On three sides of the field of play there are tall covered stands, and on the fourth side the ground has been so well banked up with thousands of loads of cinders that a complete view of the game can be had from any portion.it appears to be one of the finest and most complete grounds in the kingdom...

The illustration above shows the friendly between Everton and Heart of Midlothian on November 12th 1892. The match ended in a 2-0 victory for the hosts. The drawing shows the Gwladys Street End and Goodison Road - the old St Luke's Church  is in the background. The corner flags look like they belong on a crazy golf course. 

Liverpool Mercury -  21.11.92

A fair mix up in goal

Looking at this illustration made me think of some comments on the modern game: All that pushing and shoving at corners is a disgrace... If you so much as touch the goalie it's a foul... A fair mix up in goal , which shows the first round FA Cup tie played at the Manor Ground on January 27th 1894, looks like something from Twickenham. Fair play to the Wednesday keeper, Bill Allan,  for getting a punch in.
Wednesday won 2-1 thanks to 2 goals from Fred Spiksley, Elliot getting Arsenal's goal. 
Interesting to see the use of Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday. One a contraction and the other an elaboration. The Wednesday only added Sheffield in 1929 whilst Arsenal were known as Woolwich Arsenal until 1914 and The Arsenal up to 1919.