Celtic vs Irish Free State XI: The Highest Paid Football Experts in the World

On 23.02.24 a warmly received Glasgow Celtic played a hastily arranged friendly against an Irish Free State XI in Dublin. Celtic won 3-0. There was a 20,000 crowd that spilled onto the pitch and perched on the roofs of stands.  

The match was a fundraiser to help send an Irish Free State team to that summer's Olympics. Takings were £1,200, which , after tax, expenses and  paying for the ground left £400 for the fund. 

Acknowledging the efforts of the outplayed home team, the Dublin Evening Telegraph stated 'They were opposed by what probably the best football on earth, the highest paid football experts in the world'. 

Irish Free State FA		Celtic
W. O’Hagan (Fordsons)	G	C. Shaw
P. Kavanagh (Shelbourne)	FB	A. McNair
J. McCarthy (Bohemians)	FB	H Hilley
E. McKay (St. James’s Gate)	HB	H. P. Wilson
V. Harris (Shelbourne)	HB	J. McStay
M. Foley (Shelbourne)	HB	J. McFarlane
J. Simpson (Shelbourne)	F	A. McAtee
A. Kirkland (Shamrock Rovers)	F	P. Gallacher
Dr. O’Flaherty (University College)	F	J. Cassidy
J. Dowdall (St. James’s Gate)	F	A. Thompson
J. Fagan (Shamrock Rovers)	F	A. McLean

Goals were scored by Thomson, McAtee and Cassidy (all Scotland internationalists).

The Celtic line up featured Irish international Patsy Gallacher, who would later represent the Free State.

There was talk of another Celtic visit to Ireland in May, when Croke Park was proposed as a (much larger) venue, but this never took place. 

Andy McAtee

Alec 'EverReady' Thomson 

'Trooper' Joe Cassidy

Bert Bliss

Tottenham Hotspur's Bert Bliss with an overhead kick in the 1921 FA Cup Final. Bliss was an inside forward who made 215 appearances for Tottenham (106 goals). He later played for Clapton Orient and Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. His one appearance for England (vs Scotland) came 2 weeks before this FA Cup Final.
Tottenham's opponents in the final at Stamford bridge were Wolverhampton Wanderers. 20 year old winger Jimmy Dimmock scored the winner in the 55th minute.

Morning Advertiser 18.01.1869

The County Ground at Islington (also known as The Cattle Market Ground) was no longer in use for cricket in 1869. 
Some familiar names in the line ups.

Woodward vs Scotland

Vivian Woodward played 23 'full' internationals for England, scoring 28 goals.
This match, played on April 4th, 1903 was his third. Woodward put England ahead in the 10th minute, scoring from close range following a corner.
Scotland won thanks to second half goals from Finlay Speedie and Bobby Walker scored within the space of 2 minutes.

A goal by Pablo Dorado

As I've written before, if I had a time machine I think the first football match I would go and watch would be the 1930 World Cup Final.

In the 12th minute 22 year old outside right Pablo Dorado of Club Atlético Bella Vista fired through the legs of Bottaso at his near post. 1-0 to Uruguay.

Sam Wadsworth

Always play fair; be always ready to congratulate your conqueror and you’ll never be sorry for it. I’ve always played fair and tried to play fair.

Sam Wadsworth survived the 1914-18 war but suffered from 'Shell Shock' .
Released by Blackburn Rovers on his return from Military Service he joined Huddersfield Town, with whom he won 3 League Championships and an FA Cup. He also represented England 9 times (4 as captain).
He later enjoyed success as a manager in The Netherlands.

Swansea Town 1920-21

I'm writing a book about Northern Union, so I'm going to be taking a break from posting on this blog. I intend to return to this in the spring of 2018.
Thank you for your ongoing support.

Double Figure Scores in Internationals

 Sophus 'Krølben' Nielsen- 10 goals v France .

Gottfried Fuchs- 10 goals v Russia

 Poul 'Tist' Nielsen - featured in 2 double figure wins.

'Påsket' Bengtsson- conceded double figures on 2 occasions.  

18.02.82	Ireland	0	13	England
	Ireland’s first foray into international football and an inauspicious start.  Aston Villa’s Vaughton (5) and Digger Brown (4) did the bulk of the damage. James Hamilton was the goalkeeper to suffer.
03.03.88	Wales	11	0	Ireland
	This remains Wales’ record score. John Clugston on the receiving end.
24.03.88	Ireland	2	10	Scotland
	6 Scots players got on the scoresheet as a miserable month saw Ireland concede 21 goals in 2 matches. On this occasion Ralph Lawther was the unfortunate custodian.
18.02.99	England	13	2	Ireland
	The Times reported that ‘The play might well be described as one long series of attacks on the Irish goal…’ There were 4 goals from G.O Smith and a debut hattrick from Jimmy Settle, Steve Bloomer chipped in with 2. A debut to forget for James Lewis.
23.02.01	Scotland	11	0	Ireland
	4 apiece for Hamilton and McMahon. Irish goalkeeper Sam McAlpine’s only international appearance.
01.11.06	France	0	15	England Amateurs
	The 1900s saw the development of international football in mainland Europe and the establishment of FIFA. England’s full international team was becoming an almost exclusively professional set up. The introduction of the England Amateur XI led to a series of mismatches in which emerging continental teams were thrashed on a regular basis.   Zacharie Baton was the goalkeeper. Stanley Harris scored 7, Vivian Woodward 4.
21.12.07	England Amateurs	12	2	Netherlands
	West Ham's Harold Stapely got 5. Lo la Chapelle’s only experience of international football in Netherlands’ goal.
23.03.08	England Amateurs	12	0	France
	André Renaux never got a second call up.
08.06.08	Austria	1	11	England
	Rudolf Donhardt’s only international appearance.
12.07.08	Sweden	11	3	Norway
	Sweden were a goal down in the first minute of this match (a first international for both countries). Erik Bergström and Erik Börjesson scored 4 goals each. After this spectacular start Sweden then had the misfortune to face England Amateurs in their next 2 matches… Sverre Lie became another goalkeeper whose international career lasted only 90 minutes.
20.10.08	England Amateurs	12	1	Sweden
	The Olympic Games. Sweden’s record after this match: p 3 w1 d 0 l 2 f 13 a 21. Påsket Bengtsson on the receiving end of Woodward &Co.
22.10.08	Denmark	17	1	France
	TEN goals for Sophus Nielsen and the end of Maurice Tillette’s international career (2 matches, 21 goals conceded).
17.04.09	England Amateurs	11	2	Belgium
	Godefroid Van Melderen was the goalkeeper here as England Amateurs maintained their impressive goals to games ratio.
22.05.09	France	0	11	England Amateurs
	6 Englishmen got on the scoresheet here…
16.04.10	England Amateurs	10	1	France
	France goalkeeper Tessier conceded 36 goals in his 5-game international career, 21 of them in 2 games v England Amateurs.
01.07.12	Germany	16	0	Russia
	Gottfried Fuchs put TEN past Lev Favorskiy.
14.07.12	Russia	0	12	Hungary
	Russia’s first home game.  Schlosser-Lakatos Imre scored 5 goals. Dmitriy Matrin had a memorable day on his debut.
05.10.13	Sweden	0	10	Denmark
	Tist Nielsen scored 6 goals as Påsket Bengtsson conceded double figures for the second time in his international career.
10.05.17	Japan	2	15	Philippines
	The Japanese team was represented by a selection from the Tokyo Higher Normal School. Genya Tomita was Japan’s goalkeeper. Paulino Alcantara was among the Philippines’ scorers.
07.10.17	Denmark	12	0	Norway
	Tist Nielsen scored 5 goals, Ingolf Pedersen the unlucky goalkeeper.
11.08.22	Finland	10	2	Estonia
	Lali Öhman led the scoring with 6 goals, August Lass the ‘keeper.
27.05.24	Lithuania	0	10	Egypt
	Lithuania’s 3 first internationals saw them suffering progressively heavier defeats, 5-0, 9-0 and then this. A warm up match for the Olympics, played at the Pershing Stadium in Paris.  Valerijonas Balčiūnas was the ‘keeper.
29.05.27	Sweden	12	0	Latvia
	6 goals for Albin Hallbäck. Latvian goalie Arvīds Jurgens went off in the 79th with the score at 9-0. He was replaced for 6 minutes by Ādolfs Greble , who was beaten 3 times during this brief period of deputization.
12.06.27	Hungary	13	1	France
	Takács József scored 6.  The last of Maurice Cottenet’s 18 international games.
29.05.28	Argentina	11	2	USA
	First round match of the 1928 Olympic games at Amsterdam. Cooper in goal for the United Sates.
09.06.28	Italy	11	3	Egypt
	Abdel Hamid Hamdi was in goal. For Italy Schiavio, Banchero & Magnozzi got 3 apiece and Baloncieri scored twice.
28.07.29	Sweden	10	0	Latvia
	Harijs Lazdiņš’ international debut, 3 days after his 19th birthday. He represented Latvia 18 times in all.
10.04.32	Italy	12	0	Luxembourg
	The Italians did not consider this a full international. Robert Dupont kept goal for Luxembourg (the last of his 10 appearances). Giovanni, Serantoni & Bisigato all got hattricks.
21.05.33	Spain	13	0	Bulgaria
	Eduardo González Valiño (known as Chacho) 6 goals on debut. Todor Dermonski started the match in goal for Bulgaria but went off in the 30th minute with the score at 4-0. His place was taken by Radi Maznikov.
11.07.36	Australia	10	0	New Zealand
	George Smith got 5 goals, Alf Smith was the goalkeeper.
05.06.37	New Zealand	0	12	England Amateurs
26.06.37	New Zealand	1	12	England Amateurs
	Frank Cameron kept goal for New Zealand in both matches (and another which ended 6-0)