One of Football's Great Tragedies.

Eirebear

I lifted this from another forum, not sure where they lifted it from!

Anyway, i think it is a fitting tribute to a man who gave his young life for the game.

SEVENTY-seven years ago today, on Saturday, September 5, 1931, the Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson received a serious head injury while playing against Rangers at Ibrox. He died later in hospital, having never regained consciousness after the incident.

The death of a footballer in his prime is thankfully rare, and even rarer on the field of play. Even after this length of time, John Thomson's untimely death at the age of just 22 remains one of football's great tragedies.

A young goalkeeper, already the first choice for his club and country, with a long and distinguished career seemingly ahead of him, dead as a result of an accident during a game.

Thomson was renowned for his bravery and fearlessness, and his dive at the feet of the Rangers forward Sam English as the player went to shoot was visible evidence of those virtues. As English shot, John Thomson's head took the full impact of the Rangers player's knee, leaving the goalkeeper unconscious and his head bleeding.

As the keeper was being stretchered off, a section of the home support were unaware of the seriousness of the injury and cheered until they were silenced by one of the Rangers players.

Thomson's death stunned football, and was particularly hard felt by everyone connected with Celtic. Some 40,000 people attended the funeral in Cardenden, including thousands who had travelled through from Glasgow, many walking the 55 miles to the Fife village, and Thomson's coffin was carried by his devastated team-mates.

James Hanley, in his book The Celtic Story (1960) wrote: "It is hard for those who did not know him to appreciate the power of the spell he cast on all who watched him regularly in action. 'A man who has not read Homer,' wrote Bagehot, 'is like a man who has not seen the ocean. There is a great object of which he has no idea.'

"In like manner, a generation that did not see John Thomson has missed a touch of greatness in sport, for which he was a brilliant virtuoso, as Gigli was and Menuhin is. One artiste employs the voice as his instrument, another the violin or cello. For Thomson it was a handful of leather. We shall not look upon his like again."

Thomson was born in the Fife mining village of Cardenden, and like many of his contemporaries, had started his working life as a teenager down the pits.

He signed for Celtic in 1926 at the age of 17, having been spotted playing for Wellesley Juniors by Celtic scout Steve Callaghan, who had also alerted the club to the talents of a certain Jimmy McGrory.

Celtic paid £10 for the young man who would go on to become known as the Prince of Goalkeepers, and by the age of 18 he had already made his first-team debut against Dundee at Dens Park in a 2-1 win for Celtic.

During his short time as Celtic goalkeeper, he won two Scottish Cup medals - in 1927 when East Fife were defeated 3-1 and in 1931, when Celtic beat Motherwell 4-2 in a replay, having drawn the first game 2-2.

International recognition followed on the back of his impressive displays for Celtic, and Thomson gained four caps for Scotland and four for the Scottish League.

A quiet and unassuming character off the park, once on the field of play Thomson had a natural athleticism aligned to a brave spirit and impressed all who had the privilege to see him play.

In his book, The Story of the Celtic; 1888-1938, Willie Maley, manager of the club at the time of the tragedy, wrote: "Among the galaxy of talented goalkeepers whom Celtic have had, the late lamented John Thomson was the greatest. A Fifeshire friend recommended him to the club. We watched him play. We were impressed so much that we signed him when he was still in his teens. That was in 1926. Next year he became our regular goalkeeper, and was soon regarded as one of the finest goalkeepers in the country.

"But, alas, his career was to be short. In September, 1931, playing against Rangers at Ibrox Park, he met with a fatal accident. Yet he had played long enough to gain the highest honours football had to give. A most likeable lad, modest and unassuming, he was popular wherever he went.

"His merit as a goalkeeper shone superbly in his play. Never was there a keeper who caught and held the fastest shots with such grace and ease. In all he did there was the balance and beauty of movement wonderful to watch. Among the great Celts who have passed over, he has an honoured place."

Certainly the death of John Thomson hit the club - the officials, players and the supporters - hard and had an understandably adverse effect on subsequent performances over the next couple of seasons.

Indeed further tragedy was to hit the club just two years later when Peter Scarff, who had played in that fateful game, died from tuberculosis at the age of just 24.

John Thomson's memory has lived on with Celtic supporters, through the moving song whose words are printed overleaf, and fans still visit his graveside in Fife to pay their own respects.

And the John Thomson Memorial Committee hold an annual football tournament when children of all denominations in the Cardenden and Kinglassie areas play for the "The John Thomson Trophy".

The final thought on the tragic events of September 1931 is to remember the epitaph on John Thomson's gravestone, which reads: "They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind."

Pighead

Bah, thought this was gonna be a thread about Manchester Utd letting Dong go last week.

mike65

Very parochial tbh.

Mike

Pigman II

So long Dong!

Eirebear

Pighead wrote: »

Bah, thought this was gonna be a thread about Manchester Utd letting Dong go last week.

One of these days i may find your brand of "humour" funny, one of these days....

mike65 wrote: »

Very parochial tbh.

Mike

I dont understand? A young man loses his life on the football pitch, and people wish to remember that.
Not only as a tribute to the man himself, but also as a reminder that that football is only a game.
No matter what the teams involved are?

Take your anti Old Firm hat of just for one second Mike and see the humanity in this story?

mike65

The story does not match the headline for a kickoff, the Ibrox deaths in 1971 was a real disaster (to keep with the Old Firm theme) and individual player deaths could apply to Marc Vivien Foe for example

Better in here, thats all I'm saying.

Mike.

OhNoYouDidn't

mike65 wrote: »

Very parochial tbh.

Mike

Why did you bother sharing that with the world?

monkey9

The bloke who killed him, albeit accidentally, went onto play for Liverpool. But he never really recovered from the incident and i think retired soon after. Tragedy for him as well.

Did i hear that the Rangers fans had a flag of Sam English at the match on Sunday? Absolutey pathetic, if true.

Eirebear

mike65 wrote: »

The story does not match the headline for a kickoff, the Ibrox deaths in 1971 was a real disaster (to keep with the Old Firm theme) and individual player deaths could apply to Marc Vivien Foe for example

Better in here, thats all I'm saying.

Mike.

Of course the loss of life is nothing in comparison to the Ibrox disaster, but to my mind the headline still stands fair.
This was a tragedy, and today is the anniversary of it.

The reason i gave it its own thread was simply because i doubt many people know much about it.

I very much doubt you would have bothered too much if it was a liverpool/man utd/any other premiership teams player who was being remembered.

monkey9 wrote: »

Did i hear that the Rangers fans had a flag of Sam English at the match on Sunday? Absolutey pathetic, if true.

There may very well have been, i dont want to get into the in's and outs of it as it isnt why i started this thread.
But there was a commemoration dinner and presentation among one of the fans groups at Ibrox last month where a Silver bowl and portrait of Sam English was presented to the Club.

Sam English was treated with contempt among fans all over Scotland, despite being cleared by both clubs, and an official enquiry into the incident and the Rangers fans have recently been trying to redress that balance.

It was in no way intended to "wind up" Celtic fans.