J. R. Wilson.
During the past season, Mr. Wilson, who had been abroad for a number of years, made a visit to his native city, and was welcomed back by his old friends of the field with remarkable pleasure. No man in the club was more highly beloved and respected, and, in after years, when his brother Walter joined the club and played in several of the leading matches, the pair rarely if ever missed a practice evening. Mr. Wilson was very fast on the ball, and went right ahead when he got possession. In 1874 he was chosen to play for Glasgow against Sheffield. In the cup tie which is now under notice he made some very fine runs, and did much to make a name for the old Clydesdale. It is with much regret I have to announce that Mr. Wilson died in Glasgow only a month ago.
James M'Arly.
A hard worker and plucky tackler was Mr. M'Arly. For a long series of years he was one of the finest batsmen in cricket that Glasgow produced. Contemporary with Mr. Thos. Chalmers (Caledonian), the pair often met on the field for their respective clubs; but so far as football is concerned Chalmers played the Rugby game for the Glasgow Academicals, while his contemporary was half-back in the Association Clydesdale. About a dozen years ago he went to Manchester, where he is engaged as partner in a large calico printing business; and the other day I had a chat with him about old times, and he enjoyed it immensely.
John Kennedy.
Pressed into the service of his club on very short notice, Mr. Kennedy played in the tie as a substitute. He had only been a few weeks at the game when the match took place, but the young and rising generation of players must remember the substitutes were few in those days, and it is not the first time I have seen a match played with one of the clubs a man short. Kennedy played as a forward, but afterwards developed into a very fair back, and showed capital judgment in that position.
J. J. Lang.
Originally a member of the 3rd L.R.V., Lang left that club and joined the Clydesdale in 1874. He played in the final, I think, as centre forward, and backed up Mr. J. R. Wilson. Possessing splendid dribbling powers, he was a very "showy" player, but his short steps did not make anything like the progress with the ball one imagined at the time. He was a somewhat heavy charger when he got the chance, and frequently preferred to take his man before the ball.
A Final Charity Cup Tie Eleven Years Ago.
Bringing my reminiscences down to 1879, the year above all others when Association football was, so to speak, in a kind of transition stage, the clubs that earned the greatest fame, and justly so, were the Queen's Park, Rangers, and Vale of Leven. Who, among all the gallant throng that played in those clubs—and, for that part of it, the spectators—can forget the exciting tussles engaged in by the trio? In this year the Rangers met the Vale of Leven in the final tie for the Association Challenge Cup, and also in the final for the Charity. Party, or shall I say club, feeling ran as high, if not higher, than now, the excitement was great, and intensified by the fact that the Leven men had been eventually awarded the Association Cup without playing off the drawn match, in consequence of the Rangers not turning up. Later on, too, the crack Dumbartonshire eleven overthrew the Queen's Park in the semi-final of the charities, on Glasgow Green, by four goals to none. Well, it was on Tuesday evening, 20th May, that the battle came off on Old Hampden Park, and both the Rangers and Vale of Leven mustered in strong force. Lovely weather helped to swell the crowd, and some 12,000 people were inside the ground. The Vale of Leven scored almost at once by Mr. M'Dougall, and this looked like the prelude to victory. The Rangers, however, set their teeth, and before the contest closed vanquished their powerful opponents by scoring a couple of goals—one by Mr. Struthers, and another out of a scrimmage. Since then eleven years have come and gone, and with them a new generation of football players. Seeing that the Rangers were the victors, I shall proceed to give sketches of their eleven who played on the occasion, and deal with the Vale of Leven afterwards.