J. J. Gow (Queen's Park).
It has just occurred to me, and I can't see how the illustration might not with equal force be applied to football as in the honest range of every-day life, that if a "round-robin" were sent about the clubs that tackled the Q.P. in their best matches in the past decade, I am certain that the verdict about the man who was most feared in all the elevens, the name of Mr. J. J. Gow would come out first. He was, in fine, a half-back that the Q.P. had reason to feel proud. Half-backs might come and go—as they undoubtedly did—but Gow seemed in his football career to go on for ever. The most mysterious thing about him was that he was always in the same form, and never had any practice. Football at half-back seemed to come to him by nature, and cost him no effort. He could return splendidly, but at close tackling, and in clearing the ball away, he was sometimes a little slack, and had to make it up by sheer force of hard work.
Alexander Hamilton (Queen's Park).
Not long ago, while "doing" a match at Hampden Park (I think it was Q.P. v. Battlefield, in the Glasgow Cup), I met my old friend in the pavilion looking on and enjoying the sport. Like the M'Neils, the Hamiltons are a football family, and while Mr. James, who is now an active member of the present Q.P., will come under my pen later on, I have only at present to deal with Mr. Alexander. Well, he was something in his day, and by no means to be despised as a forward. He was not a fast dribbler, but when hard work was required, and wasn't it just in the great match against the professional Preston North End, when the Q.P. were able to hold their own, Mr. Hamilton never played better in his life.
William Sellar (Queen's Park).
I have for the most part been dealing with the past, and it is no force of imagination to come straight to the living present, and add that a better left-wing player never appeared in any club or combination of players than Mr. William Sellar. He has a style of his own which is, to give the Battlefield its due, peculiar to that club's ability in the dribbling game. Mr. Sellar did not learn all his football in the Queen's Park, but really perfected his style on Hampden Park, and he is undoubtedly, at the present time, the most brilliant forward in Scotland. Gentlemanly in every sense of the word, Sellar is the fairest player that ever faced an opponent, and no man is more respected on the field. In addition to this contest, he played against England in 1886, 1887, and 1888. It may be mentioned that in 1890, in playing against the 3rd L.R.V., he played from the left in a style never excelled by any forward.
Joseph Lindsay (Dumbarton).
Before this date, Mr. Joseph Lindsay was what might be called an old hand at Internationals, as he had appeared before England in 1881 and 1884, and Wales in 1880, 1881, 1884, and 1885. It is not too much to say of him that he was the most dangerous forward (to an opponent, I mean) of his day, and if the backs were in any way slack, Lindsay "spread dismay around," as he was a dead shot at goal, and rarely, if ever, missed a chance if he got within a dozen yards of the sticks. Lindsay was the best forward in many respects that ever toed a ball for Dumbarton. He was, however, sorely tried in the finishing year of his football life, and in many of the leading matches so closely watched by the opposing backs that he was sometimes fairly done for, and could not get the ball away.
David S. Allan (Queen's Park).
Like Sir Roger de Coverley's definition of a great ethical question to one of his numerous friends, "that much might be said of one point," the illustration holds good when applied to Mr. David Allan. Popularity has its duties as well as its privileges, and there is not a single forward in broad Scotland who is so popular and so much beloved by club companions and opponents alike as Mr. Allan. He is, in fine, the most useful man in the Queen's Park, and while all of us seem to grow older as each season comes round, Allan has always that juvenile look which undoubtedly betokens an easy and contented mind. He is not what might be called a brilliant and showy forward, but I'll back him to do the best hour and a half of heavy work in the world without any outward sign of fatigue. I verily believe if Allan were forced to do it, he could play in any part of the field with a few minutes' notice.