Sassenachs Subdued - At Last!
Jimmy Cobain had persuaded the Scottish Executive
that the Scotland
versus England International should be staged in Glasgow,
for the first time in over ten years. Hampden was selected as the venue although at the start of the season it had neither
a concrete starting gate nor line markings at the bends. This was remedied during the Glasgow Fair break and when a fence
was erected around the track it fully justified its Grade 1 category.
After trials held at Hampden, an all Edinburgh team was selected to represent Scotland.
The meeting was held on Sunday 17th August and Les Whaley, the Glasgow Speedway promoter and James Goold, of McTaggart &
Mickel, were the guests of honour.
John Speirs had printed a large number of handbills advertising the meeting (see above) and they were
distributed at the speedway and in the local area. On a sunny afternoon there was a large crowd of perhaps six hundred spectators,
or even more. The local police also put in an attendance. Initially they were most concerned at the size of the crowd, but
were eventually persuaded that everything was under control. Jimmy Cobain was excellent in explaining to them how much work
the local youth had put into the venture and that greater support from the community would have been more appropriate. The
England team was hit by withdrawals but
put up a fine resistance before going down by ten points. This was the first time that Scotland
had ever beaten England. Hampden was generally
to prove a happy hunting ground for the Scots over the years.
The points scorers at this historic match were:
Scotland
England
1) Doug Noble (Ecurie Alba) 11 1)
John Watling 10
2) Tam Low (Ecurie Alba) 5
2) Joe Bailey 3
3) Jack Pinkerton (Sighthill) 13 3)
Frank Smith 6
4) Tam Daly (Sighthill) 4
4) Tony Johnson 6
5) John Tait (Bridgend) 9
5) John Whiting 3
6) Stuart Baxter (Bridgend) 9
6) Dave Wilson 13
7) John Mulphy (Seafield) 6 7)
Josh Gleave 6
8) Ian Archibald ( Seafield) 2 8)
Brian Moston 1