Hibs to honour six Scotland heroes with cap ceremony at club dinner

FOUR former Hibs players, and the families of two others, will be formally presented with Scotland international caps at the Easter Road club's annual awards dinner at the end of this month.

Rod Petrie, the Hibs chairman, was a key figure in the success of the campaign, supported by The Scotsman, for the Scottish Football Association to recognise 83 players whose appearances for Scotland between 1929 and 1976 did not earn them a cap under the rules in place during that time.

Two months ago, SFA chief executive David Taylor announced that the players would finally be entitled to retrospective caps and invited those eligible, or their families, to contact him at Hampden. So far, 22 applications have been received and the SFA hope to deliver the caps to those claimants within the next two weeks.

Six Hibs players, however, will be honoured at the club's Player of the Year dinner at Easter Road on 30 June in a special presentation ceremony organised by Petrie. Alex Cropley, Des Bremner, Jim Scott and Neil Martin will collect their caps personally, while the late duo of Willie Hamilton and Erich Schaedler will be represented by members of their respective families.

Eddie Turnbull, the former Hibs forward and manager, received his cap at half-time during last month's Scotland-Switzerland international at Hampden, while the SFA have also delivered a cap to author Gary Imlach, whose award-winning book about his late father Stewart, the former Nottingham Forest winger who played for Scotland at the 1958 World Cup Finals, brought the issue to light last year.

Under the rules in place from 1929 until the start of the 1976-77 season, players only received a cap from the SFA if they played in a Home International Championship fixture.

"The response we have had since the announcement in February has been fascinating," said SFA head of communications Andy Mitchell. "There have been 22 applications so far, going right back to players from the early 1930s and from a complete cross-section. Most of the applications are from players who are still alive, although in some cases they are very infirm and the contact has come from their families.

"The players concerned will all have the opportunity to come to Hampden to receive their cap if they are able but, in any case, all of those who have applied so far should have them within the next two weeks. In the case of the Hibs' players, they will receive theirs from the club as Rod Petrie has been heavily involved in the process."

Jim Scott, now 65, is the oldest of the living Hibs players who will be honoured on 30 April. The younger brother of former Rangers and Everton winger Alex Scott, Jim spent nine seasons with Hibs during which time he made his only appearance for Scotland in a 3-0 defeat by Holland at Hampden in May 1966. Scott was sold to Newcastle United for £37,500 in 1967.

Neil Martin, just two months younger than Scott, joined Hibs from Queen of the South in 1963 and spent just over two seasons at Easter Road before moving to Sunderland in a £45,000 deal. The striker made three appearances for Scotland, two of them while a Hibs player, in 1965. All three were World Cup qualifying ties, the 1-1 draw with Poland in Chorzow, 2-1 win against Finland in Helsinki and the famous 1-0 defeat of Italy at Hampden.

That victory over the Finns also saw Willie Hamilton make his sole appearance for Scotland. The revered midfielder, who also played for Hearts with whom he won two league championship medals, sadly died at the age of just 38 in 1976. The award ceremony is sure to be an emotional occasion for his family, as it will for the relatives of Erich Schaedler who played in a 2-1 friendly defeat against West Germany in Frankfurt in March 1974.

The left-back was a hugely popular figure in two spells at Easter Road. Schaedler tragically died at the age of just 36 on Christmas Eve 1985.

Alex Cropley, a gifted midfielder who spent six-and-a-half years with Hibs before joining Arsenal for £150,000 in 1974, played twice for Scotland in successive European Championship qualifying victories over Portugal and Belgium at the end of 1971. His former Easter Road team-mate Bremner, who would go on to win the European Cup with Aston Villa in 1982, only made one international appearance, as a 64th minute substitute for Kenny Dalglish during the 1-0 friendly defeat of Switzerland at Hampden in 1976.

It was the last fixture played before the SFA changed their rules for the award of international caps. Now Bremner's precious 26 minutes of service will be duly recognised along with many others.

Former Scotland players, or their families, who believe they may be entitled to claim an international cap can still contact the SFA on 0141 616 6000.

• A list of players who now qualify for a retrospective Scotland cap, published in The Scotsman on 9 February, omitted the name of Scot Symon. The Rangers player represented his country in a 3-1 win in a friendly international against Hungary in 1938.

Taken from the Scotsman