Derby pioneers: How Hearts helped Hibs in the late 19th century

Published on Sunday 13 May 2012 02:36

Shunned by Scottish football due to their Irish roots, Hibs finally found an unlikely ally in Hearts

SOME 137 years ago, football clubs understood, as they do now, that local rivalries, however parochial and petty, are good for the game. When Hibernian could persuade no-one else to play against them in the earliest days of their existence – primarily because of their strong Irish identity – they found an unlikely ally in Heart of Midlothian.

Born of the Catholic Young Men’s Society (CYMS), based in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, known at that time as Little Ireland, Hibernian were not welcome to participate in the development of Scottish football, at least not until late in 1875, when their inaugural fixture was an early version of the Edinburgh derby. The first recorded match between the sides took place on Christmas Day of that year.

Amid a climate of prejudice against the Irish, a belief – perpetuated by the football authorities – that it was a gentlemen’s game, for skilled artisans rather than immigrant labourers, it is not clear exactly why it was Hearts who broke ranks, but David Speed, a historian of the club, says that it was in the best interests of football in the capital.

“Our relationship with Hibs was always recognised by our club as essential to the development of the game in Edinburgh,” says Speed. “Because they represented a community, Hibs was well supported from the outset and any club that could challenge them also received great support. This attracted crowds, made private grounds essential and introduced lucrative income.”

Until then, a primitive form of the game was played in the Meadows, an expanse of parkland that still exists on the city’s south side. Representatives of various teams would arrive there early in the morning, claim a pitch and stay there to guard it until kick-off time. If it was not jackets for goalposts, it was two pairs of sticks, joined by a stretch of tape.

In his history of the club, called The Hearts, Albert Mackie describes chaotic scenes in which all were still learning about football, with spectators encroaching on the pitch and referees routinely abused. In one cup tie, six goals were disallowed for the winning team, all of them legitimate.

Hibs were founded on 6 August 1875 when it was decided that the CYMS, based in St Patrick’s Church for the previous decade, could develop its members further by establishing a football team for them to play in. Living by the motto, Erin go bragh – or Ireland Forever – they are sometimes accused of being Scotland’s first sectarian club, not that players of another religious persuasion would have been remotely interested in joining.

Led by their first captain, Michael Whelahan – whose great, great, great grand nephew, Pat Stanton, would skipper the club a century later – Hibernian were ambitious and innovative in their approach, keener than other clubs to improve their fitness and technique, which they did in training sessions at Holyrood Park or, during inclement weather, in the St Mary’s Street Halls where they were based.

This was healthy for the individuals, but of limited use to the club, who sought recognition, the right to play competitive matches, and the support that these developments would bring. The Edinburgh Football Association, now the East of Scotland FA, rejected their application for membership. As did the Scottish Football Association, which is reported to have declared: “We are catering for Scotsmen, not Irishmen.” The EFA is said to have advised member clubs, one of which was Heart of Midlothian, not to play against the Irish newcomers.

It was against this backdrop that Hibernian made the bold move of asserting themselves. In his excellent history, The Making of Hibernian, Alan Lugton describes how a squad of them would leave the Cowgate at six on a Saturday morning, cart their posts along to the east half of the Meadows, and – with the help of “navvies and coal-heavers”, who would later become supporters – claim and guard a pitch. Lugton says it “often had to be protected with fists as there were anti-Catholic mobs who did not wish to see the Meadows being shared with an Irish team”.

The idea was to play practice matches among themselves, and hope that, one day, someone would see fit to challenge them. Eventually, a Hibernian game was reported to have been played on 25 December 1875, when the opponents were Heart of Midlothian, a club that had been around for a year or two, and already were members of the SFA and the EFA. There is no indication that either of the governing bodies attempted to have the match cancelled.

Heart of Midlothian, who were used to playing against Thistle and Third Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers – later to become St Bernard’s – had a romantic ring to them. Some say that they were named after a dancing hall just off the Royal Mile, others that it was a reference to the old jail that was pulled down in 1817, or just the Walter Scott novel that gave the words continued prominence.

They were not yet playing in the famous maroon, settling instead for red, white and blue. Hibs had white shirts, with green trim and a harp on the breast. Only the Rifle Volunteers had a “stripping box” at the Meadows, so teams either turned up in their kit – if thick sweaters could be called that – or dressed at their respective bases. Hibs did so in a local school, Hearts in an upstairs room of Anderson’s Tavern, a hostelry in West Crosscauseway.

Information on the Christmas Day match is sketchy to say the least. A few hundred spectators watched what is thought to have been a slow game, with more dribbling than passing. Despite having only eight men for the first 20 minutes, Heart of Midlothian triumphed 1-0. Wylie and Laidlaw were reported in The Scotsman two days later to be the star turns against Hibernian, for whom Cavanagh and Byrne also shone.

This, then, was the first recorded Edinburgh derby, although Mackie details in his book an interview in 1939 with John Cochrane, who was an inside right for Hearts during their first three seasons. Cochrane recalled a meeting of the clubs in 1875, when the final score was 3-1 to Hearts. He describes a rousing occasion in which spectators crowded the Hibs goal, so much so that, when Hearts looked like scoring, they would push the posts together so that the tape sagged.

It could be that Cochrane’s memory was playing tricks on him but, if it wasn’t and there was indeed a match between Hibs and Hearts before the one on 25 December, a lot of people have been misled, including those who erected the commemorative sign that still stands on Jawbone Walk, the pathway through the Meadows.

The Christmas Day match was certainly the first to make the newspapers, which also reported that Young Tom Morris, the 24-year-old pioneer of professional golf, a winner of four consecutive Open Championships, had died of a heart attack on the same day.

Either way, this was the era of Queen Victoria, when Benjamin Disraeli was prime minister and Arthur Conan Doyle walked the streets of Edinburgh. When the clubs’ respective supports gather at Hampden on Saturday, celebrating their differences, and wishing each other the worst of luck, they would do well to reflect for a moment on how far they have come. Together.

Taken from the Scotsman