Digitised SFA archives reveal VAR rows are tame next to 1880s outcries

The digitisation of the SFA archives – a project which is being carried out by staff at the Scottish Football Museum as part of the governing body’s 150th anniversary celebrations – has shown that unhappiness over the displays of our much-maligned whistlers and protests to their superiors are nothing new.

In fact, Richard McBrearty, the museum curator, and his colleagues have discovered the outcries which have erupted in recent months over offside, penalty kick and red card rulings are tame in comparison with the stooshies that broke out back in the 1880s.

“People talk about the controversy in the game today with VAR,” said McBrearty. “But, my goodness, to be on the SFA committee in the 1880s would have been a thankless task. A lot of it is actually quite amusing.

“The Scottish Cup was the big competition at that time. If you got knocked out of that in the early rounds it was bad for morale and prestige and financially as well. Looking through the minute books, there is page after page of protests.

“Whenever a club got knocked out, it wasn’t the end of it. They immediately protested to say it was unfair. Their complaints were frequent and wide-ranging.

“They would say the pitch dimensions didn’t meet the minimum requirements. A couple of times the SFA had to go out and measure the pitches afterwards to double check. They would report back and say: ‘Yeah, you’re right actually’. And the game would be replayed.”

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He added: “There are complaints about rough play. In those days, there were umpires and a referee. The umpires were on the pitch, one in one half of the field, the other in the other half. But they were quite biased because the clubs appointed them.

“If you had a match between, say, Renton and Vale of Leven, Renton would appoint one umpire and Vale of Leven would appoint the other umpire. As you can imagine, their decisions could be quite biased in their half of the pitch. The umpires could get in to arguments with each other.

“In the Scottish Cup, the referee would intervene. He would be the neutral official. If the umpires didn’t agree, the referee would make the decision. Quite often, the referee would be the guy pulled in afterwards because the umpires couldn’t be trusted.

“There were some bizarre complaints. I saw one entry which said the crossbar was too low. One team refused to play the game. Another team protested because there weren’t any corner flags. The team that lost the match complained. I thought: ‘Why did they play the game if corner flags are so important to you?’ The appeal was thrown out.

“The other big one was registrations. Teams were accused of playing players who weren’t registered to them. There are a lot of squabbles about money as well. Teams were accused of paying their players in that amateur era. There were investigations into whether that was the case.

“It is brilliant. When you read through it you think: ‘What is coming next? What dispute is the next page going to have?’ There were literally dozens and dozens of protests. The SFA must have been sick to the back teeth with it all. It was a really turbulent period with lots of controversy.”

Not a lot has changed in the 140 years by the sound of things.

The SFA minute books from the 1880s also chronicle the rise of professionalism in English football and the impact that contentious development had on the game north of the border – not least on the fortunes of the national team.

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“Professionalism comes in down in England in 1885,” said McBrearty. “But Scotland holds out until 1893. It is quite remarkable when you look at the level of interest and sheer amount of information gathered about professionalism in the minutes. It is seen as a real threat up here.

“When the FA adopts professionalism there is a flood of players across the border. That has a big impact on the game in Scotland. The SFA keep lists of players as and when they leave Scotland to go to Bolton, Burnley, Preston North End, the early clubs that adopt professionalism.

“These lists are important. Effectively, they are basically blacklisting them. They can’t play in Scotland, they can’t play for the international team. Up until 1896 they were banned.

“Andy Robertson and Scott McTominay, two outstanding footballers who play for major English clubs, are a source of pride for their countrymen today. Back in 1885 they would have been castigated, seen as traitors. There was a very different mindset. The SFA had to be seen to punish people who were taking money.

“They effectively picked a second string Scotland team for years. The guys who went down to England are discounted. Scotland did really well in the internationals against England up until 1885. They mainly enjoyed victories. After the players who went down south got banned, the results were poor. That went on until 1896.”

The SFA archives show that Celtic, despite only being formed in the East End of Glasgow in 1887, had become a major force in Scottish football by 1983 and were instrumental in professionalism finally being embraced.

“Celtic became a big club overnight,” said McBrearty. “They had a large fanbase waiting for them when they were set up. They played in the Scottish Cup final in 1889 within a year or so of being formed.

“You can see the clubs represented on the committees as they are formed each year. What is interesting for me is that when the clubs vote to accept professionalism in 1893 the motion is put forward by the president of Celtic, John McLaughlin.

“It is a club that is only six or seven years old, but they can see what is happening in England. They are losing players to England. There are stories of committee men going down to England to grab players before they sign for an English club and taking them back up the road. They are competing with English clubs.

“So Celtic had the clout in 1893 to put that motion forward and the other clubs vote with them. Queen’s Park didn’t want it and famously remained amateur. The minutes show there is a passionate argument.”

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With millions of documents to digitise, it is a long-term undertaking which will occupy McBrearty and the Scottish Football Museum historians, who have received financial assistance from the National Lottery Heritage Fund as well as Museums Galleries Scotland, for years to come. 

But fans can peruse the earliest records of the game in this country by logging on to the museum website and registering for free now; over 5,800 pages of the first SFA minute books and around 900 pages from the SFA annuals which were published between 1875 to 1900 are accessible. 

“I don’t think we have 0.01 per cent archived,” said McBrearty. “But there is a ton of stuff already. It is going to grow and grow. But there is a lot of good stuff up straight away. People will find some real nuggets of interest. There will be something there for all fans.”

The SFA was formed at a meeting in Dewar’s Hotel in Glasgow on this day in 1873, becoming the second national association in the world in the process, and the digitisation of their archives is one of a series of events to make the occasion.

The Heritage International between Scotland and England will be played at Hampden on September and the commemorative 150th anniversary kit for it goes on sale next week.

Elsewhere, the inaugural Week of Football, a celebration of the impact of the national game across Scotland and beyond, will take place in June between the women’s and men’s Scottish Cup finals, which will both be played for the first time at the national stadium.

Anyone wanting to access the SFA digital archives can do so through the Scottish Football Museum’s website by following the direct link from the home page or clicking the ‘Digital Archive’ option under the ‘Football for All’ tab at the top of the home screen.