1889 Scottish Cup final

1889 Scottish Cup Final
	Illustration from 'The Scottish Referee' newspaper
Event	1888–89 Scottish Cup
Date	2 February 1889
Venue	Hampden Park, Crosshill
Referee	Charles Campbell
Attendance	18,000
Weather	Snow showers
Replay
Date	9 February 1889
Venue	Hampden Park, Crosshill
Referee	Charles Campbell
Attendance	16,000
Weather	Fine
	← 1888 1890 →

The 1889 Scottish Cup Final, colloquially known as the Snow final,^[1] was a football match played on 2 February 1889 at Hampden Park in Crosshill (today part of Glasgow) and was the final of the 16th staging of the Scottish Cup. Celtic and Third Lanark (then know officially as 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers) contested the match.

Third Lanark won the match 3–0. Due to the poor conditions and the unplayable nature of the pitch through snow, the match was ordered to be replayed the following week on 9 February 1889, where Third Lanark won again with a 2–1 victory.

The match was Third Lanark's first Scottish Cup and in Celtic's inaugural season it was their first appearance in the Scottish Cup final.

Road to the final[edit]

Third Lanark had a bye in the first round and did not enter the competition until round two. Both teams had to replay games en route to the final.

This was Celtic's first season in the Scottish Cup and indeed football, so making it to the final was quite an achievement. Their debut was a spectacular 5–1 win against Shettleston with John O'Connor scoring all five goals. Celtic eased through subsequent rounds with ease until they met Clyde in round five. Clyde won the match 1–0, but Celtic appealed the match as unplayable. Clyde had started the game in illegal footwear and by the time they changed into legal footwear, the match started late and it finished in darkness. Celtic appealed for the match to be replayed and as it was deemed unplayable by the end, the appeal went in Celtic's favour.^[2] On the replay Celtic easily routed Clyde, beating them 9–2 at Parkhead. Subsequently, Clyde appealed against the decision to replay the game, but were overruled and Celtic went through.

Third Lanark had an even more prolonged route to the final with the matches against Queens Park and Abercorn having to be replayed following appeals. The Abercorn match went to a third replay before Third Lanark finally went through.

Typical of football at the time, there were several high-scoring games, with Celtic scoring 36 goals and Third Lanark 41 goals en route to the final.

Celtic				Round	Third Lanark
Home team	Score	Away team	Celtic scorer(s)	Round	Home team	Score	Away team	Third Lanark scorer(s)
Celtic	5–1	Shettleston	O'Connor	Round One	Bye to the second round
Celtic	8–0	Cowlairs	McCallum Dunbar T Maley Kelly Groves	Round Two	Kelvinside Athletic	0–8	Third Lanark	unknown
Celtic	4–1	Albion Rovers	Gallagher Groves Dunbar T Maley	Round Three	Third Lanark	2–1	Queens Park	unknown
				Replay	Third Lanark	4–2	Queens Park	unknown
St Bernard's	1–4	Celtic	McCallum T Maley Groves	Round Four	Third Lanark	7–1	Hurlford	unknown
Clyde	1–0	Celtic		Round Five	Third Lanark	5–4	Abercorn	unknown
Celtic	9–2	Clyde	T Maley 6' 27' McLaren 10' McCallum 47' Groves 70'	Replay	Abercorn	2–2	Third Lanark	unknown
				2nd Replay	Abercorn	2–2	Third Lanark	unknown
				3rd Replay	Abercorn	1–3	Third Lanark	unknown
East Stirlingshire	1–2	Celtic	McCallum	Round Six	Third Lanark	6–1	Campsie	unknown
Dumbarton	1–4	Celtic	Groves Dunbar	Semi-finals	Third Lanark	2–0	Renton	Oswald Hannah

First match[edit]

Snow showers and strong winds had affected Glasgow on 2 February 1889. Around 11 am the officials decided that although there was a light covering of snow, the ground was playable.^[3] However, further heavy snow showers continued into the afternoon and by the time kick-off came, the pitch was ankle deep.^[1] It was decided that the match should be played, but both teams played under protest and agreed that, as the pitch was unplayable, the match would be treated as a friendly. The players threw snowballs at each other as they ran onto the pitch.^[3]

With the wind at their backs, Celtic made most of the early pressure, but despite that went a goal down on the 20th minute after Johnstone centred to Marshall to give Third Lanark the lead.^[3] In the second half Third Lanark had most of the pressure and went 2–0 up after Celtic goalkeeper Kelly dropped the snow-covered ball to let John Oswald score.^[3] Third Lanark continued to dominate the match and Hannah wrapped the game up for them with a third goal a minute from time.

The match attendance of 18,000 was a record for Scottish football at the time.^[3]

Match details[edit]

2 February 1889

15:00

Celtic	0–3	Third Lanark
		Marshall 20' John Oswald 55' Hannah 90'

Hampden Park, Crosshill

Attendance: 17,000

Referee: Charles Campbell

Teams[edit]


Celtic:
GK		John Kelly
B		Paddy Gallacher
B		Michael McKeown
HB		Willie Maley
HB		James Kelly
HB		James McLaren
FR		Neil McCallum
FR		Michael Dunbar
CF		Willie Groves
FL		John Coleman
FL		Tom Maley


Third Lanark:
GK		Robert Downie
B		John Rae
B		Andrew Thomson
HB		John Auld
HB		Robert McFarlane
HB		Alex Lochhead
FR		John Marshall
FR		John Oswald
CF		Jimmy Hannah
FL		William Johnstone
FL		Jimmy Oswald

Both teams unchanged for replay.

Aftermath[edit]

Two days later, on 4 February 1889, a special meeting of the Scottish Football Association was held to discuss the match.^[4] Both teams claimed that prior to the match they had agreed that because of the poor playing conditions it would be played as a friendly. Although a signed document was produced to show that the teams had agreed to play the match as a friendly, it was challenged by some members. Airdrieonians representative Mr Reid moved that the agreement should not be recognised and the result should stand. The referee, Charles Campbell, and his umpires were then questioned and stated that the ground had been unplayable.^[5] Following this admission it was unanimously agreed that the tie be replayed the following Saturday.

Replay[edit]

The replay took place the following week on 9 February 1889, this time in fine conditions, though on a hard pitch. Attendance at the match is believed to have been as many as 18,000–20,000 spectators.^[6] Shortly before kickoff Third Lanark handed in a protest about having to play on the pitch and having to replay the match.^[6] Despite their protest the game went ahead, and as Third Lanark won the toss they chose to play with the wind on their back.^[6]

The teams were evenly matched in the early stages, but Celtic's Coleman had to retire early injured and so Celtic had to play the remainder of the match with ten men. Third Lanark then had the bulk of possession, but it was Celtic who went closest as McCallum hit the post.^[6] The deadlock was broken in the 23rd minute when Third Lanark's Marshall scrambled the ball home from close range; Kelly saved the shot but it was judged to have crossed the line. In the second half, Celtic had most of the pressure and spurned a number of chances before a McCallum header equalised for them in the 67th minute.^[6] Despite Celtic bossing the remainder of the match, it was Third Lanark who scored next with John Oswald scoring the winner late in the game.^[6] This was the first of Third Lanark's two Scottish Cups; they won again in 1905.

Match details[edit]

9 February 1889

15:00

Celtic	1–2	Third Lanark
McCallum 67'		Marshall 23' John Oswald

Hampden Park, Crosshill

Attendance: 16,000

Referee: Charles Campbell

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b "Third Lanark Athletic Club History". Third-Lanark.co.uk. 30 December 2011. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
^ "none", The Scotsman, Edinburgh, p. 5, 5 December 1888
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Scottish Cup Final Tie", The Herald, Glasgow, p. 12, 4 February 1889
^ "1889-02-05:Scottish Cup Final, Protest Meeting". The Celtic Wiki. 30 December 2011.
^ "Notes on Football And Other Sports", The Herald, Glasgow, p. 12, 11 February 1889
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Saturday's Football Matches. | Scottish Cup Competition–Final Tie", The Herald, Glasgow, p. 12, 11 February 1889

External links[edit]

[snow-1] "Third Lanark Athletic Club History". Third-Lanark.co.uk. 30 December 2011. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2011.

[2] "none", The Scotsman, Edinburgh, p. 5, 5 December 1888

[1889report-3] "Scottish Cup Final Tie", The Herald, Glasgow, p. 12, 4 February 1889

[4] "1889-02-05:Scottish Cup Final, Protest Meeting". The Celtic Wiki. 30 December 2011.

[5] "Notes on Football And Other Sports", The Herald, Glasgow, p. 12, 11 February 1889

[1889report2-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Saturday's Football Matches. | Scottish Cup Competition–Final Tie", The Herald, Glasgow, p. 12, 11 February 1889

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Scottish Cup
Seasons	1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80 1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–1919 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–1946 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Finals	1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915–1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940–1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
List of finals Winning managers Scottish Qualifying Cup

v t e Celtic F.C. matches
Scottish Cup Finals	1889 1892 1893 1894 1899 1900 1901 1902 1904 1907 1908 1909 1911 1912 1914 1923 1925 1926 1927 1928 1931 1933 1937 1951 1954 1955 1956 1961 1963 1965 1966 1967 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1977 1980 1984 1985 1988 1989 1990 1995 1999 2001 2002 2004 2005 2007 2011 2013 2017 2018 2019 2020 2023
Scottish League Cup Finals	1956 1957 1964 1965 1966 1967 1969 (April) 1969 (October) 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1978 1982 1984 (March) 1986 1990 1994 1997 2000 2001 2003 2006 2009 2011 2012 2015 2016 (November) 2017 2018 2019 2021 (December) 2023 (February)
SFL Championship Play-offs	1905
European Cup Finals	1967 1970
UEFA Cup Final	2003
Intercontinental Cup	1967
Other matches	1888 Glasgow Exhibition Cup Final 1901 Glasgow International Exhibition Cup Final 1902 British League Cup Final 1938 Empire Exhibition Trophy Final Coronation Cup Final (1953) CNE Cup of Champions (1968) 1971 Ibrox disaster Dubai Champions Cup (1986, 1989) Rangers 2–2 Celtic (1987) 2007 MLS All-Star Game Lincoln Red Imps 1–0 Celtic (2016)

v t e Third Lanark Athletic Club
Club	List of players Managers List of seasons
Grounds	First Cathkin Park Second Cathkin Park
Scottish Cup finals	1876 1878 1889 1905 1906 1936
Other matches	1889 World Championship 1959 Scottish League Cup final

1889 Scottish Cup final

Road to the final[edit]

First match[edit]

Match details[edit]

Teams[edit]

Aftermath[edit]

Replay[edit]

Match details[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Premium Membership

€4.95

Create a Premium Account quick and easy

Save your Favourite Pages

Listen to any page in Audio

Colour Night Mode