First floodlight football match in Scotland

[Penny Tray]

Does anyone know or is prepared to hazard a guess at when the first floodlight football match took place in Scotland?

[bonzo]

Think it was stenny can't mind who against, I have a mate who's a fan tells us this story EVERY time I meet him

[Penny Tray]

Bonzo,

I see the one I think your friend is referring to:-

GLASGOW HERALD
8 NOVEMBER 1951

"Hibernian beat Stenhousemuir 5-3 at Ochilview Park last night (7/11/1951) when floodlighting was used.

Mulherran (2), Turnbull, Johnstone, and Sounness scored for Hibernian and Miller (penalty), Kerr, and J. Allan for Stenhousemuir."

However, I think there may be a challenge to this!

[bonzo]

Hope there is an earlier one. So I can put this story to bed with the wee Larbert nyaff

[GEODGC]

There's evidence to suggest the first game under floodlights was played as far back as 1878 at Cathkin Park. It's mentioned briefly in the link below.


http://footysphere.com/post/11947171236 ... lit-firsts

[Penny Tray]

Well done GEOGDC, that was the one I had in mind. Here is the report from the 26 October 1878 issue of the Glasgow Herald. The date took me by surprise.

FOOTBALL UNDER ELECTRIC LIGHT

Last night a football match was played at Cathkin Park under electric light. The game was only a partial success from the fact that there was only one light. A single machine was of course insufficient to light up the whole field at one time, and had to be directed all over the ground after the ball. Sometimes the light made false starts, and now and then the players were left in total darkness. With two or three machines it would have been possible to have played the game as well as in daylight, the only disadvantage attending the electric light being the dazzling glare of it when it shone on the eye. The light was mounted on a tower about 50 feet high, immediately behind the grand stand, on the western side of the field, and was under the direction of Mr. Joshua Horton, Gordon Street. So far as the power of the light was concerned there was nothing left to desire; in the farthest corner of the field it was bright enough for reading purposes.

The competing teams were the 3rd L.R.V. and the Vale of Leven. The game itself is hardly worth describing. Under the circumstances the players could not work with their usual skill and certainty, and the result of the match will not seriously affect the prestige of either club.

The Vale of Leven won by 2 goals to 1.

Inside the park there were about 10,000 people, a commendable number of whom were ladies; and all round the outside there must have been as many more.

The weather was dry during the game but the rain came on again just after time was called.

[brian f]

This (HIBS )game came a close second.

The first floodlit match we know about took place on the 14th October 1878 at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, between teams selected by the Sheffield Football Association from local sides. Football in Sheffield in the 1870s was far further developed towards a recognisable modern form than elsewhere, and the city was a logical choice for the first attempt. This was followed by a poorly-received floodlit match at the Kennington Oval, and then something more interesting at the Powderhall Grounds in Edinburgh on November 11th.

The interest in the Edinburgh match lies in the choice of teams. One was a select Edinburgh FA XI. The other team was Hibs.

Hibernian have always been an Irish team. What that meant for them in 1870s Edinburgh was what it meant for all of the relatively poor Irish community, which clustered around the cheap, insanitary Cowgate and Grassmarket : prejudice and isolation. Hibs had their start from an inspirational, hardworking Irish Catholic priest, but even the best of men from that background had trouble receiving acceptance from the local sporting bodies, who were keen to remain Protestant monopolies. Neither the Scottish FA, nor the Edinburgh FA wanted to know, during Hibs’ hard early days, and actual fixtures proved hard to arrange.

So a match against an Edinburgh FA XI represented a real advance, and an opportunity to break out of an imposed ghetto situation. How this was arranged, and how the London lighting company E. Patterson got involved, isn’t clear. But Hibs’ breakthrough happened under the lights.

Five lights altogether: three at the west end of the ground, and two at the east, reckoned to total 6,000 candles altogether. Forty years to the day before the armistice to end World War One, at 7.30 pm, Hibernians ventured into the spotlight in front of 500 people who’d braved the dark, the cold and a snowstorm to see them take on the Edinburgh XI. That the lights proved to work was a sign that Hibs luck was changing: their 3-0 victory was another.

One light at each end would fail as the game progressed, but the others proved up to the task. In the 1890s, West Ham (as Thames Ironworks) would test floodlighting almost to destruction, and they whitewashed the ball periodically to keep it visible. Did Hibs? In a snowstorm? Probably not..

[Penny Tray]

Here is the report from the 26 October 1878 issue of the Glasgow Herald.

FOOTBALL UNDER ELECTRIC LIGHT

Last night a football match was played at Cathkin Park under electric light. The game was only a partial success from the fact that there was only one light. A single machine was of course insufficient to light up the whole field at one time, and had to be directed all over the ground after the ball. Sometimes the light made false starts, and now and then the players were left in total darkness. With two or three machines it would have been possible to have played the game as well as in daylight, the only disadvantage attending the electric light being the dazzling glare of it when it shone on the eye. The light was mounted on a tower about 50 feet high, immediately behind the grand stand, on the western side of the field, and was under the direction of Mr. Joshua Horton, Gordon Street. So far as the power of the light was concerned there was nothing left to desire; in the farthest corner of the field it was bright enough for reading purposes.

The competing teams were the 3rd L.R.V. and the Vale of Leven. The game itself is hardly worth describing. Under the circumstances the players could not work with their usual skill and certainty, and the result of the match will not seriously affect the prestige of either club.

The Vale of Leven won by 2 goals to 1.

Inside the park there were about 10,000 people, a commendable number of whom were ladies; and all round the outside there must have been as many more.

The weather was dry during the game but the rain came on again just after time was called.

GLASGOW HERALD
28 OCTOBER 1878
LETTER TO THE EDITOR

52 Gordon Street,
October 26, 1878.

Sir,

FOOTBALL AND ELECTRICITY

Your criticism with reference to the electric light used at a match played on the night of the 25th inst., is in my estimation, rather too severe, and I think would convey to the mind of any person who was not present an idea that although the power or quantity of the light was sufficient, the effect was confined to much narrower limits than was actually the case. I therefore ask your indulgence in allowing me a few words in explanation. The truth is soon told.

The reflector intended for the purpose had not arrived from the Conintent at the time required, and as the game had to be played, there was no alternative but to use a reflector of a totally different construction; but had there been time to have allowed me to remove the stand which carried the lamp from the side to the end of the field, this reflector would have illuminated the whole area, and at the same time two others of same size as it put end-to-end. This will be shown in a few days. One of your contemporaries states that the light was confined to a space measuring 20 yards by 70 yards; but that is sheer nonsense, and not only that, but impossible with the reflector used on the occasions alluded to, as under it a newspaper might be read within an area of 200 ft. by 1200 ft., and should any person require ocular demonstration on this point, I shall be pleased to give an opportunity of judging.

I am &c.

Joshua Horton.

[Hughie]

To add to this. I was at the friendly match between Rangers and Eintracht in 1961 at the inauguration of the new floodlights at Hampden Park - there were over 100,000 fans there. Rangers, probably for the first time abandoned their usual strip and wore silk looking vertical striped blue and white strips.

[BWalsh]

Surely the first floodlit matches must have been under the street lights in most Scottish towns and cities. Usually about 20-a-side.

[bonzo]

Surely the first floodlit matches must have been under the street lights in most Scottish towns and cities. Usually about 20-a-side.

Played in a few of them, bruising encounters jumpers for goalposts and each post was about 2 feet wide