With the above post, Brian got me thinking back to the mid to late 1950s. Wasn't there a match between Rangers and an East German military team when the Germans came out wearing side arms? I suppose it would have had to have been in what was communist East Germany at that time, not Ibrox.
Armed footballers
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Re: Armed footballers
Before my time Hughie. I will politely pass and leave it to the likes of Penny, George, etc.
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Re: Armed footballers
I would need to research it but Hughie is probably thinking of a match in the early 60s against VORWARTS when there was concern regarding opposition players defecting to the West, so they might have been accompanied by KGB or other agencies. Again from memory the away tie was maybe played in Sweden as opposed to Berlin - and in the morning because of fog on the scheduled match night.
I'll need to go and look it up now to satisfy my own curiosity.
And by the way, I'm younger that auld Hughie - but I did follow the fortunes of Rangers in Europe at the material time
I'll need to go and look it up now to satisfy my own curiosity.
And by the way, I'm younger that auld Hughie - but I did follow the fortunes of Rangers in Europe at the material time
Last edited by Penny Tray on Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Armed footballers
Got some of the things right, Rangers did travel to East Berlin (I didn't think they had) where they won 2-1. The East Germans were then refused visas to travel to Scotland (I thought it was Rangers who were refused visas to enter East Germany) and the match went to Malmo, Sweden. The evening game was abandoned because of thick fog, and, as I suggested, played at 10 'oclock the next morning when Rangers won 4-1.
And we're talking November 1961.
And we're talking November 1961.
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Re: Armed footballers
The Royal Engineers
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Thanks Penny, didn't think it was as late as 1961. But there we are. Wonder how many defected?
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Re: Armed footballers
Two apparently, Hughie
This from Ian Duff (Gallimaufry)
https://iainduff.wordpress.com/2015/05/ ... war-clash/
'After the abandoned game, two of the Vorwärts party, including interpreter Karl Ernst Zelm, defected, vanishing from the hotel where the teams were staying. Earlier in the evening, at a reception organised by Rangers, Zelm had approached Ibrox secretary James Simpson and some of the players, pleading for help in his bid to be reunited with his fiancee in West Germany. Suspecting they were being set up by Communists, the Scots declined to help, but the club officials still managed to make their escape and handed themselves in to Swedish police.'
This from Ian Duff (Gallimaufry)
https://iainduff.wordpress.com/2015/05/ ... war-clash/
'After the abandoned game, two of the Vorwärts party, including interpreter Karl Ernst Zelm, defected, vanishing from the hotel where the teams were staying. Earlier in the evening, at a reception organised by Rangers, Zelm had approached Ibrox secretary James Simpson and some of the players, pleading for help in his bid to be reunited with his fiancee in West Germany. Suspecting they were being set up by Communists, the Scots declined to help, but the club officials still managed to make their escape and handed themselves in to Swedish police.'
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Re: Armed footballers
Thanks Irene, Very interesting bit of football history as far as Rangers are concerned. Thanks for the link.
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Re: Armed footballers
If we're now talking about teams with strong military connections, Ill put forward the name of THIRD LANARK who originated from the 3rd Lanark Rifle Volunteers.
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Re: Armed footballers
Penny Tray wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2020 10:33 am If we're now talking about teams with strong military connections, Ill put forward the name of THIRD LANARK who originated from the 3rd Lanark Rifle Volunteers.
Penny Tray, I can just about remember Third Lanark. Had you heard of St Bernards FC?
St Bernard's Football Club were a football club based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The club was established in 1878 and joined the Scottish Football League. They played at several different grounds before making the Royal Gymnasium Ground their long-term home. However, after having to sell it in 1943, the club was dissolved.
The club was originally the Third Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers —like Third Lanark, it was a team linked to the territorial movement of the Victorian era— who had been inspired to set up a football team after watching an exhibition match between Queen's Park and Clydesdale. Buying a ball at Percival King's sports shop in Lothian Street, they formed a club at the British League of Abstainers' office in February 1874.
The club took its name from St Bernard's Well, a local landmark on the Water of Leith
Originally the club played at The Meadows along with Heart of Midlothian and later also Hibernian, before moving to their own ground, firstly at Powburn Park in Newington and then to John Hope's Park in Stockbridge, where its close proximity to the then playing fields of Edinburgh Academy helped them gain a following. Those in charge of the Third Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers began to see the club as a distraction, and this resulted in the club divorcing itself from the regiment in 1878, as James Dunn and George Heathcote rechristened the club "St Bernard's" (with an apostrophe) after the famous St Bernard's Well sitting on the banks of the Water of Leith nearby, and which formed the badge of the club.
St Bernard's F.C. - Wikipedia
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Re: Armed footballers
Brian,
I was aware of St. Bernard's but not that, like Third Lanark, they had originated from rifle volunteers.
I was aware of St. Bernard's but not that, like Third Lanark, they had originated from rifle volunteers.
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