Sunderland v Middlesbrough, the first competitive matches

Sunderland’s first competitive match against Middlesbrough was in the 1887/88 FA Cup. It proved to be a controversial affair that took two ties to decide on the pitch but was ultimately decided by the rule book then in place with the loser going through. 

Sunderland beat Morpeth Harriers 3-2 in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup in 1887/88. The Wearsiders then knocked out Newcastle West End 3-1 at home after extra time in the second qualifying match played before a 7,000 crowd at Newcastle Road. 

Sunderland travelled to face Boro, who are the older of the two clubs and were formed on 18 February 1876, four years before Sunderland on 25 September 1880, on Saturday 26 November. The match was played at Linthorpe Road and drew a crowd of 7,000 including nearly 3,000 away fans who journeyed south on two special trains. The game took place on a sticky pitch and conditions were made further difficult for the teams by a strong wind. 

Having won the toss, Sunderland chose to play with the wind to their backs, the hope being to build up a good half time lead before playing the second period kicking into the wind. With five minutes left of the first half remaining it appeared that such a tactic was misplaced but then following some intricate passing G Cloag beat McNellis in the Boro goal to give his side the lead. Two minutes later the scorer repeated his earlier feat and at the break Sunderland led 2-0.

The restart saw Boro pile forward and the away defence were put under severe pressure before on 54 minutes McCrie beat Bill Kirtley by lofting the ball over the Sunderland keeper. Six minutes later the tie was all square when Dennis hit a beautiful shot past Kirtley, who was the only Sunderland player from the XI that day who went on to play League football for the club when Sunderland were elected to the League in 1890 

It seemed certain that Boro would now go on to beat their opponents. Kirtley’s goal kicks were blown out of touch by the strong wind. Time after time Boro put shots narrowly wide as Sunderland worked tirelessly to prevent the winning goal. The away side was though fortunate when Albert Borrie’s long shot crashed against the post and Bache failed to net the rebound. 

The game thus ended at 2-2 and despite the dark conditions the referee Mr R Crawford of East End insisted on playing 30 minutes extra time. The crowd though had invaded the pitch and after it was clear those spectators occupying the playing surface could not be removed the referee left the ground. The teams were later ordered to restart hostilities at Sunderland the following weekend. 

Each club received £34 7s 9d (£34.38) from the share of the gate receipts and knew before the second match that the winners would receive a bye into the last 16, where they would face London side Old Foresters. 

The replay at Newcastle Road again attracted another enormous crowd with around 9,000 present, a then record crowd for the North east. This time it was Middlesbrough’s turn to dominate the first period. The 3,000 travelling fans were celebrating after just two minutes when Wilson’s shot cannoned off the post and over the line to give the away side the lead. 

Against a strong wind Sunderland struggled to clear their lines and on 29 minutes a fierce scrimmage in front of the home goal resulted in Ewbank making it 2-0. Thereafter the Sunderland full back and keeper played magnificently to prevent Boro adding to the score before the referee, who had warned the sides beforehand about rough play, sounded the half time whistle with Sunderland remarkably still in the tie. 

The deficit was cut within a minute of the restart when McNellis fumbled the ball and G Monaghan scored and soon after a scrimmage in front of the Boro goal ended when a shot, later credited to Samuel Stewart, went into the goal off Millers back. On 52 minutes Arnold Davison cracked home Sunderland’s third and the home fans went crazy with hats, umbrellas and anything they could find going up into the air. 

Try as they might after that the away side could not force the Sunderland side back towards their own goal. It was no surprise that with just three minutes left Thomas Halliday fired home the fourth for the Wearsiders to make it 4-2. After the game the teams dined together at the Royal Hotel. So pleased were some of the Sunderland fans that they carried one or two of the players to reception and remained outside the hotel for quite some time. 

The celebrations were to prove premature. 

Professionalism had been legally introduced into football in 1885 but in 1887 the FA rules decreed that any professional not local to a team had to live no more than six miles away over a two-year period if they were to play in FA competitions. The aim of such a rule was to prevent teams hiring in players to play one off big matches and with League football yet to be started then there was no bigger game than an FA Cup tie. Especially against one of your local rivals! 

On 27 December 1887, at the North-Eastern Hotel, Darlington the beaten Teesside club were able to prove that G Monaghan, Andrew Hastings and Joe Richardson, all from Dumfries, were professional players. As they had all arrived together in Sunderland in August 1887 then they had not fulfilled the two-year residency period required to play in the FA Cup. 

Sunderland were thrown out of the competition and the growing rivalry between the two North Eastern teams began to take on a more negative edge to it. 

Boro went on to beat Old Foresters 4-0 but were knocked out in the quarter finals of the FA Cup when Crewe Alexandra won 2-0 at Linthorpe Road. It was to be many, many years before Boro did make it to the semi-final of a competition they have never won. 

Want to know more about SAFC’s early history?  A good place to start is to collect the two books written by Paul Days on the period 1880-1890. Volume 1 covers the period 1888-87 and Volume 2 covers the years from 1887 to 1890 when the club then entered the Football league.

http://ryehillfootball.co.uk/product/founding-fathers-the-men-who-made-sunderland-afc-volume-i/

Schools step up to fill gaps left by our fragile state

My friend sent me this about 2 week back but it remains relevant today. As the head at the school might react badly to me publishing it then I have protected the sender's anonymity.  

Many schools have been stepping up to the plate to fill in some of the gaps left over by the failures of our fragile state, from providing PPE through to caring for the vulnerable. 

The following is a summary of the work that has been done in school so far:

1. Polypropylene sheets from the Design and Performance department have been delivered to a local company who are using them to produce the headbands for visors that will be taken to NHS hospitals. 
2. Staff and students have been using A3 laminating pouches and strong ribbon to create the face masks week.  …. Infirmary A&E department have taken 100 to begin with last week, and asked for 3-400 more this week. Another 15 each have gone to 6 local care homes. Other local care homes and charities have been in contact with school to request face masks if we can increase production.
3. Easter gift packs and toiletry ‘comfort packs’ were delivered to …  hospice for their residents last week.
4. Food parcels delivered to families of students within 24 hours where necessary.
5. Fresh fruit and vegetables delivered to …  a local help the homeless and vulnerable homeless non-profit.
6. Over 150 food bags now delivered to support local care homes and the communities of local churches.
7. All students regularly contacted. Vulnerable students in contact with a member of staff every day or two.
8. Pen friend letters written by students to residents of 4 local care homes.
9. Easter hampers were sent to 5 wards at … hospital 
10. Quizzes made by staff and students, and video recordings of them, delivered to local care homes to help staff keep residents entertained

Eddie Quigley, one time world transfer fee record holder

What do Neymar and Eddie Quigley have in common? Both have held the World Record Transfer fee record at one time.

The Brazilian forward was transferred from Barcelona to Paris St Germain for £198 million in the summer of 2017. Quigley, a burly Lancastrian, cost a more modest £26,500 when he moved, from Sheffield Wednesday to Preston North End, for a then World Record Transfer fee in December 1949. 

Quigley, who was equally at home as an inside or centre-forward, possessed subtle passing skills, an ability to drift away from his marker by dropping deep to collect the ball and a fine eye for a goal. 

Originally a full-back with his hometown side Bury, Quigley was moved permanently up front when he scored five against Millwall after being pushed forward in an emergency situation. 

Bury sold Quigley to Sheffield Wednesday for £12,000 in October 1947. He soon became a firm favourite amongst the Hillsborough faithful after scoring twice at Elland Road in a 2-2 draw against Leeds United. He netted 22 goals, including four against WHU, in 30 League games for Wednesday in 1947/48 and followed that up by hitting home 17 more in 34 games in 1948/49. 

Quigley had netted ten goals, including four in one match against Chesterfield, in ten matches in 1949/50 when their promotion rivals Preston North End persuaded Sheffield Wednesday to let Quigley move to Deepdale for £26,500. Preston manager Will Scott hoped to create a stylish goal-scoring partnership between Quigley and Tom Finney, Preston’s greatest ever player. It never quite worked. 

Preston finished in sixth place in Division Two at the end of the 1949/50 season and won promotion the following season by finishing five points in front of second placed Manchester City. Preston also finished as top scorers in Division Two with 91 goals with Charlie Wayman scoring 27. Wayman joined Preston in September 1950 for £10,000 from Southampton. His success led to Quigley’s departure, for a £20,000 fee, to Second Division Blackburn Rovers in 1951. 

At Ewood Park, Quigley, born in 1921, developed into a top goalscorer and he was to net 95 goals in 166 League and FA Cup matches for Rovers by the time he returned to Gigg Lane in the summer of 1956. He played only a handful of matches before retiring from League football. 

In November 1954, Blackburn, by then managed by Johnny Carey, thrashed Middlesbrough 9-0 at Ewood Park and Quigley scored three times. Rovers cracked home 114 goals in 42 League matches in 1954-55. Quigley scored 28 but was beaten by his centre-forward colleague Tommy Briggs with 33 including seven in one match against Bristol Rovers. Despite the heroics the East Lancs side failed to win promotion to Division One.  

After Bury, Quigley dropped into non-League football to manager Mossley and then returned to Bury for a third time as youth team coach and chief scout, unearthing talents such as England internationals Colin Bell and Alec Lindsay. He then briefly managed Stockport County in 1966 before becoming chief coach and assistant manager at Ewood Park. He subsequently took over in charge of first team affairs but after Rovers failed to gain promotion to Division One he was, after being demoted to assistant manager, sacked at the end of the 1970-71 season as Blackburn fell into the Third Division.

Quigley again became manager at Edgeley Park in the mid 70s but he was sacked in 1977 and thereafter he went on to scout for Blackburn and Blackpool before he retired in the early 80s. He died in Blackpool on 18 April 1997. 

Johnny Mapson, Sunderland goalkeeper

Johnny Mapson was only eighteen when he was called upon by Sunderland manager Johnny Cochrane to move south from Reading, where he had made only a handful of Third Division South appearances, and take his place in the Black Cats goal. 

Regular ‘keeper Jimmy Thorpe had died tragically young on 5 February 1936. An inquest into Thorpe’s death under the direction of the coroner J.C. Morton later gave the cause of death as due to diabetes “accelerated by the rough usage he received in the game (against Chelsea at home on 1 February 1936) and that the referee was very lax in his control of the game.” 

Thorpe’s place in the starting line up had been taken by reserve ‘keeper Matt Middleton, who was to make a total of 58 Sunderland appearances between 1933 and 1939. The lad from Boldon Colliery didn’t do too badly in the games that followed the Chelsea match. He played particularly impressively in the away draws at Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday and in his nine games in goal Sunderland won three drew three and lost three. Significantly though the three wins had come in the first four matches in which Middleton played. 

Sunderland’s scouting network had clearly spotted a rare talent and Cochrane picked Mapson for his debut against Portsmouth on 4 April 1936. 

The game came a week after the League leaders had suffered a 6-0 trouncing at Middlesbrough. There were just seven games left of the season and Sunderland fans were desperate to see their side draw level with Aston Villa by winning the title for a record equalling sixth time. Success would also make it three times that the Championship had been won at Roker Park, equal with Newcastle Road, where Sunderland had won the title in 1891/92, 1892-93 and 1894-95.

Pompey were to be blown away 5-0 and Mapson was never seriously tested although the Northern Mail did report: ‘his intelligent anticipation enabled him to nip in the bud several Portsmouth challenges and his safe handling inspired confidence in his colleagues.’  Mapson was to stay at Roker Park until 1954 - he made his final first team appearance on 21 March 1953 - and his greatest strength was his positional sense. He also possessed a strong kick. 

Victory against Portsmouth meant Sunderland required just four points - there were two points for a win - from the remaining fixtures. 

Two more points were gathered on Easter Friday when Birmingham City lost 2-1 at Roker Park and it was the away ‘keeper who was the star of the show. Harry Hibbs was a fine number one and by the time he retired he had made 25 appearances for England. Patsy Gallacher scored both home goals. In the second half, Mapson made one great save when Joe Devine’s shot sent him the wrong way and he recovered to twist backwards and turn the ball round the post. This brought a great cheer from the 41,500 crowd. 

A day later, Sunderland lost 2-1 at Burnden Park. Mapson was beaten by the only two efforts made at goal by Bolton but in both cases he had no chance of stopping the ball entering the net. 

On Easter Monday, Sunderland travelled to St Andrews and clinched the title with a brilliant performance that saw Birmingham crushed 7-2 with Bobby Gurney scoring four. Frank Clack, deputising for Hibbs, kept the score down. The small band of away fans who had travelled overnight to witness this famous occasion were invited to join the players as they celebrated at a local hotel.

Sunderland’s final home game of the season saw them beat Huddersfield 4-3. The match was being lost until two goals in the final six minutes turned defeat into victory. 

This being the 1930s, when footballers were seen by the employers as servants rather than employees, then after the game the Football League Championship Trophy was presented not to captain Alex Hastings by Mr C.A. Sutcliffe, acting president of the Football League, but to the Sunderland chairman Sir Alec Raine. Imagine today seeing the chairman of a club being presented with such a trophy! 

Sunderland lost their final two matches of the season at Leeds and Derby. Mapson played in both and thus made seven League appearances for Sunderland in 1935/36. This meant that he did not get presented with a League Winners medal as the minimum figure of appearances at the time needed to get a medal was 12. 

Mapson did collect a major medal in 1936/37 as Sunderland were to win the FA Cup for the first time ever. The teenager was to make the ‘keepers position his own during the season and on 28 October 1936 he was beaten just once as Sunderland overcame FA Cup winners Arsenal 2-1 to win the FA Charity Shield. The winning goal was controversial when Carter’s shot hit the bar and appeared to bounce down on the goal line but the linesman, Mr H Whitfield of Middlesbrough, decided the ball had crossed the line and the Gunners left Roker Park empty handed. 

Sunderland then beat Manchester City 4-2 at Maine Road. However, it was to be City that were to go on and replace Sunderland at the top of Division One at the completion of the season with the Wearsiders back in eighth place. 

Sunderland began their search for a first FA Cup success by beating Southampton 3-2 away. 300 fans travelled from Wearside to the game. In the fourth round, Sunderland were two down away to Luton Town of the Third Division South before quick goals from James Connor and Len Duns forced a replay that was won 3-1 at Roker Park. At Kenilworth Road, Mapson was the saviour of his side but even his considerable efforts would have proven in vain if The Hatters had taken their chances. 

Mapson was rarely called upon when Swansea were beaten 3-0 at Roker Park in round 5. This victory set up a quarter final tie against Wolves (covered earlier on RR by myself) and this was to prove a battle royal. 

At Molineux the sides drew 1-1 on a mud bath. In the replay, Sunderland fell behind on 86 minutes only for Gurney to take the tie into extra-time with a great finish. Duns, who had earlier missed two gilt edged chances put the home side ahead on 95 minutes only for the Sunderland defence to switch off two minutes later to leave Sam Thompson unmarked. The Wolves striker had no problem in slotting the ball past Mapson to make the score 2-2 and this was how the match finished. 

The second replay attracted a crowd of 48,900 at Hillsborough, most of those present being local people. Sheffield fans saw a brilliant performance by Sunderland and goals by Gurney, Carter, Gallacher and Charlie Thomson was to see Wolves leave the arena beaten 4-0. Mapson had little to do during the 90 minutes. 

Next up was Third Division South opponents Millwall who took an early lead at Leeds Road, Huddersfield through a magnificent goal by Dave Mangnall, who with his back to the goal took down Jimmy McCartney’s cross before pivoting and shooting in one. Mapson had no chance but on the half hour mark the scores were level when Gurney scored a goal that was almost as good by hooking home the ball from an almost impossible angle after Duncan Yuill had pulled off a good save from Carter. Just before the break Mangnall should have put the Londoners ahead again and the interval arrived with the sides tied at 1-1.

The second half was all Sunderland and on only 3 occasions did the Lions have the ball in their opponents penalty box. Patsy Gallacher scored the winner when he headed home a Thomson free kick with Yuill, in probably his only mistake of the game, caught in no mans land. 

When the final whistle was sounded thousands of Wearsiders clambered on to the pitch and Gurney, in particular, had to work hard to get to the dressing room as the celebrating fans mobbed the great man.

The following match, away to Grimsby in the League, saw Sunderland, playing only three of the XI that beat Millwall, hammered six nil with Pat Glover, the Lincolnshire club’s greatest ever forward, belting home five and being denied double figures by Mapson, without whom the Wearsiders would have suffered the indignity of their record defeat, which stood at 8-0 against Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day 1911. Glover had faced Sunderland four times in the 1935/36 and 1936/37 season and had scored ten times. 

Sunderland faced PNE at Wembley on 1 May 1937 and they were to be distinctly second best in the first period and slightly fortunate to go off just a  goal behind. Frank O’Donnell was sent clear on 38 minutes and with favourite right foot scored a beauty. A minute later came a key moment in the match when Bert Johnston brought the scorer down as he raced clear. Today it would have been a straight red but the Sunderland centre half escaped with a  severe telling off by the referee Mr Rudd of Middlesex. 

Mapson had played steadily in the first half but had also dropped a couple of crosses. These mistakes nevertheless did not seem to effect the youngsters confidence and he and the defence in front of him could be proud of the efforts as they walked off at the interval. 

Now it was up to the forwards in the second and they didn’t fail to disappoint with Gurney converting when Carter got to an Eddie Burbanks corner on 58 minutes. Mapson then came out three times to collect a series of dangerous crosses. On 71 minutes the whole of Wearside rejoiced when Carter sent Gurney free of Preston’s offside and the man who has scored the most goals ever for Sunderland walloped the ball beyond Mick Burns to put his side ahead. Seven minutes later Gallacher and Gurney combined to set up Burbanks who hit a scorcher beyond the Preston ‘keeper to compete the scoring.

Sunderland had won the FA Cup for the first time ever and Mapson, who played in fifty of Sunderland’s fifty-one League and FA Cup games in his first full season, followed Carter, who received the Cup from the Queen, up the steps to collect his medal.

Mapson, who during the war played for Reading and helped the Royals to win the London War Cup in 1941, was to make a total of 382 first team appearances for Sunderland before he retired in May 1954. He also represented the FA on a tour to South Africa in the summer of 1939 and two years later was in goal for England in a wartime international against Wales. Johnny was to die in Washington in August 1999. He was the last survivor of the 1937 FA Cup-winning side.  

Letter to Stoke Sentinel on Crystal Palace and Stoke City start dates

Last year when Notts County lost their League place, Stoke City, whose badge has 1863 on it, stepped forward to claim they were now the oldest League club in the World. The problem for the Potters is that they were not formed in 1863, with even their club historian making clear that the club was formed in 1868. (in fact even this club later went bust at the end of the first decade of the 20th century, but that is an issue for another day!)

I was inadvertently drawn into the situation and made clear that I supported football historians (which I am not myself, just someone who has learnt a lot about football history) who said Nottingham Forest, formed 1865, were now the oldest League club anywhere. The Football League were pushed into deciding and rightly ruled that Forest are the oldest League club at the moment.

Recently, some people, although not the club historian it should be noted, involved with Crystal Palace have claimed that they are the oldest League club in the world. This is based on the fact that there was a club of that name that existed from 1861 to 1875, with their last game likely to have been the FA Cup tie against the Wanderers on 11 December 1875.

No other club then played on the ground and football ceased completely until 1894 when a new pitch was laid. The arena subsequently became The Crystal Palace and was England's first national stadium with the 1895 FA Cup Final played there. Crystal Palace Fc was subsequently formed in 1905.

Anyway, the Stoke Sentinel on the back of the Crystal Place claim's sight to reopen the whole issue and this is my response to the paper.

Reference - Crystal Palace claim and a further attempt by Sentinel to maintain the Stoke City 1863 discredited claim 

Mark Metcalf

07392 852561 

I am writing after reading your recent article on the ridiculous claims by Crystal Palace and in which the Stoke Sentinel appear intent on trying to maintain the discredited claim that Stoke City might be the oldest club in the Football League following Notts County relegation to the Conference at the end of the 2018/19 season.

As you are aware the Football League late last season examined the evidence and concluded that Nottingham Forest, formed 1865, replaced their local rivals as the oldest League club as there is no evidence to support the claim the Stoke City were originally formed in 1863. Even the historian at the Potters states this as fact.

Returning to the Crystal Palace claim it should be noted that a search from 1876 to 1904 of Football Annuals and Press show no occurrence of a football team playing under the name of Crystal Palace FC. There is also no proof of Crystal Palace 1905 owning the club that had been formed earlier in 1861.

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to a recent released book and which is now considered the definitive piece of work on the subject of England’s Oldest Football Clubs 1851-1889: a new chronological classification of easy football by Martin Westby. This is 620 pages long and in this it states that Crystal Palace FC were formed in 1861 and were defunct by 1875 with no connection to the club later formed in 1905. (*)

Stoke City, being formed in 1868, are described as the third oldest club behind Forest and Sheffield Wednesday, who you will see from my attached joint article in the latest Sunday Mirror had the first paid player. 

Many thanks,

Mark Metcalf 

A member of the NUJ and the Sports Journalists’ Association 

• Incidentally I am the author of FLYING OVER AN OLIVE GROVE: The remarkable story of Fred Spiksley, who was employed as player coach at Southern United, a club set up in 1904 specifically because there were no professional clubs in South East London at this time.  Spiksley signed a series of League players but Southern United’s attempt to reach the Football League failed and they went bust in 1906. This book forms the background to a football history documentary currently being made by a film company Rough Jersey in which I have an interest. 

London 1848 book by Catherine Howe, whose earlier book on Halifax 1842 is a great favourite of mine

Catherine Howe is a great story teller and her book Halifax 1842: A year of crisis is a great favourite of mine. See review at:-https://markwrite.co.uk/halifax-1842-a-year-of-crisis/ 

It is therefore great that she has had published a book on London 1848 at just £8.99 

https://www.waterstones.com/book/london-story-1848/catherine-howe//9781789960853

I shall be doing a fuller review of the book, which I read and commented on as it was being in written.

But for now here is how the book is being described online.

These events [the great Chartist meeting & petition' of 1848] have been written about many times before. Catherine Howe sets this story in its wider context, bringing a fresh eye to the material, weighing things up at a distance from the debates that have preoccupied professional historians. Howe is a story teller and what this book offers is a straightforward, detailed and open-minded account of what happened in 1848.

More on the info confirming James Lang was first paid footballer

Football historians have confirmed that a Sheffield Wednesday player Jimmy Lang was the first man to be paid. 

Glasgow-born Lang made the journey from his home town in 1876 to Sheffield to answer the promise of a better life. He made his debut in November 1876 for our club.

By being paid he broke a FA regulation that was regarded as sacrosanct by the Public School old boys who had first formulated the laws of the game. Victorian sport was the preserve of gentlemen amateurs.

Football though was being transformed by the northern working classes – with the help of a band of naturally talented Scotsmen such as Jimmy Love and Fergus Suter  who recently featured in the recent 'The English Game’ Netflix series. The two Scots were tempted away from Partick in 1878 by the mill-owning benefactor of Lancastrian club Darwen.

Two years earlier in February 1876, Lang had represented a Glasgow representative team that had beaten Sheffield and Hallam 2-0 in an annual challenge match played in front of a 6,000 crowd at Bramall Lane. He also performed with distinction when playing for Clydesdale in a pre season friendly against The Wednesday at the start of the 1876/77 season. 

Lang, who was 25 when he joined The Wednesday, was from humble stock.

He lost an eye in an industrial accident while working in the Clydeside shipyard of John Brown and Co in 1869. Yet five yers later he was in the Clydesdale team beaten 2-0 by Queen's Park in the first-ever Scottish FA Cup final.

Lang had already won the first of two Scotland caps, scoring a goal in the 4-0 win over Wales in Glasgow, before making the 250-mile steam train journey to settle in Sheffield.

He was put on the payroll of a knife-making firm on Garden Street owned by Wednesday official Walter Fearnhough and made his debut for the club on November 25, 1876.

Newspaper reports confirm that Lang set up the Wednesday goal in a 1-1 draw with Hallam Fc for Tom Butler, describing him as “the celebrated player who has come to reside here.. we believe he will assist the Wednesday team in their cup tie against Kimberworth on Saturday next.” 

Lang played a very good game against Kimberworth with frequent match references to his dribbling skills. Wednesday won 1-0. Lang’s side was to reach the final of the newly formed competition on 10 March 1877 at Bramall Lane. Wednesday, 3-0 down at half time, eventually won 4-3 in extra time against Heeley in a game of great excitement. Fans celebrated afterwards their club becoming the first winners of the Sheffield Challenge Cup. Wednesday was becoming the most successful one in the Sheffield area.

Earlier in the 1876/77 season Lang played - and scored - for the Sheffield FA side that walloped Manchester FA 14-0 on 24 February 1877. 

Lang was given considerable freedom to concentrate on his football rather than knife making.

He was even allowed to return to Scotland to play in another Scottish Cup final when his Third Lanark side were beaten 1-0 by Vale of Leven in 1878.

Lang helped The Wednesday to win the Sheffield Challenge Cup two  more times and was also in the team that played in the club's first-ever FA Cup tie.

Later, he played for Attercliffe, Sheffield Zulus and Northwich Victoria.

According to club historian Jason Dickinson, Lang was “a skilful and energetic attacker.” 

Confirmation by football historians that Lang was the first paid player comes after extensive research into the background and career of Peter Andrews, another Scottish international, who also played in the same Glasgow FA side as Lang that beat the Sheffield FA in 1876.

Andrews, aged 30, played for Heeley FC, which existed from 1862 to 1899, against Thursday Wanderers on Thursday 2 November 1876 in the Challenge Cup and he was almost amongst the side that later lost in the final against Wednesday. On 30 December 1876 Andrews, listed as a forward, represented Sheffield away to London in another inter-association encounter. 

Research by football historian Graham Curry in his book A Crucible of Modern Sport has though revealed that Andrews was in a stable, more financially rewarding occupation. He was listed in the 1879 Sheffield Trades Directory as an agent for the Scottish Legal Insurance Company. This shows he had money to spend on advertising and as such had much higher standing than Lang. Other recently unearthed correspondence from this period would also appear to confirm that Andrews was not paid to play football. 

Football historian Martin Westby said: “Peter Andrews did play before Lang but I am convinced by research done by fellow historian Graham Curry that Andrews was a middle-class man working close to the Heeley FC ground.

“On the balance of probabilities this is a man who had no need for payment to play the game he loved and moved south for work reasons.

“This is opposed to ex-shipyard worker Jimmy Lang, who in my opinion, travelled from Glasgow to Sheffield purely for football and remuneration reasons.”

Mark Metcalf, co-author of FLYING OVER AN OLIVE GROVE: the remarkable story of Fred Spiksley