Barcelona - 1922

Barcelona - 1922
In the summer of 1922, St.Mirren traveled to Spain at the request of Barcelona FC. To officially open their new £75,000 stadium at Les Cortes. The first two matches were against Barcelona/Catalan Select teams at Les Cortes, and resulted in 1-2 and 0-1 defeats.
Les Cortes. Barcelona's new ground in 1922	The third match of the tour was against Notts County and was the official match to open the stadium. The game was played in very hot conditions and the first half ended goal-less. It is widely accepted that the teams actions during the interval were to play a part in the outcome of the match. While County sought the sanctuary of the changing rooms, Saints players remained on the pitch, which kept the players acclimatized to the conditions and, more importantly, won the support of the Spanish crowd.
With the crowd behind them, Saints grew in confidence and would have won the match in normal time, but for a late equaliser after Dunky Walker had put them ahead. But Walker scored again in extra time to secure a memorable victory. The trophy presented to St.Mirren after the match is officially known as the Landome Cup, but to the people of Paisley will always be the Barcelona Cup. After this match, the Saints party traveled to Santander to play a couple of matches there against North Spain select sides. On the journey from Barcelona to Santander, the party were on a train which had stopped at a wayside station. Their interpreter had left the train to seek refreshments, and the players had removed their boots and socks and opened the carriage doors to cool off, when they were approached by members of the Spanish Civil Guard. The men began to gesticulate and were becoming increasingly irate, eventually raising their rifles to their shoulders, causing slight panic amongst the Saints party. It was then that someone had the idea to show them the Landome Cup and a football. This had the desired effect and the Guards backed off. When the interpreter returned, it was explained that it was deemed ‘indecent’ to remove footwear in public and that the Guards believed the team to be ‘vagrants’! Thankfully all was resolved and the team were able to continue on their journey to Santander, socks and boots firmly in place!. The first of the games in Santander was won by three goals to two. In the second match, Saints were leading 2-0 in the second half when the select team were awarded a penalty, which was duly converted. Nearing the end of the match, a second penalty was awarded to the Select team- but this time Jock Bradford saved the kick and maintained Saints 2-1 advantage. This looked like being the final score until in the TENTH minute of injury time the Select team were awarded a third ‘soft’ penalty, and took advantage to score (though requiring a rebound after Bradford had saved the kick!) and even the match at 2-2. The final whistle went shortly afterwards! From Santander it was on to Gijon and a match against the local team which was won comfortably 7-2, with Walker grabbing six goals to round off a magnificent tour.


The Landome Cup	Dunky Walker	Commemorative Plaque