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Barcelona Cup
In
the summer of 1922, St.Mirren travelled to Spain at the request of Barcelona FC. To officially open their new £75,000
stadium at Les Cortes.
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 winning team was:- Bradford, Hamilton, Birrell, Clunas, Duff, Leslie, Lawson, Gillies, Walker, Stevenson and Thomson.
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 trophy 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. The following day Gijon gained revenge with a 4-1 win, but Saints were not too down hearted by this and were able to reflect positively on a magnificent tour.
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A History of St Mirren Football Club
- This is an unofficial website with no direct connection to St Mirren FC |
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