J. Gardiner

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J. Gardiner

J. Gardiner (forename unknown) was probably born in Scotland, although his place and date of birth remain unknown to us. * The defender probably joined Thistle in 1878 or 1879. He made his first known appearance on Saturday, 5th April, 1879, in a 1-0 neutral-venue win against Marchton in the West Of Scotland Cup. There were no known goals for Gardiner during his spell with Thistle. He played his last known game for the club on Saturday, 5th May, 1888, in a 4-2 friendly win at home to Maybole, having appeared for the Thistle on at least 9 occasions. His known club-list included only Partick Thistle. We don't know where or when Gardiner died. * * If you can help us to improve any of these marked points on The Thistle Archive, then please do get in touch →

Bio Extra

The Thistle partisans who were at First Hampden Park on Saturday, 5th April, 1879, 3.30pm, were about to witness J. Gardiner and the club make history as the first-ever trophy was won, the holders being defeated by a single goal, as reported in the North British Daily Mail: WEST OF SCOTLAND ASSOCIATION CUP – PARTICK THISTLE v MARCHTON. The final tie for the above cup, for which a number of junior clubs, who have no ground of their own, have competed in the various stages, took place on Hampden Park, kindly put at the disposal of the combatants by the Queen’s Park. The clubs left in the last tie were Marchton (present holders) and Partick Thistle, both promising teams. About 400 spectators, including a large number of partisans of both clubs, attended, and watched the progress of the game with considerable excitement. The Partick club, if anything, had the advantage in weight, and showed better combined play than their opponents, but both at times were erratic in judgement, a defect however, which experience will go a long way to rectify. The Marchton had the wind in their favour during the first half of the game, and near the outset looked like scoring, but the defensive tactics pursued by Thistle in front of goal were excellent, and while the younger club, Partick Thistle, renewed their energy, that of the Marchton began to relax, and their can only be opinion about the fact that the winners earned an honest victory. Although both goals were repeatedly endangered, no scoring occurred until the second half, when the Thistle, with the breeze at their backs, earned a clever goal – the ball being brought up by Brown, Meldrum and Bowie, and was sent through by Brash, about 20 minutes before time was called. Shortly before the close the Marchton had a couple of plucky efforts to retrieve themselves, but did not succeed, the Thistle being hailed the winners of the cup by one goal to none. Gardiner was a full back that day and we have him in that role for 7 of his 9 known appearances. He played in Thistle's first-ever Scottish Cup campaign which was ended by Rangers in October, 1880. He also played in the April 1883 match away to Blackburn Olympic who had been FA cup winners the previous Saturday. Olympic were reported to be sluggish due to the “convivial meetings” (AN) they had had to attend. Even so, 1-up at h-t and with 2 more goals towards the end, they were too good for Thistle who had their moments - especially playing downhill in the 2nd half. All in all, Gardiner's 9 appearances are spread very thinly over 7 different calendar years, 1879 to 1888. Whilst we can't be sure it's the same guy all the way it seems like a reasonable guess in the era when full teamlines were scarcely reported.

(WS/AFK)