30th Apr 1908 Partick Thistle 1 Hibernian 1 (SFL First Division - game 34)

Partick Thistle – a People’s History will be the 150th anniversary book; author Kenny Pieper needs your memories and stories from following the Jags… read more on the club website or get straight to it by e-mailing: ku.oc.cftp|051#ku.oc.cftp|051

matches:1907-08: ← 39game 4041 →

Match Information

33y			George Easton		Dan McMichael
William McIntyre; James Dorans; Fred Robertson
Archie McKenzie; Harry Wilson; Sam Kennedy
Fred Robertson (1-1, 1st half)					James Peggie (0-1, 25 mins)
20y, 2m, 30d			Lee Massey		Alex Henderson
26y, 1m, 25d			Bill Gray		Jimmy Main
24y, 4m, 4d			Eddie Riddell		William Duguid
			William McIntyre		Patrick Hagan
27y, 1m, 13d			Pat Gallacher		John Gordon
			James Dorans		John Grieve
21y, 2m, 19d			Tom Ballantyne		Robert Rollo
			John Callander		Richard Harker
19y, 6m, 10d			Fred Robertson		James Peggie
			Alex McGregor		John Docherty
			James Ferguson		Duncan Ritchie
23y, 1m, 4d

notes

Last ever game at Meadowside, a rather miserable affair with two halves of 35 minutes played due to heavy rain. Result allowed to stand. Drawings £9 (GH) JL credits Tom Ballantyne with the Thistle goal, we stick with GH/OH who say Fred Robertson.

Match Report

TTA report

Only 500 people turned up to see the last game played at Meadowside. Due to bad light the game was played over 2 x 35 mins. It was a fast, even game. Hibs took the lead with a fine goal but Robertson headed in the equaliser before half-time. The second half was well-contested but it ended 1-1. Thistle finished 14th.

Media report

Robert Reid, 2002, Partick Thistle FC Official History

After eleven years at Meadowside, time was called at the end of a troubled season. The club had to leave because the ground was to become Henderson's Shipyard. The curtain came down after the 1-1 draw with Hibernian on 30th April 1908. There was only a sparse crowd in attendance with gate receipts amounting to a mere £9. Thistle were required to pay a £30 guarantee to the Edinburgh club!

Only 35 minutes each way were played due to heavy rain. Fred Robertson had the honour of scoring Thistle's last Meadowside goal. There were all sorts of emotional scenes following the final whistle, which must have seemed akin to 'the Last Post' to many of the Thistle diehards. The Union Jack was hauled down for the last time and many a tear was shed by the good folk of Partick. Could this be the death knell of the team they had taken to their hearts, some not just since the opening of Meadowside in 1897, but since the very birth of Thistle in 1876?

Reports that Thistle were close to death were both premature and somewhat hysterical, although being without even the prospect of a new home, and finding themselves acutely embarrassed financially, the outlook was decidedly grim. All sorts of imponderables preyed on people's minds. Would the citizens of Partick continue to follow the club if they were to survive and spring up elsewhere from the ashes of Meadowside? Could they establish themselves in another part of the city if a suitable ground could be found? Then out of the blue (literally) came a flicker of hope. Rangers agreed to let Thistle use Ibrox for some of their season 1908-09 fixtures as a temporary measure.

Scrapbook

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Dundee Evening Telegraph, 1st May, 1908

Scottish Referee, 1st May, 1908

Lloyds List, 28th May, 1908

Gallery

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• Meadowside, 1908. (SR)

• Fred Robertson, scorer of the last-ever Thistle goal at Meadowside. (BAH)

Stats Watch

● James Dorans makes his Thistle debut.

● William McIntyre plays his last game for Thistle.

● James Ferguson plays his last game for Thistle.

● On a wet Thursday night, Thistle play their last game at Meadowside, their fifth home. A small group of supporters lament the occasion by song, "will ye no come back again" as the Union Jack is lowered. Partick was considered a hotbed of orangeism. We had to get out of that place!

ongoing sequences:

● 21 consecutive competitive appearances for Tom Ballantyne, 21st Dec 1907 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Alex McGregor - 22 games, 16th Nov 1907 to 18th Apr 1908. Club-record: Willie Howden - 48 games, 25th Mar 1905 to 16th Apr 1906.)

Stats Watch adheres to our stated definitions of League, League Max, Major Competitive, Competitive or All Games. Where there is no written qualification, you should presume that the Stat in question is compiled from the All Games criteria.

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