| You Couldn't Make It Up! |
by Jack Little
On 29/1/1887 Thistle's final attempt to lift the FA Cup ended in defeat at the Oval against Old Westminsters who won 1-0. "Sporting Life" reported that Thistle played "a good, honest and withal an exceedingly fair game. The match was indeed a most pleasant one throughout and the Thistle left a most favourable impression on metropolitan footballers". So Thistle left with some credit. It was less so for the home crowd. "Their own impression of the London crowd can hardly have been gratifying, as the spectators were most undemonstrative except in the case of any piece of good play by one of the Old Westminster team". Perhaps the shock of seeing a bunch of players made up of shipyard workers and the like was too much for the fans of the club linked to one of England's oldest public schools and who (ironically) had been an influential voice in the development of football and the laws of the game in England 20 years earlier. For their troubles, Thistle received £21.15s.6d. gate money. "The Sportsman" reported that the Thistle party would be arriving in the capital at 4am on the day of the match. They, too, deplored the "unwarrantable amount of partisanship" on the part of the spectators.
| Delve straight in to any given year via the links below: 1875 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1943 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1969 1970 1971 1975 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1997 2004 2005 2006 2007 |
 |
An original Thistle Archive publication, 07-Sep-2020. |
 |
Latest edit version 02-Jun-2020. |
