You Couldn't Make It Up!

by Jack Little

Amazing climax to football thriller. "Partick player's serious injury". So thundered the "Motherwell Times" on 4/11/1932 following a 2-1 win against Motherwell at Fir Park on 29/10. It was Motherwell's first home league defeat in almost 3 years. Two Thistle and one Motherwell player were booked which was relatively rare in those days. With 7 minutes to go and with Thistle leading 2-1, Bobby Grove and Alex Elliot blocked a shot only for Grove to be accidentally kicked on the leg. 2 doctors attended to Grove on the pitch and he was taken to hospital where a compound fracture was confirmed. Just short of 300 appearances, he never played again. While this was going on, a demonstration broke out behind Thistle's goal. The locals had become increasingly frustrated at Thistle's time wasting, booting the ball into the crowd. It was alleged that a Thistle player making such a "clearance" resulting in a spectator announcing he would sue for damages because the ball had dislocated his thumb. It was claimed another Thistle player directed foul language towards the crowd. To make matters worse for the locals, they were disallowed a goal for off-side late on. At the final whistle the referee came in for considerable abuse and a large portion of the home support gathered outside the pavilion. The police had a job to maintain order. The "Motherwell Times" was in no doubt that the action of the Thistle players was the main cause of the disturbance.

Publishing date An original Thistle Archive publication, 07-Sep-2020.
Latest edit date Latest edit version 02-Jun-2020.

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