The Gallant Pioneers: Rangers 1872 Read Online Free

industry a rare few hours of recreation time beyond the usual Sabbath observance to take part in, or look in on, various leisure activities. On the field, crucial rule changes were adopted soon after the formation of the English FA in October 1863, following a meeting of a dozen clubs from London and the surrounding areas at the Freemasons’ Tavern in Great Queen Street. Until then, there had been little to distinguish the games of football and rugby. By the mid-1860s, however, it had become forbidden for players of the association game to dart forward with the ball in hand as the focus switched to a dribbling game played on the ground. The Scots quickly adapted to new tactics and techniques, developing an early team framework far superior to anything being played south of the border. Queen’s Park were among the first clubs to grasp the benefits of a more structured formation, playing a 2–2–6 formation: two full-backs, two half-backs and six forwards, with two players on the left wing, two on the right and two through the middle. The English clubs persisted with their 1–1–8, but its folly was exposed when the Spiders, playing a short, sharp passing game, saw off top English side Notts County 6–0 at Hampden. Ultimately, it prompted a demand for Scottish players by English clubs that continues to this day.
  The FA Cup was instituted in 1871, two years before its Scottish equivalent, and international football also began to develop from the club game, thanks in the first instance to Charles W. Alcock, the administrator, journalist and publisher who would provide the eponymously titled football annual from which Moses McNeil took the Rangers name. It was in November 1870 when, as secretary of the FA, he wrote to the Glasgow Herald suggesting a game between players from both countries. He cajoled: ‘In Scotland, once essentially the land of football, there should still be a spark left of the old fire, and I confidently appeal to Scotsmen to aid to their utmost the efforts of the committee to confer success on what London hopes to be found, an annual trial of skill between the champions of England and Scotland.’3 In total, Alcock arranged four games in London, but the Scots team was plucked from the ranks of Anglos working in the capital, as well as a couple of moonlighters, most notably W.H. Gladstone, the son of the Prime Minister. It came as no great shock when Scotland lost all the games played and the ‘Alcock Internationals’ have no official standing to this day.
  Still, sporting history has correctly lauded Alcock as a football visionary and it came as no surprise when the first official international between Scotland and England was played in Glasgow, fittingly on St Andrew’s Day 1872 (football continues to be a sport played, for the most part, from August to May each year, because cricket was the dominant summer pastime in the Victorian era, even in Scotland). Queen’s Park represented the nation that November afternoon after handing over £10 to the West of Scotland Cricket Club for the use of their ground in Hamilton Crescent, Partick, with the promise of a further £10 if takings for the game exceeded £50. In the end, 4,000 people paid £103 to watch the scoreless draw, but there was one notable absentee – the official photographer, who left the ground when players refused to promise they would purchase prints from the game. The overwhelming popularity of the game ensured the fixture’s place in the fledgling football calendar and Scotland soon underlined its supremacy, winning eight and losing only two of the first 12 international matches played against the Auld Enemy.
  It was against such a backdrop that Rangers had been formed in 1872, most likely towards the end of March if the earliest account of the club’s history is to be taken as read. And while one or two of the facts are open to question, it carries the strong whiff of authenticity, particularly written so close to the