| Berwick Rangers Reid 32 |
1-0 |
Glasgow Rangers |
Scottish Cup First Round @ Shielfield Park
January 28th 1967 is a date firmly stuck in the history of Berwick Rangers F.C. The defeat of the mighty ‘Gers at the hands of ‘lowly’ Berwick changed the course of Scottish football. Rangers were well and truly Tango’ed and it ended any talk of reconstruction being bandied about by the Huns.
To get some idea of the day, we asked two questions to people who were at the game. The first question was obvious, ‘where were you when Sammy Reid scored’- the second was more general. ‘What memories have you of the day itself’.
P. Oliver- Trainer, Physio, Groundsman, Kitman etc
Q1. In the Ducket
Q2. I could not believe it, Berwick should have won 3-0. It was the only Saturday night I never went out.
Gordon Haig- Berwick’s Left-Back in 1967
Q1. Not too far away, one of the few times I got across the half way line. I remember the ball was put through the middle and was flicked on, a fabulous flick on by George Christie. Sammy hit it superbly straight across the goal.
Q2. My memories of the day were more before the game. After we had breakfast we took a stroll through the town. We were invited into Woolworths of all places to have our pictures taken with some workers in the shop. They were all dressed in Berwick colours, wearing rosettes and things. The whole town seemed to be buzzing. During the game, John Greig of rangers, an old friend from schooldays, said ‘if we don’t score soon it will mean the gas chamber for us on Monday”.
Conrad Turner- Berwick’s Commercial Manager
Q1. I was standing in the Ducket.
Q2. There was a few of us together. it was getting near the final whistle and a group of Rangers supporters started to gather round us. A brick was thrown in our direction and with a minute to go we decided to get out. At that time, the back of the Ducket was open across Old Shielfield out towards the old Kelso branch line. We took off out the back across the field with bottles and bricks flying around our ears. We heard this huge commotion. I turned round to look as big John Davidson, all 18 stone of him, came running full hammer like Linford Christie past the lot of us. I will never forget the look of fear on his face.
John Greig- Full-Back for Glasgow Rangers on the day
Q1. Obviously too far away.
Q2. It was the worst day of my football career and the worst day in Glasgow Rangers history. The fact you are ringing me from Berwick still puts shivers down my spine.
Gordon Bell- Ex Berwick Director
Q1. I was in the stand.
Q2. It’s all a bit vauge now but I still remember the excitment. I had bought a ticket for my brother but he could not make it so I took my daughter Ethel instead. After the game, I was on cloud nine. I could no speak properly for three weeks. It was the greatest day of my life.
Jimmy Nisbet
Q1. My usual spot to the right of the Ducket. There was over 1300 there and a few of the young laddies watched from my shoulders.
Q2. I remember when Sammy scored around the 28th minute and five minutes later George Christie was clean through on goal. He shot straight at the goalie which was a good thing because had we scored, we would probably have lost 5-2. As it was the Rangers players must have been thinking only one goal to get. In the second half, apart from Jock’s fine save from McClean, Alan Ainslie had a 35 yard screamer that must have stung Martin in the Rangers goal’s hands. It was never just one way traffic. At the end, the Berwick players were carried off shoulder high. After the game, I was walking down Shielfield Terrace towards the old Turret Hotel, and I saw two Rangers fans, one of whom was crying. Back in 1963, Rangers had tried to get Berwick and four other teams thrown out the league to make smaller leagues of 16 or something. George Shiel, the then Berwick Chairman, lead the campaign through the courts and prevented it from happening. one Rangers fan said to the other who was crying ‘never mind, it is only a game’. To which his sobbing pal replied ‘for years we’ve been trying to put them out of the league and now they’ve put us out of the Cup!’.
John Thompson- Former Chairman who took Berwick, in the 1950’s, from virtual extinction to full League membership.
Q1. At the time of the game we had a shop in Langley Park, County Durham. It was a real football town and everyone knew of my former involvement with the club.
Q2. Saturday was a really busy day so it was impossible to get away for the game. I tried to keep up with the game through TV and radio when I had a moment. It didn’t really matter because everyone who came into the shop told me how the game was going anyway and when we scored, more and more people came into the shop. By the final whistle, the place was full! To celebrate my wife gave each person a drink on the house. I later caught up with the details of the game when I telephoned my brother ken who had been there.
Just a little taster of thirty years ago. Forget Inverness Caley-Celtic, this was the biggest cup shock in the history of world football- don’t let anybody tell you different.