June 10, 1938: The Empire Exhibition Trophy

Willie Lyon with the Trophy

June 10, 1938: The Final of the Empire Exhibition Trophy is held at Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland. It was one of the earliest "international" competitions in which English football (soccer) teams competed.

Four teams from England were selected. Naturally, England's Football Association (The FA) wanted the recently-crowned Football League Division One Champions, Arsenal Football Club, to participate. But the North London team declined.

So did 2nd-place Wolverhampton Wanderers, of the Birmingham area. So did the FA Cup winners, Preston North End of Lancashire. So did the team that Preston beat in the FA Cup Final, Huddersfield Town of Yorkshire. So did the 1937 League Champions, Manchester City, who, in what remains a unique achievement in English football, went from winning the League to relegation to the 2nd division in just 1 season.

So the 4 teams selected ended up being North-East team Sunderland, 1936 League Champions and 1937 FA Cup winners; West London team Brentford, who had just finished 6th; West London team Chelsea, who had just finished 10th; and Liverpool team Everton, who had just finished 14th. It would have made sense to include them if they still had one of the top scorers in the game, William "Dixie" Dean, but he had left them in 1937.

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) was a bit luckier: It got their newly-crowned Champions, Glasgow team Celtic, managed by Willie Maley; the runners-up, Edinburgh team Heart of Midlothian, a.k.a. "Hearts"; the previous season's Champions and the current season's 3rd place team, Glasgow team Rangers F.C.; and the previous season's runners-up, this season's 6th place team, Aberdeen.

In the Quarterfinals, Aberdeen hosted Chelsea, and won, 4-1; Everton hosted Rangers, and won, 2-0; Hearts hosted Brentford, and won, 1-0; and Celtic hosted Sunderland, and the game was played to a 0-0 draw. A replay was ordered, and this one also went to extra time, before Celtic won, 3-1.

The rest of the tournament was held at Ibrox, home of Rangers. In the Semifinals, Celtic beat Hearts, 1-0; while Everton beat Aberdeen, 3-2. The Final would be held on June 10, and it's doubtful that anybody thought that a win for Everton would mean that the English played football better than the Scottish, or that a win for Celtic would mean it was the other way around. Especially since Everton had 2 Irish players, a Scotsman and a Welshman in their starting XI.

The Final was played before 82,000 people. It ended scoreless, and it went to extra time. In the 95th minute, Johnny Crum, Celtic's centre forward, scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game. Celtic won, 1-0.

Willie Lyon, Celtic's Captain, received the Trophy from Edward Bruce, 10th Earl of Elgin and 14th Earl of Kincardine, and a descendant of legendary Scottish King Robert I, a.k.a. Robert the Bruce.

Perhaps this contest between English and Scottish teams could have launched a European Cup tournament earlier. But World War II would get in the way. Willie Lyon would receive the Military Cross after being wounded while serving with the Scots Guards in 1944. He lived until 1962, Crum until 1969.

With some irony, the official mascot for the 1966 World Cup, held in England, was Willie the Lion -- named for William the Conqueror.

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June 10, 1938 was a Friday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-2 at Yankee Stadium. Lefty Gomez went the distance for the win. Bill Dickey hit 2 home runs, and Lou Gehrig hit 1. Joe DiMaggio went 0-for-5.

* The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Mel Ott went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 15-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 8-4 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 7-6 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Chet Laabs drove in the winning run with a groundout in the top of the 10th inning. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-5.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Paul Waner went 2-for-4, and Lloyd Waner went 1-for-4.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs were rained out at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader 2 days later. The Cubs won the opener, 9-3. The Dodgers won the nightcap, 6-0. Freddie Fitzsimmons pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* And the Boston Bees (as the Braves were known from 1936 to 1940) and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 19. The Reds swept, 3-1 and 7-2.