THE HEART OF THE GAME

November 26th 1914: Heart of Midlothian, the Scottish club from Edinburgh. was preparing for the 1914/15 Scottish League season, as the previous campaign had resulted in a third place in the Scottish League, amounting 54 points. With a philosophy of "all out attack", the team was predicted to win the coming league title, the first, since 1897. Hearts started well beating Champions Celtic 2-0 in the first match and then won seven on the trot. But it was 1914 and Britain had entered the Great War. Hearts lost the service of George Sinclair and Neil Moreland, two Army reservists. The influential Jimmy Speedie, who had been the difference agajnst Celtic, then "joined up", but Hearts kept going.

After 16 games the team had lost only once and topped the league. 21 year old Henry Wattie was a forward who had been impressive too, but the club was aware of tens of thousands of soldiers from their local region dying on the battlefields and the local mood was very much against the footballers who had not joined up. "When will the footballers come?"

Soon 13 club players joined up and Hearts marched en masse to the recruitment office, volunteering to fight. Hearts had 16 players in service and the club records noted that "the lead established by these gallant youths reverberated through the length of the land". Within two weeks, 600 fans followed the players' example and went to battle. Needless to say, many died alongside their footballing heroes.

Meanwhile, Hearts led the league for 35 weeks out of 37, but the war took its toll and Hearts faltered. finishing 4 points behind Celtic. It seemed unimportant and by the end the war seven Hearts players including Speedie and Wattie never came home. Hearts won the league again in 1957! 

In 1875, Hearts became members of the Scottish FA and were founder members of the Edinburgh Football Association. Members of the Scottish FA, Hearts were able to play in the Scottish Cup for the first time. Hearts played against 3rd Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers FC in October 1875 at Craigmount Park, in Edinburgh. The game ended in a scoreless draw. A replay was held at the Meadows which again finished 0–0. Under rules at the time both clubs progressed to the next round with Hearts losing out to Drumpellier in the next round.

The Football World Championship, also known as the United Kingdom Championship or the International Club Championship, was a exhibition match played between the English and Scottish club champions on a regular, but not annual, basis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with varying degrees of press attention and public interest. Perhaps the most widely publicised match at the time under the 'World Championship' name was the 1888 match between Renton (Scottish FA Cup winners) and West Bromwich Albion (The English FA Cup winners).

The 1895, a World Championship match took place at Tynecastle Park (Edinburgh), on 27 April 1895, between Sunderland, Winners of the England Football League and the Scottish League Champions, Heart of Midlothian. The match was won by Sunderland 5–3.

A wealthy miner, Samuel Tyzack and shipbuilder, Robert Turnbull, funded the Sunderland team known as the "team of all talents." Turnbull often pretended to be a priest while scouting for players in Scotland, as Sunderland's recruitment policy enraged many Scottish fans. In fact, the Sunderland lineup in the 1895 World Championship consisted entirely of Scottish players!!! who moved to England to play professionally and in those days were nicknamed the Scotch Professors.

The game was not the first World Championship Match between English and Scottish sides; and it was the second such club competition won by an English team, with previous winners being Aston Villa (English Cup winners) beating Renton (Scottish Cup winners). The Scottish and English leagues were pre-eminent in the world at that time. However, it was the first ever game played between the respective champions of two different leagues. (A first ever "European Championship??)

TOMORROW-More on the "World" Championship matches.