On this day, 83 years ago, Aberdeen faced Celtic in front of a UK record crowd at Hampden Park in the Scottish Cup Final. The Red Matchday team look back at the historic game that was to end in dissapointment…

 

It is perhaps one of the injustices in football that the great Aberdeen side of the 30’s were never to taste success and win the clubs’ first major honour. Aberdeen were a side littered with talent, and many observers were of the opinion that Aberdeen were the complete footballing team. The nearest they came was in the ‘37 Cup Final.

Having finally broken their disappointing sequence of defeats in Scottish Cup semi-finals by beating Morton 2-0 at Easter Road, the fact that Aberdeen had reached their first Hampden final brought massive interest in the area. The only real concern for Aberdeen was the fitness of winger Billy Strauss who had scored the goals that had taken Aberdeen to Hampden and his influence in the side was a huge one.

There were unprecedented scenes in Aberdeen as the city was gripped with Cup fever. An estimated 30,000 left Aberdeen with high expectations. With all modes of transport leaving the north east, some intrepid fans began to hitch hike it to Glasgow a day before the final. It was an early start for the bulk of the biggest supporter exodus ever seen in Aberdeen when the first of 17 special trains rolled out of the Joint Station at 4.25am on the morning of the final.

While the majority of the support made it by train, Aberdeen supporters overwhelmed the Buchanan Street area as they arrived in Glasgow and the whole station area was turned into a mass of Black & Gold favours.

Meanwhile the Aberdeen party had enjoyed a restful night at the St Enoch’s Hotel in the city centre. Two Rangers players, Bob McPhail and Alan Morton visited the Aberdeen party the night before the game and wished the Dons players the best of luck against their great rivals. Back then the cup final was seen as the pinnacle of the Scottish season and deemed for more prestigious than winning any league flag.

On the day of the final there was a great movement of Aberdeen supporters from the city centre to get to Hampden. Every four minutes a train was arriving in Mount Florida packed with Northerners, eager to get their first sight of the famous Hampden Park.

More than 44 buses every hour left for Hampden. It seemed that Aberdeen had moved south for the day. Trawler owners even instructed their skippers not to land catches on the Saturday, so keen was everyone to get to the final.

It is staggering to recall but the final itself was not all-ticket. The previous week, Hampden hosted the Scotland v England international before an incredible 149,000 spectators. The SFA noted that no serious incidents were recorded on that day and that it was beyond them to arrange for two all-ticket matches in a week.

One Aberdeen supporter at the time recalled the bedlam outside of Hampden before kick off “There was about 20,000 or so around the streets of Hampden and countless others who turned back at the train and bus stations when they would have realised the futility of trying to get to the game. In Somerville Drive the spectacle was terrifying as the street was packed with people and they were getting nowhere. Just then we could see the gates close and there were howls of rage.”

With another 20,000 locked outside and around 30,000 inside who could not see any of the action, the Aberdeen team lined up without the influential Billy Strauss who had not recovered from an injury.

Despite losing an early goal when Crum scored after a fine save from Johnstone, Aberdeen came storming back when Welshman Jackie Benyon crossed to Willie Mills, whose snap shot was saved, only for Matt Armstrong to level the tie. The second half began with Celtic pressing, but Aberdeen were up to the challenge and hit back to dominate for long spells. Kenaway denied Benyon before Mills hit the bar.

In a very even game, play was uninspiring for long spells, and it looked like that both sides would have to come back for a second game. However, despite Lang missing two good chances for Aberdeen, there was controversy as Celtic took the lead. McGrory bustled past Temple and used an arm to control the ball, and as the Aberdeen defence hesitated and waited for the whistle, Buchan scored off the post to ‘hand’ the Cup to Celtic.

Despite a rousing finale from Aberdeen as they swamped the Celtic goal, it was not to be, and time ran out for the gallant Aberdeen players. Although the Aberdeen camp was bitterly disappointed initially at their own display, and latterly at the manner of how the winning goal was allowed, further blows were to follow.

Tragedy struck the club when Aberdeen director William Hay died suddenly the day after the Final at the age of 50. Mr Hay had been a Don for 10 years, seven of which were on the SFA Council.

On reflection the Aberdeen side of 1937 was perhaps a formidable one built on a strong team work ethic but on the day they simply did not rise to the occasion and the club’s first major final was to end in bitter disappointment.

Weeks after the final, Aberdeen embarked on a tour to South Africa and six games in to the tour, tragedy struck the club once more. Jackie Benyon and Billy Strauss were hospitalised with flu and appendicitis respectively. Benyon then developed peritonitis, and on 26th June 1937, Jack Benyon died in a Johannesburg hospital. He was buried in an emotional ceremony in the South African capital. One can only imagine the feelings of the Aberdeen touring party, as the tour had to proceed.

Stats

24th April 1937
Aberdeen 1:2 Celtic
Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park
ABERDEEN: Johnstone, Cooper, Temple, Dunlop, Falloon, Thomson, Benyon, McKenzie, Armstrong, Mills, Lang.
CELTIC: Kennaway, Hogg, Morrison, Geatons, Lyon, Paterson, Delaney, Buchan, McGrory, Crum, Murphy.
Referee; C Hutton, Glasgow.

Attendance; 146,433

Note: The attendance for the Final remains a British record attendance for a club match. Hampden had just been refurbished, and it was also reported that more than 10,000 entered the stadium through various means other than the turnstiles and thousands others locked outside.

In the News

RECORD CROWD FOR DOMESTIC MATCH
This was Aberdeen’s first Scottish Cup final having fallen at the semi-final stage on six previous occasions. This no doubt contributed to the massive crowd that gathered at Hampden Park that day. In fact the match was watched by a British record crowd of 146,433 and the gate receipts totalled 11,000.00 pounds. This was a British record attendance for a club football match with people travelling from all over the country to attend. The fitba specials will have been in overdrive.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE UK
Ten days ago the new threepenny bit came into circulation and ironically the government budget this week has added 3d on personal income tax and introduced a new “National Defence Contribution” tax on company profits. Yesterday the King unveiled a memorial to King George V at Windsor. While in London talks were on-going to try and stop a strike by 30,000 bus workers.

TROTSKY CALL TO OVERTHROW STALIN
Leon Trotsky, currently exiled in Mexico, this week called for a new revolution in Russia to get rid of Joseph Stalin. He called for an investigation into Moscows charges that he was conspiring with Germany and Japan to form an “anti-Soviet alliance” and that Stalin and his Soviet bureaucracy had to be overthrown. Trotsky, who has recently been chief defendant in abstentia at a recent series of show trials in Moscow, added that if war came and Russia found itself allied with Britain and France then it might emerge as capitalist, because it currently teeters between Socialism and Capitalism.

AIRCRAFT CARRIER LAUNCHED
Ten days ago the docks at Birkenhead were packed with crowds to witness the launch of the Royal Navy aircraft carrier, Ark Royal. The ship had taken three years and three months to complete at a cost of three million pounds. The ship was launched by Lady Maud Hoare, wife of Sir Samuel Hoare, then First Lord of the Admiralty. It took four attempts to smash the bottle of champagne thrown against Ark Royal’s bows.

RECORD CROWD FOR INTERNATIONAL
Today saw the record crowd for a club match, but seven days earlier the crowd for the Scotland v England match, also at Hampden Park, was the largest for any match. Scotland trailed 1-0 at half time, but run out 3-1 winners in front of an official crowd of 149,407 although it is thought in excess of 150,00 actually watched the match.

NEWS FROM THE CONTINENT
In Spain General Franco has declared that his Phalangist movement is to be the only permitted Spanish party. Meanwhile his forces have shelled Madrid in the heaviest bombardment of the civil war to date. In Berlin Adolf Hitler has said that Germany is willing to discuss arms reduction.

Gallery

photos Red Matchday Archive