and the Greatest Final Played on US Soil

“Summer of ’67,” the upcoming book by RedMatchday Magazine contributor Ian Thomson, features Aberdeen’s unlikely march to become the champions of North America.

Celtic’s standing as the first British club to lift the European Cup in 1967 has been seared into the consciousness of football fans. It’s often forgotten how prominent the entire Scottish game was during a year that can arguably be described as our footballing pinnacle.

Jim Baxter’s ball-juggling characterised the national team’s swaggering 3-2 win over world champions England at Wembley Stadium as Scotland lifted the Home Nations Championship. Rangers fell short in extra time against the Bayern Munich of Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller in the Cup Winners’ Cup final, and Kilmarnock reached the UEFA Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-final before losing to Don Revie’s Leeds United.

Aberdeen played their part that summer under the guise of the Washington Whips in the inaugural United Soccer Association tournament. Ten European teams and two from South America were invited to participate in the latest attempt by millionaire American sports promoters to launch a professional soccer league. Eddie Turnbull’s youthful squad featured Bobby Clark in goal, “Iron Man” Ally Shewan in defense and 18-year-old Martin Buchan looking to break into the starting line-up. The Whips also boasted President Lyndon B. Johnson as a season ticket holder for their games at the D.C. Stadium.

Washington beat the Cleveland Stokers (Stoke City) and Toronto City (Hibernian) to the Eastern Division crown, setting up a championship decider on July 14, 1967 against the Western Division winning Los Angeles Wolves (Wolverhampton Wanderers) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The two teams produced the greatest soccer final played on American soil.

“Summer of ’67,” scheduled for release in mid-July, tells the story of the tournament’s creation and demise and recalls the experiences of its participants including Buchan, Clark and Shewan from Aberdeen, Donald Mackay from Dallas-based Dundee United, and Peter Cormack and Pat Stanton from Hibernian. Players from eight clubs share their memories of the capers, the gimmicks, the celebrity brushes and the games that combined to provide them with the trip of a lifetime.

Follow Ian on Twitter at @SoccerObserver for further updates. #SummerOf67