On 27th April 1895 a match took place. It was the equivalent, say, of today's World Club Championship, a pitting of the two best teams from the hotbeds of the Beautiful Game, except that then it was not inter-continental. Whilst the sport had already taken root on several continents it was not indigenous. Wherever it was being played it was usually still by implanted or passing Britons. It was not the or even a World sport but still a British one. So the match itself set country against country against each other, in fact Scotland against England, in the form of Edinburgh's Heart of Midlothian and Sunderland, each the most recent winners of not their respective Cups but their leagues. And England won.

Except it didn't. By what might seem a curious quirk of fate, but, of course, was not since there were obvious explanations, everyone who took the field that day was a Scot, even the referee, Mr. Dickson. Now in part there was an explanation - location. The match took place at the Hearts ground then and now, Tynecastle. Mr. Dickson and the host team could be presumed to be local, but they weren't really. The man with the whistle came from Wishaw. Of the Hearts eleven Jock Fairburn in goal was actually from The Borders, the full-backs, Barney Battles Jnr and James Mirk were born in Springburn in Glasgow and probably in Stirling respectively, the half-backs, Alex Hall, Bob McLaren and George Hogg in Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh and West Calder, and of the forwards the two wingers Willie Taylor and Davie Baird were also from Auld Reekie but inside them Willie Michael was again from Wishaw, George Scot was Fife-born but Glasgow-raised and Tommy Chambers hailed from Broxburn. In other words, whilst three of the home eleven from Scotland's capital, the rest had been drawn still from North of the Border but wherever.      

And in that sense the home team that day was no different at all to the opposition, which remarkably but barely uniquely had sixteen, perhaps seventeen Scots in its squad. Thus in Sunderland's goal was Ned Doig, born in Arbroath. In front of him were Bob McNeil and Don Gow, with almost as diverse origins as possible in Port Glasgow and Blair Atholl, although the latter's introduction through the junior game was in Glasgow city. In the meantime the half-backs, Billy Dunlop, John Auld and Harry Johnston, were an Ayrshire/Glasgow combination, the first hailing from Annbank, the second from Lugar.  And then there were the forwards. Right to left both Jimmy Hannah and James Gillespie too was Glaswegians, John Harvey at centre-forward and Johnny Campbell had learned their trades in the West Dumbartonshire hot-spot of Renton, the previous World Champions, but had been born in Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively and Jimmy Millar was a third from Ayrshire and  a second from Annbank.     

In fact the whole encounter, whilst billed as a meeting of England and Scotland, with for the first time England successful, 3-5, it should better be seen as the East of Scotland against the West, with not the first or last time the latter victorious.  Moreover, in its billing as a World Championship and thus de facto the British Championship it was a very obvious expression of the equally obvious reality that not English nor Scottish but Scots football was predominant, not simply numerically as in this game but stylistically within the UK and therefore by extension throughout the then footballing World.