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FIFTY
YEARS
OF
ATHLETICS
59
by winning the
I
oo Yards Championship (S.A.A.U.) . I
mustn't go ahead of the pistol. As I had been pushed
into it, so I pushed my brother Tom, and right well he
responded He made his debut at Queen's Park Sports
and collared the open hundred. That is how we celebrated
the jubilee year (
188
7).
Celtic, the new football club, absorbed me and my time
ever since. Hence the foreword. Why not sports for the
new club ? Why not, indeed ! The MacLeans had their
own boat, we will have our own sports. Hard work it was
to convince the committee, but ably backed up by brother
Tom and the late J. H. McLaughlin I succeeded. Some
audacious deed was that. Our old enclosure at Dal-
marnock Street was all right as a football ground, but as
a sports-holding enclosure it left much to be desired.
Willing workers had made the ground ; they did their
best to produce a track. Certainly it did look well—so
long as it was not used. It bore strong kinsmanship to a
garden path. I am mindful, of course, that there were
very few good tracks at that period. In the Western area,
Hampden stood out as the best. The bare mention of
Hampden and its track recalls dear old Arthur Geake,
who had no greater hobby than the care and attention of
that track and the enclosure.
At Westmarch, Paisley, then St. Mirren ground, Bob
Hindle had brought the track to a pretty high state of
perfection. Two Saturdays had been allotted for my first
venture as sports promoter. Filling the bill was the next
problem. The five-a-side stuff for junior and senior
players was all right, so, too, the confined events for
players ; but what of track events ? Would the cyclists
face the risks that our primitive track presented ? Could
we induce the pedestrians to patronise our maiden effort ?
The answers were in the affirmative.
Just when the difficulty of apportioning the events had
come into being, came also a message of help from a good
friend of mine in the Manchester area, a member of the
Salford Harriers. " ` Sonny' Morton, Kibblewhite, and
Parry will run at your preliminary meet if you can arrange
an event." " Arrange an event! most surely; come along
with them," was my reply. I am constrained to say the visit
of this famous trio was the forerunner of circumstances of
like nature which made our sports the great feature they
were. Great success were these runners. Morton's won-
YEARS
OF
ATHLETICS
59
by winning the
I
oo Yards Championship (S.A.A.U.) . I
mustn't go ahead of the pistol. As I had been pushed
into it, so I pushed my brother Tom, and right well he
responded He made his debut at Queen's Park Sports
and collared the open hundred. That is how we celebrated
the jubilee year (
188
7).
Celtic, the new football club, absorbed me and my time
ever since. Hence the foreword. Why not sports for the
new club ? Why not, indeed ! The MacLeans had their
own boat, we will have our own sports. Hard work it was
to convince the committee, but ably backed up by brother
Tom and the late J. H. McLaughlin I succeeded. Some
audacious deed was that. Our old enclosure at Dal-
marnock Street was all right as a football ground, but as
a sports-holding enclosure it left much to be desired.
Willing workers had made the ground ; they did their
best to produce a track. Certainly it did look well—so
long as it was not used. It bore strong kinsmanship to a
garden path. I am mindful, of course, that there were
very few good tracks at that period. In the Western area,
Hampden stood out as the best. The bare mention of
Hampden and its track recalls dear old Arthur Geake,
who had no greater hobby than the care and attention of
that track and the enclosure.
At Westmarch, Paisley, then St. Mirren ground, Bob
Hindle had brought the track to a pretty high state of
perfection. Two Saturdays had been allotted for my first
venture as sports promoter. Filling the bill was the next
problem. The five-a-side stuff for junior and senior
players was all right, so, too, the confined events for
players ; but what of track events ? Would the cyclists
face the risks that our primitive track presented ? Could
we induce the pedestrians to patronise our maiden effort ?
The answers were in the affirmative.
Just when the difficulty of apportioning the events had
come into being, came also a message of help from a good
friend of mine in the Manchester area, a member of the
Salford Harriers. " ` Sonny' Morton, Kibblewhite, and
Parry will run at your preliminary meet if you can arrange
an event." " Arrange an event! most surely; come along
with them," was my reply. I am constrained to say the visit
of this famous trio was the forerunner of circumstances of
like nature which made our sports the great feature they
were. Great success were these runners. Morton's won-
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| Sports publications > Fifty years of athletics > (71) |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/231656986 |
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| Description | An historical record of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association, 1883-1933. |
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| Shelfmark | N3.205.3986L |
| Attribution and copyright: |
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More information
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| Description | More than 230 sports publications from the National Library of Scotland's collections. Featured sports include football, rugby, golf, shinty, athletics, bowls, cricket and hockey. Among the material from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are match programmes, club histories, and handbooks. From the late 20th century are promotional materials to encourage greater diversity in sport. Most items cover sports activities in Scotland. There are also publications relating to the Olympics and international matches. |
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| Additional NLS resources: |
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