Research into the history of Football in Falkirk district : mainly concentrating on the the period up to 1945 I like to dig through the newspapers from the days of yore to find little vignettes that were rarely included in the published histories. From the ugly side to the downright obscure, just don't expect me to write about anything too obvious ....
Friday, 16 August 2013
To Falkirk FC's Eternal Shame
On the 9th of March 1935 Falkirk played a League Match against Ayr United. You will not find this match in the records.
The simple fact is that the Falkirk Manager, William Orr, gave money to one of his underlings [he worked at Alexander's Bus factory in Camelon] to play below par. The player just happened to play for Ayr United at weekends.
*Hangs head in Shame*
This is the reason I always have "other matches" in my lists of matches players played and not 'friendlies', this match cannot count in the League record, but was clearly not a friendly. But I am sure the players tried their best [hoping they did not know what Mr Orr was up to].
The Falkirk Team on the day was
James Milton
Robert Nisbet
Hugh Hamill
Thomas Batchelor
Alex Lowe
Robert Shankly
Frank Wilson
John Ballantyne
Robert Keyes
David Cowan
William Walker
Subsequently William Orr was suspended 'sine die' from all involvement with football [rescinded in 1937]
Labels:
Bribery,
Falkirk FC,
Falkirk FC Managers,
Shame,
William Orr