Over the last year, the Scottish FA has been holding a series of exciting events to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the association’s foundation, and with it the formal beginnings of the professional game in Scotland. On September 12th 2023, all of these celebrations will come to a climax with the showpiece event: the 150th Anniversary Heritage Match between Scotland and England!
This special match commemorates the oldest rivalry in international football, and will see Scotland take on the Auld Enemy for the 116th time. The game will be hosted at Hampden Park, and takes place just over 150 years after the first ever meeting between the two sides. No other rivalry in world football can claim to have such a long history!
But what’s the story behind this anniversary match? Find out more about the background of the first ever international game between Scotland and England from TOFFS - official partners of the Scottish FA on the 150th anniversary celebrations!
The story of Scotland and England’s first meeting
The match that took place between Scotland and England on November 30th 1872 wasn’t just the first meeting between these two national sides - in fact, it’s recognised by FIFA as the first ever international match.
The idea was originally instigated by the English FA’s secretary Charles Alcock, who had been laying down public challenges in Glasgow and Edinburgh newspapers for some time in the hopes of helping to set up international games between representatives of Scotland and England. This bore fruit with a series of five games that took place from 1870 to 1872, which drew considerable attention - not least because one of the players for the Scottish side was William H Gladstone, the MP and son of then-Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone!
However, these games were fully accepted in Scotland, as most of the players who represented Scotland were from the London area. Charles Alcock therefore laid down a new challenge - for a full international between England and a true Scotland side, with players from actual Scottish teams. The game was arranged to take place at the West of Scotland Cricket Club's ground at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, on St Andrew’s Day in 1872.
Since there was no formal international side at that time - or even a Scottish FA to organise one - Alcock’s challenge was taken up by Queen’s Park, the leading Scottish club at the time. All of Scotland’s XI were Queen’s Park players, while the English side included players from nine clubs, handpicked by Alcock himself.
After a slight delay from the scheduled 2pm start, the historic game got underway in front of a raucous crowd of around 4,000 spectators. Media reports at the time described the match as a high-quality affair, despite the wet, heavy pitch, with a strong first-half performance by the Scots being matched by a second-half English resurgence. Ultimately, the game finished 0-0, but the occasion itself was seen as a great success - and set the stage for a significant transformation of Britain’s footballing landscape in the years that followed.
The significance of Scotland vs England
The popularity of the Scotland vs England friendly, and its extensive coverage in the press, had massive knock-on effects for the evolution of the beautiful game. It set the template for international football as a sporting concept, and also helped to standardise the rules of association football across borders.
Crucially, the match was also a key catalyst for the formation of the Scottish FA in 1873,a huge milestone in the sport’s development as a viable professional competition north of the border. With the English and Scottish FAs now up and running, Scotland vs England became a regular fixture of the burgeoning international football schedule, with the two sides playing each other in the spring of every year (except during the World Wars) until 1989.
The rivalry between England and Scotland formed the centrepiece of the British Home Championship, the annual competition between the four British home nations, which was the oldest football tournament in the world and ran from 1884 to 1984. In the 115 encounters between the two sides, England have so far won 48 games to Scotland’s 41, with 24 draws along the way.
The last 150 years have given us some truly unforgettable games, from the 5-1 away victory of Scotland’s “Wembley Wizards” in 1928, to the 9-3 drubbing inflicted on the Scots in 1961, or the 3-2 win in 1967 that saw Scotland end the 19-game unbeaten run of Alf Ramsey’s reigning World Cup winners. Since the end of the British Home Championship and the annual series, England-Scotland games have been less common - but no less memorable, as anyone who watched England’s Paul Gascoigne-powered 2-0 win at Euro 96 will attest!
The most recent clash between the sides came in June 2021, when the sides were drawn against each other in Group D at the Euro 2020 finals. That game, like the first ever match between the sides, ended 0-0 - will we see a more decisive result at the 150th anniversary game?
Celebrate the 150th Anniversary Heritage Match with TOFFS
The 150th Anniversary Heritage Match will be kicking off at Hampden Park at 7:45pm on Tuesday September 12th, and Hampden Park is sure to be packed out for this historic event. Whether you’ve got tickets or not, there’s no better time to celebrate the rich heritage of Scottish football - and no better way than by browsing TOFFS’ range of officially-licensed 150th anniversary Scottish football shirts and accessories!
As part of our long-term partnership with the Scottish FA, we’ve created an exclusive range of 150th anniversary commemorative Scotland gear. Every product in the range features rich navy blue designs, emblazoned with the Scottish FA’s golden 150th Commemorative Crest, inspired by the original association crest of 1873.
Browse a massive selection of incredible kits and gear for fans of all ages, including:
- Scotland 150th Anniversary Retro Football Shirt
- Scotland 150th Anniversary Track Top
- Scotland 150th Anniversary Navy Sweatshirt
- Scotland 150th Anniversary Navy T-Shirt
- Scotland 150th Anniversary Bucket Hat
- Scotland 150th Anniversary Harrington Jacket Navy
- Scotland 150th Anniversary Zipped Hoodie - Navy
- Scotland 150th Anniversary Hoodie Navy/white
- Kids Scotland 150th Anniversary Retro Football Shirt
- Kids Scotland 150th Anniversary Hoodie
- Kids Scotland 150th Anniversary Navy/White T-Shirt
All of our products are manufactured by hand to the highest standards using 100% cotton - so whether you’re watching the match from Hampden Park or at home, you can celebrate this landmark event in style!
