A Look Into Histories

A LOOK INTO HISTORY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY NINE

EYEMOUTH UNITED v CELTIC RECORD ATTENDANCE

Eyemouth United were formed in 1948 and spent 75 years in the East of Scotland League until 2023 when they lost their Senior status and joined the Border Amateur League. Similar losses of Seniority were with Kelso United, Duns and Selkirk. Although their best run in the Scottish Cup was to the 1959-60 Quarter Final losing 1-2 to Kilmarnock they had managed to reach the 1st Round in previous seasons and one such was 1953/54 when drawn with Celtic.

With their home ground now holding at the most, 2,000 and Wikipedia giving the record attendance as 1,012 in 2018, there is a slight discrepancy as 2,000 fans alone made their way to the desolate seaside resort on 24th January 1953 in continuous rain and with locals adding to the crowd, it reached 4,131, by the far the record. To add to the atmosphere the ground was on top of a cliff and a formidable venue in a gale.

Our Match Programme, a souvenir edition for 6d just gave a couple of photos, pen pictures and the teams. The game was only four minutes old when the prolific centre forward Jimmy McGrory scored and he was on target again in the 12th minute. With Jock Stein also playing, McGrory added a third in the 36th minute for a 3-0 half time lead on a mud bath of a pitch. The second half was mainly all Celtic though Paterson in goal for Eyemouth was the local hero and kept control of the greasy ball for much of the time but in the 87th minute, McGrory tied it all up with his fourth for a 4-0 victory.

Celtic lost to Rangers 0-2 in the quarter final and Rangers went on to win the Scottish Cup beating Aberdeen 1-0 in front of 113,000 at Hampden Park.