Dramatic tribute to 'prince of goalkeepers' John Thomson

HE IS a football legend known among fans as the goalkeeper who gave his life rather than concede a goal.

Now, 80 years after his tragic death on the pitch during an Old Firm game, a play commemorating the short life of John Thomson is hitting the stage.

The Celtic goalkeeper's courage cost him his life when he collided with Rangers' centre-forward Sam English.

The incident, in 1931, shook Scottish football and is still remembered at Parkhead today.

Celtic Football Club, in conjunction with Ambassador Theatre Group, has announced that The Prince - The Johnny Thomson Story will open on 5 September - the exact date of his death.

The play, at the King's Theatre, Glasgow, tells the life story of the Fife footballer who was proclaimed to be "The Prince Of Goalkeepers". Written by Brian McGeachan and Gerard McDade, it is set against the backdrop of Fife and Glasgow in the late 1920s.

Born in Kirkcaldy in 1909, Thomson lived with his parents and his brothers and sisters in Cardenden, Fife.

When he was only 15 he began playing for local side Bowhill Rovers and was soon picked up by Celtic when he was 17.

His reputation as a "courageous" and sometimes "reckless" goalkeeper was soon cemented when he broke his jaw, fractured many ribs, damaged his collar bone and lost two teeth in a game against Airdrie in 1930.

But it was during a game the following year against Rangers at Ibrox that Thomson met his fate, watched by his fiance, Margaret Finlay.

In the second half Thomson and Rangers player Sam English both went for the ball at the same time.

Thomson's head collided with English's knee, fracturing his skull and rupturing an artery in his right temple.

He was taken off the field in a stretcher and later died at the city's Victoria Hospital. Around 40,000 people attended his funeral at Bowhill Cemetery with many walking all the way from Glasgow to Fife to pay their respects.

His enduring reputation as an "icon and legend" - even eight decades after his death - prompted the writing partnership to create the play.

Mr McDade said the play would appeal to all audiences and not just football fans.

He said: "I think it's a relevant story for the 21st century.

"If Johnny had been born in this era and playing today he would have had an agent, been involved in sponsorship deals and no doubt, given his looks, be adorning the posters of boys and girls alike.

"He would have had the clout of a Beckham, albeit a reluctant celebrity."

He added: "We have just been trying to get into his football boots so to speak. He was a Fife country boy coming to the big city.

"It is not just a Celtic history, it's also a social history of Glasgow in the 1920s."

Mr McDade said the events of 5 September, 1931 were a double tragedy.

"It's also the tragedy of Sam English. His career was effectively over as although he finished top scorer in the country with a record that still stands to this day that season, he had to move away because of the controversy.

"Wherever he went, even when he played down south, he would hear cries of 'murderer' and 'killer'."The Scotsman edition of 9 September 1931 carried this report on John Thomson's memorial service

"REMARKABLE scenes were witnessed at Glasgow yesterday, where a memorial service was conducted in Trinity Church for John Thomson, the Celtic Club and Scottish International goalkeeper.

The service was announced by the Rev HS Mclelland, who is a keen football follower, and although it was intimated publicly only yesterday morning the esteem in which Thomson was held and the poignant nature of his death, made such a wide appeal that hours before the service was timed to begin thousands of men and women,including Protestants and Catholics, congregated outside the church. Berkeley Street and Claremont Street were besieged by crowds of people. When the doors of the church were thrown open hundreds of men and women surged forward and , mounting the steps. they clamoured for admission.

Women screamed and shouted for help as they were pinned against the railings surrounding the church. Two fainted, and had to be carried into a nearby hospital, where they received medical attention.

The police were completely overpowered, and another section of the crowd rushed to the side entrances 14 tha church by mounting tho railings

Peter Wilson, the Celtic half-back, who was to read the lessons at the service along with David Meiklejohn, the Rangers' captain, could not gain admission tothe church.

Meiklejohn, however, read his lesson, while the other was read by the minister. When reinforcements of police arrived the crowd was ultimately quietened, and order soon prevailed.

The service in the church was most impressive. On the draping hanging from the pulpit were the letters " J. T., C.F.C.," which represented John Thomson, Celtic F.C. The lettering was in green, the colours of the famous Glascow team. in his address,

The Rev M'Clelland said that he had been an eye-witness of Thomson's tragic death.

'What we saw then was an act of superb and uncalculating courage, an act of supreme and unfaltering loyalty, o flash of that divine fire that burns out all thought of self when danger assails that to which we are committed.

John Thomson did not give his life for a goal. He gave his life for an ideal—the ideal for which every brave life ought to be willing to lay itself down—loyalty to the trust placed in our hands."