Scottish clubs excelled in the early days of European club football.
Although we had to wait 12 years for Celtic’s now-famed victory in 1967, our clubs gave a good account of themselves.
Hibs were the early fore-runners with their Famous Five forward line.
But one regular contributor to BwB reckons the men who put that team together have not been truly recognised by this country.
Rob Boag opened: “Their names were listed below the photographs but I recognised most of the faces.
“I lingered on a few of the names as my rusted memory raised glory games and glory days from another age.
“And there were a few names that made me wonder what politics were at play to gain them inclusion into this prestigious group.
“The names I looked for were not there!
“I went through all of them again — no, not there . . . Harry Swan and Hugh Shaw are not inductees into Scotland’s Football Hall of Fame.”
Rob, formerly of Lochee, Dundee, and now in Vancouver, Canada, continued: “In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Hibs were Scotland’s prestigious team, winning three consecutive league titles.
“They gained international attention for their fluid attacking style of play and, in 1953, were invited by the Brazil Football Association to compete in a South American competition.
“The Easter Road side accepted the invitation.
“Long before the ‘Fab Four’, there was the ‘Fab Five’ – and fabulous they were . . . Gordon Smith, Lawrie Reilly, Willie Ormond, Eddie Turnbull and Bobby Johnstone.
“Hibs filled every ground and football fans, regardless of their allegiance, came to watch this great team play with style, panache and score great goals.
“Harry Swan was Hibs chairman, and Hugh Shaw was Hibs manager during this exciting era of Scottish football. Swan was outspoken about why there should be seated stadiums for the fans.
“He installed floodlights at Easter Road in 1954, when directors at Aberdeen, Celtic, the Dundee clubs, Rangers and Hearts thought floodlights were a fad.
“Swan was a man of vision, and Shaw was a brilliant manager.”
Football at the highest level was changing, as Rob went on: “At the end of the 1954-55 season, a Frenchman named Gabriel Hanot, ex-French international player and editor of the French Sports newspaper L’Equipe, proposed a football concept that he and his newspaper had devised.
“It was to create a European Club Football Competition and would be named ‘The European Cup’.
“The winning league champions from 16 European countries were invited to play home and away games during the 1955-56 season.
“Aberdeen won the Scottish First Division in the 1954-55 season.
“Celtic, Rangers and Hearts came next in the league, with Hibs, now past their peak, in fifth place.
“Aberdeen received an invitation to enter this new European competition, but declined.
“The Pittodrie board of directors didn’t fancy midweek travel to European grounds and didn’t see a future in this tournament.
“The directors of Celtic, Rangers and Hearts had a similar cynicism toward this foreign folly.
“Swan and Shaw, however, jumped at the opportunity to enter this European venture, and Gabriel Hanot, a long-time fan of Hibs style of play, agreed that a fifth-placed team could represent Scotland.”
Other countries were also not too sure about this new venture.
“In England, the FA also had misgivings about this tournament,” continued Rob.
“So did Chelsea, the league champions that season, and the Stamford Bridge outfit declined the European invitation.
“So Hibs were the first British team to enter a European club competition, and Eddie Turnbull was the first British player to score a goal in the European Cup.
“The Hibees, past their peak, made it to the semi-final and were beaten by French side Stade de Reims.
“But who won the first European Cup? Real Madrid, of course!
“More than a million fans turned out to watch this European football experiment and, in the 1956-57 season, Rangers, representing Scotland, and Manchester United, representing England, accepted an invitation to play in the European Cup, which had now expanded to 22 countries.
“Swan, Shaw and Hibs always took the path less travelled, and others followed in their footsteps.”
“This is part of the Hall of Fame Mission statement:
‘The Hall of Fame is a permanent feature in the Scottish Football Museum and will honour the truly great players, managers and officials who have reached the pinnacle of their profession and have made significant contribution to Scotland’s football reputation through their skill, spirit and determination.’
“The Hibs forward line of that great team are inductees into the Hall of Fame.
“The mission statement could have been scripted for Swan and Shaw.
“Why are these two great football minds, who, at that time, enhanced and enriched Scotland’s reputation as a progressive football nation, not listed in Scotland’s Hall of Fame?”
Rob concluded by listing “the first 16 countries to enter and play in the 1955-56 European Cup — Rapid Wien, Anderlecht, AGF Aarhus, Stade Reims, Voros Lobogo, AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Gwardia Warszawa, Sporting CP, Saarbrucken, Hibernian, Real Madrid, Djurgarden, Servette, Rot-Weiss Essen, Partizan.”
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