Celtic v Aberdeen Scottish Cup Final, 1937 – “The Hampden roar which shook the Gods”

The Celtic Star

·22 May 2025

Celtic v Aberdeen Scottish Cup Final, 1937 – “The Hampden roar which shook the Gods”

The Hampden roar which shook the Gods…An extract from Celtic in the Thirties Volume 2 covering the 1937 Scottish Cup Final between Celtic and Aberdeen…

The following day would see history made at Hampden Park.

With 150,000 tickets printed for the Scotland v England clash, most forecasts suggested that the world attendance record of 136,259, achieved for the corresponding fixture four years earlier, would be broken. Those projections would prove to be correct, 149,547 spectators gaining entry to the Mount Florida stadium to set a benchmark which almost nine decades later has only been exceeded in the iconic Maracana in Rio de Janeiro.

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Those who did manage to follow the match from within the vast crowd would see an England side – with young Stoke City winger Stanley Matthews and Sunderland talisman Raich Carter prominent – dominate the first-half, Scotland fortunate to turn around just one goal down. That came from Matthews’ club striker Freddie Steele five minutes before the break. But the game was turned on its head within two minutes of the restart, Jimmy Delaney and Tommy Walker combining well before the Hearts forward set up Frank O’Donnell for a memorable debut goal. Scotland then enjoyed their best spell of the match before the pendulum swung again, England looking the more likely to score as the game headed to its conclusion. With 10 minutes remaining, O’Donnell turned provider, Bob McPhail blasting the hosts into the lead from his pass. And the game was settled in the dying seconds, as a free-kick from full-back Andy Anderson found the head of McPhail for 3-1.

Delight at Scotland’s victory was somewhat tempered by concerns over the safety of spectators at Hampden, particularly with the prospect of another huge crowd at the Scottish Cup final seven days later. David Brown, Glasgow Corporation’s Councillor for Provan, had attended the international and raised serious doubts as to the agreed capacity at the national stadium, as reported in The Glasgow Herald on Tuesday, 20 April 1937.

Hampden Park 1937. Scottish Cup Final venue. Celtic v Aberdeen. Photo The Celtic Wiki

“The view of this councillor is that the official estimates of the holding capacity of the terraces at Hampden Park are exaggerated, and that a larger area per spectator should be allowed in assessing the accommodation capacity. Councillor Brown was informed that he could lay the complaint before the magistrates, who will be prepared to hear him, it is expected, at a meeting today. Councillor Brown told of his experience at the match on Saturday. He was in the crowd in the terrace immediately behind the east goal, and the congestion was so bad as to be positively dangerous, in his opinion. The situation, especially at times of excitement, was most alarming. He had seen it mentioned that the space allowance per spectator on which the capacity of the ground is calculated is 18 inches. That, he considers, is too small a space, and from his own observation on Saturday he regards the admission of a gathering of 150,000 persons as an overtaxing of the accommodation. Safety and fair treatment of the spectator demand, in his view, a stricter limitation of the admissions.”

The capacity of Celtic Park was not taxed in any way on the evening of Monday, 19 April 1937, 13,000 spectators turning out for the Scottish Alliance match between the reserve sides of Celtic and Rangers. Celtic had joined the Alliance when it had been reformed essentially as a reserve team League after the First World War, winning the title in 1922 to complete a double of first-team and second-string successes that season. They would then withdraw until 1930, the Hoops winning a second Alliance title in 1933/34. Victory over Rangers that night would go a long way to securing a third crown, the following team tasked with achieving that.

Tom Doyle; John Boyle and John Doyle; Danny Dawson, Alex Millar & Bertie Duffy; John McInally, Malcolm MacDonald, Joe Carruth, John Divers & John Fitzsimons.

The match was effectively over before the break, John McInally opening the scoring before John Fitzsimons and a John Divers double had Celts four goals clear. Rangers did claw two goals back after the restart from Archie Macaulay and John Reid, but McInally added his own second 10 minutes from time to seal a 5-2 victory, a repeat of the scoreline from the first-ever clash between the clubs back in May 1888 at the original Celtic Park. The Hoops would duly go on to win a fourth Scottish Alliance title, succeeding Aberdeen as champions.

The Dons were very much on Celtic’s radar at first-team level also, amidst media speculation around the chances of winger Bill Strauss being fit in time to play in Saturday’s Scottish Cup final. Welshman Jackie Beynon had been first choice on the right flank before his own injury, and he looked the more likely option for Hampden having already resumed training. Both players were listed in the squad of 20 who would embark on a South African tour in early May. For one of those men and his family that journey would be tragically significant.

Celtic in the Thirties – Unpublished works of David Potter – Joe Kennaway. image by Celtic Curio for Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr out now at celticstarbooks.com

News coming from the Celtic camp was more positive, Joe Kennaway declared fit to start his second Scottish Cup final whilst young Arthurlie inside-forward Oliver Anderson would be called up to Parkhead in the new season, having recently represented Scotland at junior level.

Despite the huge attendance seven days earlier, crowd expectations for the latest Hampden showpiece were around the 100,000-mark, with no suggestion of the fixture being all-ticket, unlike the International. With the existing record for a Scottish Cup final being the 118,115 who watched Celtic and Rangers back in 1928, that may have been understandable, however, those projections were grossly underestimated.

What actually happened on Saturday, 24 April 1937 was that the largest crowd ever to attend a football match to that point gathered outside Hampden Park. The turnstiles recorded 147,365 spectators paying for admission before the gates were closed on police instructions 15 minutes before kick-off. That did not prevent around 500 supporters forcing their way through a gate near the main stand entrance, with police estimating a further 20,000 fans were turned away from the ground, many having walked the three miles or so from Glasgow city centre having given up on the prospect of reaching Mount Florida via public transport. The officially recorded but understated attendance of 147,365 remains the largest crowd ever to watch club football outside Brazil to this day.

The teams lined up as follows in this incredible cauldron of noise and colour.

Celtic Joe Kennaway; Bobby Hogg & Jock Morrison; Chic Geatons, Willie Lyon & George Paterson; Jimmy Delaney, Willie Buchan, Jimmy McGrory, John Crum & Frank Murphy.

Aberdeen George Johnstone; Willie Cooper & Bob Temple; Frank Dunlop, Eddie Falloon & George Thomson; Jackie Beynon, Johnny McKenzie, Matt Armstrong, Willie Mills & Johnny Lang.

Jimmy Delaney, Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, out now on Celtic Star Books. Image Celtic Curio

Jimmy Delaney must have experienced a sense of deja-vu, as for the second successive Saturday he ran out at Hampden in front of almost 150,000 supporters, yet another unique record for a very special player. Celtic started the stronger side in their quest to win the famous old trophy for the 15th time, the Hoops missing several chances before taking the lead in the 12th minute. As so often before, Jimmy McGrory was involved, the veteran striker forcing Dons keeper George Johnstone into a save but John Crum following up to blast the ball into the net. Aberdeen were shellshocked but, somehow, they conjured up the perfect reply. Straight from the kick-off they attacked, Jackie Beynon’s cross falling to Willie Mills who brought out the best in Joe Kennaway, the big Canadian then looking on in horror as Matt Armstrong reacted first to the loose ball and suddenly it was 1-1. Now it was the turn of the 30,000 or so black-and-gold clad supporters from the Granite City to do the cheering.

As Scottish Cup finals go, this one was the very definition of ‘evenly matched.’ Both teams were tied on 42 points in the First Division with identical win/draw/lose records. They had each won their home League fixture against the other by a single goal, the Dons ahead of Celtic in the table by virtue of a slightly better goal average with just one game remaining.

Willie Buchan and Johnny Crum. Image The Celtic Star

The final itself was finely balanced, a slice of fortune good or bad looking increasingly likely to settle the destination of the trophy. Aberdeen’s ‘What if?’ moment would arrive first, Mills beating Kennaway with a fine strike but seeing his effort crash to safety off the crossbar. But with 18 minutes remaining, Celtic got the vital breakthrough, and once again that man McGrory was the provider, his pass finding Willie Buchan running into the Dons box, a flashing shot past Johnstone hitting the upright before nestling in the Hampden net as the roar shook the Gods. There would be no Aberdeen comeback this time, no first major honour, Celts holding on for a 2-1 win and a third Scottish Cup triumph in seven years. It was a perfect early birthday present for manager Willie Maley, who would turn 69 years old the following day.

There is a lovely quote from the scorer of that winning goal, Willie Buchan, found in The Celtic Wiki, which for me brings that afternoon to life.

“Even now I still remember the incredible volume of sound that greeted us as we ran onto the field. I had never heard anything like it and initially found myself slightly overawed.

“The memory of my winning goal is still vivid in my mind too. The ball was played through from our own half and Jimmy McGrory flicked it on, allowing me to move in on the keeper from the right-hand side of the area. The two full-backs closed in, and I remember as the keeper came out, the goal seemed to become smaller. I just managed to squeeze the ball past him and in off the post.”

Football was the least of people’s concerns in the week which followed, as news of an atrocity in Northern Spain began to filter through. From around 4.30pm on Monday 26 April 1937, the ancient Basque capital of Guernica, a stronghold of the Republican resistance movement, was repeatedly bombed by Hitler’s Luftwaffe in support of General Francisco Franco’s Nationalist troops, a terrifying preview of the horror which would follow across Europe in the years ahead. Some four hours later, the ‘Holy City’ of Guernica had been completely destroyed and more than 1,600 civilians had lost their lives, many of those women and children as the menfolk were elsewhere fighting for the Republican cause.

Hail, Hail!

Matt Corr

An extract from Celtic in the Thirties, Volume Two, by Matt Corr, published on Celtic Star Books and available in two volumes via celticstarbooks.com – with Father’s Day not too far away it’s a perfect Celtic gift…

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