As we commence the run in to the first leg of the 1872 Cup scheduled for 22nd December at Scotstoun howabout the run in to the 1872 match taken by one of the gallant pioneers of the first ever inter district match in world rugby ---Tom Chalmers of Glasgow Accies
CHALMERS was of that rare breed capped for Scotland at rugby and cricket and almost at soccer

A scribe from the sports press of that era takes up the story
"As a sort of quid pro quo for the courtesy extended to an Association player by the Rugby contingent in the Inter-city match, Tom Chalmers, the very beau ideal of a Rugby player, was asked, and promised to play in the first International Association match at Partick in 1872. Tom even came out to the Recreation Ground at Crosshill, and practised with the Conquerors as goalkeeper, and promised well in that position, but through some cause or other he did not play when the eventful day came. If ever a man could handle a ball and kick a goal as a quarter-back in a Rugby game, it was Chalmers. He was the pride of all the Rugby clubs in the country side, and was as well, indeed, if not better known in his brilliant career as a cricketer. Who in Scotland could bat like Tom? He was not a hitter to a particular side of the wickets; all was alike to him. He could cut, drive, hit to long and square-leg, and oh! how far! He would have made a grand Association football player, but he preferred to stick to the Rugby style, and was equally successful, at least to his club's satisfaction. The first match between England and Scotland at Partick, nineteen years ago (which, by the way, is worthy of note, was played by members of the Queen's Park exclusively), did a great deal to spread Association rules in Glasgow and district, and, in fact, eventually all over Scotland. Hitherto there used to be a couple of months of interval between the end of the Rugby football season and the starting of athletics and cricket, lasting from March till May, and as the football players of the old dispensation were still in trim, but with exhausted fixtures, not a few of them, belonging to two of the leading clubs, did not consider it infra dig. to have a "go" at the new rules, "just to see how they could stand it."

This article was originally posted on 5-Dec-2012, 22:40 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 7-Dec-2012, 07:28.