You just can’t keep Brechin City out of this column.
Here they are again but this time coming off the back of a Cowdenbeath story.
It came about when an un-named reader told me he was at a football quiz and one of the answers was a Cowdenbeath goalkeeper who was capped for Scotland.
He said he could not remember the name and, despite following football for over 60 years, could also not recall any goalkeeper ever playing for Scotland while playing for the Central Park side.
Actually, you would have to go back 86 years to 1930 to find Bob Middleton given a Scotland cap while playing with Cowdenbeath.
Bob was born in Brechin and played for his hometown club before joining the Fife team.
He also played around 60 times for Sunderland, and enjoyed other spells at Burton Town and Chester City.
You could argue Bob had a 100% record for Scotland as that solitary appearance was a 3-1 win over Northern Ireland at Celtic Park on February 22.
Hughie Gallacher (2) and George Stevenson netted for Scotland, with Harold McCaw replying for the Irish.
Scotland lined up — Bob Middleton (Cowdenbeath); Doug Gray (Rangers), Willie Wiseman (Queen’s Park); Jim Gibson (Aston Villa), Dave Meiklejohn (Rangers) (capt), Tom Craig (Rangers); Alex Jackson (Huddersfield), George Stevenson (Motherwell), Hugh Gallacher (Newcastle), Alex James (Arsenal), Alan Morton (Rangers).
Attendance 30,000.
I can’t find a Cowdenbeath team photo with Bob in it, so above is a Brechin City team group from the late 1920s, which features Bob.
I’m not sure of the exact year.
Back (from left) — Fleming, Cowan, Newman, Middleton, Elder, Wilkie. Front — Beattie, Easson, Ramsay (captain), Cairns, Sampson.
* Researching other queries for info-hungry BwB readers, I came across an interesting tale.
It concerns a competition called The Dewar Shield.
It was a competition for the winners of four county cups — Forfarshire Cup, Perthshire Cup, Stirlingshire Cup and Aberdeenshire Cup.
It was initially created by 1899 and the idea was to give local clubs some summer income. The competition was backed by the whisky firm Dewar’s. The winning team and runners-up were given Premium Bonds by the management committee.
My memories of the competition in the 60s and 70s is that it was always running a season or two behind schedule.
Further research threw up this . . .
Presented by Lord Provost Dewar of Perth, one of the sons of the founder of the John Dewar & Sons whisky distillery, this competition was played between the winners of the Aberdeenshire, Forfarshire, Perthshire and Stirlingshire Cups, the winners being declared champions of the four northern counties.
Attempts by the Fifeshire FA to be included were knocked back so as not to disturb the four club symmetry of the tournament.
Originally played at the tail-end of the season, in the post-war era it was often played into the following season or even stretched over several seasons, if played at all.
After an abeyance of 12 years, the competition was resurrected by the now Lord Forteviot in 1927.
If a county hadn’t played off their cup, or it was still running, then that county FA would nominate a suitable club to enter the Dewar Shield.
The shield was last played for in 1982, and resides still in St Johnstone’s boardroom in Perth.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.