John Thomson "Prince of Goalkeepers" 100 Years Old
Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:36 pm
On January 28th 1909 in Kirkcaldy Fife John Thomson was born, his father also John was a miner in Bowhill Colliery, so John was raised in the mining community of Cardenden, he was destined to go on to greater things, and he certainly fulfilled that aspiration.
John would sign for Glasgow Celtic, one of the most famous football teams in the world, in fact Celtic have a history that is second to none in world football, its a history full of magical moments, almost mythical, from its inception through Brother Walfrid, right through the glory years of winning the European Cup,and nine concecutive League Championships, to the present day. The name of Celtic is known throughout the world, the famous green and white hoops are worn with pride in every town and city, from the kids in Africa with no shoes on their feet, to rock legend Rod Stewart on stage in front of 100,000 spectators, the sight is awesome.
And with that magical history throughout our one hundred and twenty years comes many legends, not least of all John Thomson, in fact John was probably the first football playing legend. When i first became a Celtic fan ( in my family, usually about five seconds after birth ) the two songs that were famous were the Celtic Song and the Johnny Thomson Song, both sang by that crooner Glen Daly, every birthday party or at new year someone would sing the Johnny Thomson Song, it never failed to bring a tear to your eye, still does in fact, such was the affection John was held in.
John Thomson acieved more in his short life than most players do in a full career, he made over two hundred appearances for Celtic and was capped four times by Scotland, all by the age of twenty two, we can only imagine what he would have achieved had he been able to continue his career. But even in such a short career he became a great favourite of the Celtic fans, John had everything, agility, concentration, but most of all was brave, he thought nothing of diving at opponents feet, he never thought of his own safety, but it was to prove fatal. John in fact had a very serious injury about eighteen months prior to his collision with Sam English, in a match against Airdrie, he broke his jaw, fractured a few ribs, suffered an injury to his collar bone, and lost two teeth, but once fit again, he just carried on where he left off.
John is laid to rest in Bowhill Cemetery in Cardenden, his funeral was attended by over 30,000 people, many who couldn't afford the train fare had walked it from Glasgow, a distance of some sixty miles. John was eventually inducted in to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in November of 2008, Tom Greig had written a book called "My Search For Celtic's John", he started a petition to persuade the powers that be that he was worthy of that accolade, Tom put a tremendous amount of work into the campaign, he got great support from Alex Burns and the John Thomson Memorial Committee, even the Prime Minister Gordon Brown got involved, but it was a very popular campaign, and was supported by all the political parties, and that doesn't happen often..
It is now over seventy seven years since John Died, the fact that he is remembered with such affection says it all, every year on the anniversary of his death, the John Thomson Memorial Football Tournament is held, over one hundred kids form all the local schools take part, evey one of them receives an award, this is not a tournament for kids who support Celtic, its for all the kids in Cardenden and the surrounding areas, i'm sure John would be very proud, and great credit must go to Alex Burns and his committee for the outstanding work they put in.
So on January 28th, on the anniversary of John's birth, lets stop for a moment and remember, he may be gone, but will never be forgotten.
John would sign for Glasgow Celtic, one of the most famous football teams in the world, in fact Celtic have a history that is second to none in world football, its a history full of magical moments, almost mythical, from its inception through Brother Walfrid, right through the glory years of winning the European Cup,and nine concecutive League Championships, to the present day. The name of Celtic is known throughout the world, the famous green and white hoops are worn with pride in every town and city, from the kids in Africa with no shoes on their feet, to rock legend Rod Stewart on stage in front of 100,000 spectators, the sight is awesome.
And with that magical history throughout our one hundred and twenty years comes many legends, not least of all John Thomson, in fact John was probably the first football playing legend. When i first became a Celtic fan ( in my family, usually about five seconds after birth ) the two songs that were famous were the Celtic Song and the Johnny Thomson Song, both sang by that crooner Glen Daly, every birthday party or at new year someone would sing the Johnny Thomson Song, it never failed to bring a tear to your eye, still does in fact, such was the affection John was held in.
John Thomson acieved more in his short life than most players do in a full career, he made over two hundred appearances for Celtic and was capped four times by Scotland, all by the age of twenty two, we can only imagine what he would have achieved had he been able to continue his career. But even in such a short career he became a great favourite of the Celtic fans, John had everything, agility, concentration, but most of all was brave, he thought nothing of diving at opponents feet, he never thought of his own safety, but it was to prove fatal. John in fact had a very serious injury about eighteen months prior to his collision with Sam English, in a match against Airdrie, he broke his jaw, fractured a few ribs, suffered an injury to his collar bone, and lost two teeth, but once fit again, he just carried on where he left off.
John is laid to rest in Bowhill Cemetery in Cardenden, his funeral was attended by over 30,000 people, many who couldn't afford the train fare had walked it from Glasgow, a distance of some sixty miles. John was eventually inducted in to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in November of 2008, Tom Greig had written a book called "My Search For Celtic's John", he started a petition to persuade the powers that be that he was worthy of that accolade, Tom put a tremendous amount of work into the campaign, he got great support from Alex Burns and the John Thomson Memorial Committee, even the Prime Minister Gordon Brown got involved, but it was a very popular campaign, and was supported by all the political parties, and that doesn't happen often..
It is now over seventy seven years since John Died, the fact that he is remembered with such affection says it all, every year on the anniversary of his death, the John Thomson Memorial Football Tournament is held, over one hundred kids form all the local schools take part, evey one of them receives an award, this is not a tournament for kids who support Celtic, its for all the kids in Cardenden and the surrounding areas, i'm sure John would be very proud, and great credit must go to Alex Burns and his committee for the outstanding work they put in.
So on January 28th, on the anniversary of John's birth, lets stop for a moment and remember, he may be gone, but will never be forgotten.