Author: Admin

The tenth Scottish Schools Championship took place as usual on the third Saturday in May at Ibrox Park in Glasgow.   The ‘Scottish Referee’ lamented the support given by the public to what they clearly viewed as a very worthwhile athletics venture.   Read this.

The Sports were held on Monday 17th May and the ‘Referee’ had three separate pieces on the day’s events.   Before we came to the results we read this one.   Note that there was a champion school contest this time round.

Then we come to the results.

The winners are noted below.

OPEN EVENTS

UNDER 16

UNDER 13

* indicates meeting best performance.   Note the schools winning events for the first time and no fewer than five different schools appearing in the Open category.

1908 was the most dramatic in the nine years that the championships had been running.   Comment has been made of the absence of Glasgow Academy and other schools in recent years but the comment below from the Scottish Referee of Friday 15th May, 1908, on the meetimg to be held the following afternoon.

It says that efforts to bring Watson’s and others such as Dollar back into the event had failed but stops short of saying why this was the case.   Nevertheless the sports went ahead on the Saturday and the Edinburgh Evening News reported as follows on that day’s procedings up to their ‘going to print’ time.

However, the ‘Scottish Referee’ on the following Monday followed the theme of the article on the Frida (above).

There was no team contest despite nine schools contesting the meeting.   That was certainly a step back.   The Edinburgh Evening News followed this up on the Monday with the following comment.

Make what you will of that but Fettes does not emerge well, nor do the other private schools who decided to boycott the meeting.   We know that the inter-scholastics were still doing well in the SAAA half centenary in 1933.   What made the change?    Meanwhile, the results in full were only printed by the ‘Glasgow Herald’.

There being no team winners, the individual winners are noted below.

OPEN EVENTS

UNDER 16

UNDER 13

There were six schools represented on the winner’s rostrum including Allan Glen’s High School, Bellahouston Academy, Dundee High School, George Heriot’s School, Glasgow High School and Stewart’s College: three from Glasgow, two from Edinburgh and one from Dundee.

The sports of 1907 were contested by 12 schools but there were some notable absentees.   First, the notice that appeared in the papers begore the meeting. 

Unlike the previous year, the weather was forecast to be good but this preview in the ‘Scottish Referee’ was a bit on the gloomy side.   Talk about ‘faint praise’?

There was a brief review of the sports with interesting notes on some of the participants before the actual results were printed.

But what of the schools championship?   Not printed in either the ‘Glasgow Herald’ or ‘Scotsman’ nor even in the ‘Referee’.   A bried view of the individual champions is below.

OPEN EVENTS

UNDER 16

UNDER 13

In the absence of definite results at school level, we can note that Allan Glen’s won four events, Stewart’s College won 4, Dollar Institute won four, Glasgow High School won three and Edinburgh Institution won two.   Glasgow High also had 10 second places, Allan Glen’s had seven and Dollar Institute had two.

The Glasgow High School won the competition in 1906 from Allan Glen’s High School

Above is the school badge with the Glasgow coat-of-arms incorporated in it.

The weather on the day in June was much better than the day in May!

The results of the meeting in brief, winners only is below.   

The team contest resulted in a victory for Glasgow High School with 30 1/2 points, from Allan Glen’s High School (22 1/2), Irvine Royal Academy (22 1/2), George Heriot’s (14), Greenock Academy (13) and Edinburgh Institution (5).   The individual results –

OPEN EVENTS

UNDER 16

UNDER 13

The asterisks after the names indicate a championship best performance.   The number of schools contesting the revised date for the championships might have been small but the standards had not fallen off at all.

Allan Glen’s High School was the winning school in 1905.

Founded in 1850 , it was a remarkable school with an emphasis on science and its management merged with that of Anderson’s College which eventually became the Royal College of Science and Technology and then Strathclyde University.   For many reasons, the school merged with the City Public School but had to close down as a school in 1989.    

The Inter-scholastics championships sixth meeting took place in Glasgow at the Scotstoun grounds but with fewer schools taking part.   Surprisingly, with the event being so close to their own premises, the Glasgow Academy did not take part although two other Glasgow schools – Allan Glen’s and the High School – filled the first and second places.   We start with the report from the ‘Glasgow Herald’.

Cartoon from the ‘Scottish Referee’ of 22nd May, 1905 beside the comments below

So far, so good.   The meeting was described and factual details outlined then there is a brief review of the actual sports.   However, the ‘Scottish Referee’ drew critical attention to one factor not yet mentioned.

The Referee had already listed some dignitaries present at the Scotstoun meeting in this comment.

Unfortunately, despite the fine comments, we could not find the results anywhere in that issue of the ‘Referee’.

The results above are from the ‘Daily Record’  The results, winners only, are in brief below..

Nine schools took part.  First five were Allan Glen’s HS with 50 1/2 pts, second Glasgow HS with 31, then came Irvine Royal Academy 13 1/2 pts, Greenock Academy 7 pts and Stewart’s College with 5 points.   Neither Glasgow Academy nor Dollar Institution were present at this running of the championships.

OPEN EVENTS

UNDER 16

UNDER 13

There had been much talk about an Inter-Scholastics Sports for at least a decade before the first such competition took place in 1900.   As we might expect the private schools were in the vanguard of such a movement and although there were several such schools in the west of Scotland most of the early was made by those in Edinburgh.    We will start with the scene in 1898 but note that links to the annual championships from 1900 to 1919 are at the foot of the page. 

The following article is from the Scottish Referee of June 8th, 1898.   The Bairns does not refer to the Falkirk Football  Club but to the younger generation involved in sport.   It follows an article about the School Inspectors Cup, a competition restricted to Edinburgh and district schools with the final to be played between St Leonard’s and Dalry at Tynecastle on 11th June and preceded by the final of the School Board Cup competition in which Merchiston would be playing either Regent Park, Leith Walk or Canonmills and Dean.    It reads –

The origins of the inter-scholastics as they were called go much further back than that with Tom Jack traced the origins of the championship much further back than 1898 when he wrote in the history of the  SAAA in 1933’s “Fifty Years of Athletics”.   It can be found at the link below.

The Inter-Scholastic Games – Anent Scottish Running

Noted athletics historian Hamish Telfer has looked at the event.   He says:

In the fifth year of the inter-scholastics championship, two of the outstanding schools from previous championships – Glasgow Academy and George Watson’s College – opted out of of this year’s competition.   There were however several new establishments among the nine to be seen in action – Glasgow High School, Morrison’s Academy, Crieff and Greenock Academy were the new boys.   The school championship was won by Dollar making them the only school to win for two years in succession.   The report from the ‘Scottish Referee’ for 23rd May, 1904, reads as follows.

Results in brief:  

The inter-School championship was won by Dollar Institution with 26 1/2 points with Allan Glen’s second on 25 1/2 and Glasgow High School third with 19 points.   Remaining places were filled by Stewart’s College (4th) 15 pts, Morrison’s Academy (5th) 7 pts, Ayr Academy (6th) 7 pts, Greenock Academy (7th) 5 pts, Larchfield (8th) 3 pts, Edinburgh Institution (9th) 2 pts.    Five of the schools were from the West, the first time there was a minority from the Edinburgh district.    

Open Events

Under 16

Under 13

.

Crest of Dollar Academy: Dollar won the Inter-Scholastic Championship in 1903

Founded in 1818 Dollar Academy is situated in Dollar, Clackmannanshore and has over 1000 day and boarding pupils.

Keeping to the third Saturday in May, the 1903 championships were held on 17th May with one of the top schools missing the action and Ayr Academy adding to the contingent from the west.   From the ‘Scottish Referee’ of 18th May.

Summary of results – winners only.

Open Events

Under 16

Under 13

The absence of Watson’s was a surprise but the continuing growth in numbers was an indication that the championships met a need.   Although they had started as a limited event in the Edinburgh area, their popularity after the SAAA took an interest in 1900 surged and there were schools from Glasgow, Helensburgh then Ayr, and in the near future there would be entries from and medals won by Rothesay Academy.   Not just a bus trip, but a boat trip too for these pupils.   

A wee side note: the schools in the 1902 meeting recorded the teams scores in ‘marks’ – eg Glasgow Academy 30 marks, Dollar 29 marks, etc – which were maybe appropriate for an inter-scholastics, but in 1903 it had changed to ‘points’.  The new name in the top three was Stewart’s College who were third behind Dollar (35 1/2)  with Glasgow Academy (28)  in second.

George Watson’s College: Watson’s won the Inter-Scholastic Championship in 1902

The sports continued to grow and the ‘Scottish Referee’ tells us that although one of the schools from 1901 dropped out, they were replaced by two and so the numbers competing continued to grow.   The number of schools from the West of the country also continued to grow with Glasgow Academy, Allan Glen’s School, and Larchfield were all involved   The report from the Referee of 19th May is below.

The results above are not only comprehensive, they are also easily legible which is not always the case.   The top three schools (Watson’s College, Dollar Institution and Glasgow Academy) are the same as in past years but the order changes.   This time round, winners from 1901, Glasgow Academy were third giving them a 2nd, 1st and 3rd in three years.   Where would they finish in 1903 and would any other school break into the upper echelons? 

Glasgow Academy Crest: the Academy won the second Inter-Scholastic Championship

The Academy is the oldest continuous private school in Glasgow, having been founded in 1845.  The motto means ‘Keep Faith”.

The schools championships took place on Saturday 18th May in 1901 but despite their praise of the inaugural meeting the Glasgow Herald did not cover the event.   This is despite the fact that Glasgow Academy (badge above)  won the sports from the eight other schools taking part.  The report below is from the Scotsman of Monday 20th May, 1901.

Concise results:         

Nine Schools took part – Clifton Bank, Dollar Institution, Edinburgh Institution, George Heriot’s School, Glasgow Academy, Larchfield Academy, Royal High School, Stewart’s College and George Watson’s College.   

The result of the inter-school competition was first, Glasgow Academy   30 marks,  second Dollar Institution  29 marks,  and third George Watson’s College with 24 marks.    Larchfield had 11, Clifton 6, Edinburgh Institution 6, Edinburgh Royal High School 4 while neither Stewart’s College nor George Heriots scored a point.    

Individual winners:

    Open Events

Under 16

Under 13