I took a trip out to Hamilton for the commemoration of Peter Somers, who although only 36 when he died had left his mark on Celtic & a number of other clubs during his short life. The event was put together by the team at the Celtic Graves Society & by kind permission of the Somers family.
Peter was part of the first Celtic team to win 6 league titles in a row back in early 1900s & formed part of one of the most famous front 5 in Celtics history. With over 200 appearances & 62 goals, Peter helped establish Celtic on the field in the clubs early years.
Parking the car at the Cemetery, I spoke with a few other people who had made their way from various parts of Scotland for the commemoration. After a quick chat we all made our way to the grave side & newly cleaned headstone.
An introduction from our hosts at the Celtic Graves Society gave the tribute from the Somers family & set the scene for Peters career with Celtic, the honours won & anecdotes from during his time at the club.
David Potter then gave an account of that great Celtic team of the early 1900s, singing songs of the famous 5 of Bennett, McMenemy, Quinn, Somers & Hamilton. I know that I won't ever sing this little piggy the same way again!!
We were then given more details on Peters life away from Celtic from the Hamilton Accies historian Peter McLeish, telling the story of Peter Somers quick graduation from Hamilton Accies to Celtic, to Blackburn back to Celtic & finally back to Hamilton. Peters Iove of the game that kept him scouting for Hamilton after he stopped playing & ultimately his premature death in 1914.
Finally flowers were laid from a Celtic fan who had made the trip from across the Atlantic ocean.
Normally a visit to a cemetery can be a difficult, but the work of the members of the Celtic Graves Society & the guest speakers ensured everyone there left with a positive memory of a player who achieved so much in his career.
This is only the second CGS event I have been to & the work that the team put in to pull all this together is amazing. If you get the chance, you should make the effort to get along to their events.
In the Autumn of 1986 I received a gift of 2 baseball caps from my mums cousin. One was for the New York Mets, the other was the Boston Red Sox.
The 2 caps represented the teams appearing in the 1986 Fall Classic, the two best teams in baseball who would slug it out to be crowned the World Champions in the World Series.
Something struck me about the Red Sox cap, the team logo was bold, it almost had a Christmas feel to it like two Christmas stockings hanging on a tree.
At the time, I didn't follow many sports other than football - as a boy from the east end of Glasgow the only sport that mattered was football & the only team was Celtic, but something in those hats buried an interest in me that would be ignited in later life.
Six years later one of my older brothers made a trip to the east coast of America to visit family in & around New York & Boston. He brought me home stories of a former player called "Babe" Ruth, who played for the Red Sox from 1914 & helped make them the best team in America, but then in 1919 he moved to the New York Yankees.
In that one trade the period of sporting greatness had come to an end for the Red Sox & signalled the rise of New York Yankees.
Between 1919 & 1985 the Red Sox would appear in 3 World Series & lose them all. In contrast the Yankees would make more than 30 appearances & win 22 of them.
Talk of a "Curse" on the Red Sox & stories of continuous near misses in made me pay more attention to their fortunes from the other side of the Atlantic - Did Babe Ruth leave a curse on the Red Sox when he was forced to move to the Yankees in 1919?
In 1986 with the long awaited title within grasp, the Red Sox were one "out" from winning the biggest prize. With the series at 3-2 in favour of the Red Sox, one more play was all that was needed to erase the memory of the 68 years of pain & mark up the win against the Mets.
True to form the Red Sox could not make that play & in a cruel run of events lost the 6th & 7th games of the series to the Mets.
Making a further 4 appearances in the playoffs between 1988 & 1999 gave nothing in return for Red Sox fans & the wait for the World Series would continue.
In 2003 The Yankees & the Red Sox would battle it out in the Championship series to decide who would appear in the World Series - In another heart-breaking loss. The Sox would lose the best of 7 series by 4 games to 3. Losing the deciding games by one run in extra innings.
17 years had now passed since the last World Series appearance & 85 years since their last triumph.
12 Months later, both teams met again in the Championship series, the best of 7 series could not have started any worse for the Sox - the Yankees raced into a 3-0 leads The dream was all but over for another year. All the Yankees had to do was win one more match to put the Sox Nation out of the misery. The only question was - Who will the Yankees play in the World Series?
In the 4th game, the Yankees needed 3 outs to end the match up. In the final inning the Red Sox scored a run to tie the match & then scored 2 more runs in the 12th to keep the series alive.
Game 5 also went to extra innings at Fenway park - Another win that brought the series to 3-2 in favour of the Yankees.
Game 6 & 7 would be played at Yankee stadium. 4 early hits for the Red Sox & a huge pitching effort from Curt Shilling ensured the series would go to a deciding match. 3-3 going into the decider.
Game 7 at Yankee stadium saw the Red Sox shake off the burden of living in the shadow of their greatest rivals for 86 years.
Scoring almost at will the Red Sox won game 7 by 10 runs to 3 & become the first team to win a play off series after losing the 1st 3 matches. More importantly they also progressed to the World Series to play against St Louis.
ESPN made a 30 for 30 programme 4 Days in October charting the comeback from the Red Sox, a must see for any sports fan.
In the space of 4 matches against St Louis the weight of history, past achievements & even the Curse of the Bambino were lifted & consigned to history.
Sweeping St Louis over four matches in late October 2004 saw the Red Sox claim their first World Series in 86 years. A night that many members of the Sox Nation the world over will remember for ever.
So, that hat I received in 1986 opened up a new world of sporting pain, despair & enjoyment - but that's what you sign up for when you are a Red Sox fan.
