It’s the 5th March, 1877, and Wales are playing Scotland at the Welsh home football ‘stadium’, the Racecourse Ground, in Wrexham. This is only the second time the two teams have played each other, the previous game being nearly a year ago when Scotland handed out a 4-0 drubbing at Hamilton Crescent, Partick.
For the 1877 match, Scotland start with some of their finest players, from great clubs like Dumbreck FC, Mauchline FC, Vale of Leven FC, and the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers FC. Wales field players from Oxford University AFC, Cambridge University FC, and of course the mighty Ruabon Druids FC.
55 minutes in, and Wales are already on the back foot, going one goal down to a strike from the Scottish captain, Charlie Campbell. Could Wales avoid losing for a second time? In the 75th minute, finally, Oxford’s Willie Evans becomes one of the first Welshmen to put the ball in the net in an international game! Sadly … his own net.
The match finished 2-0 to Scotland. It would be another 28 years before Wales would beat Scotland, 3-1, again playing at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground in 1905.
All of which is a long preamble before saying that the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, holds the Guinness World Record as the Oldest International Football Ground Still in Use.
Photo captured this morning.
