GEORGE WAS NORTH END POACHER

RON WATSON, of Aberdour Place, Broughty Ferry, has submitted the photo (see foot of column) of Forfar Celtic JFC, which includes himself.

“This is the Forfar Celtic team which beat a very good Carnoustie Panmure side 3-1 at Strathmore Park, Forfar, in the semi-final of the 1948-49 Forfarshire Cup,” said Ron, a previous contributor to BwB.

“The Carnoustie team included three former Dundee North End players. These were centre-half John Young, in my opinion the best junior centre-half ever; Walter Smith, the best junior centre ever; and Charlie Gardiner, the best junior left-half ever, with the possible exception of Eddie Falconer of Forfar Celtic.

“North End were furious at losing such good players and laid the blame on George Webster (another Carnoustie legend).

“George had asked for permission to train at North End Park with the team as he lived in the area. Having been granted training facilities, he was then alleged to have been responsible for ‘poaching’ the three aforementioned players to Westfield Park.

“The Dokens then imposed a ban on other teams’ players training at North End and, as far as I know, this ban may even stand today.

“Returning to the semi-final, Carnoustie players were reckoned to be well paid in those days, so we were very surprised when our secretary followed us on to the park and promised us £5 each if we beat them.

“£5? After that, Carnoustie had no chance!

“A couple of years later, I was in the great George Bennett’s company and he said that semi-final was the best junior game he had ever seen.

“We then went on to beat Elmwood 5-1 in the final at Dens Park in front of a crowd of 9000.

“At the end of that season, four of the Forfar Celtic team signed for senior clubs — Ian Duthie, Syd Millar, Bill Smith and Eddie Falconer.

“After the game, we paraded the cup around Forfar in an open-top bus — and nearly 20 people turned out to cheer us!” Ron concluded, tongue-in-cheek.

EDDIE BOYD WAS IN DEMAND

Ali Boyd, of the Ballumbie area of Dundee, is another who sent in a scrapbook, this one featuring his dad Eddie.

The book reveals Eddie, a half-back or inside man, played for teams such as Maryfield Rovers Juveniles and Arnot and Stobswell Juniors, and there are also letters to him from Huddersfield Town, where he played trials in 1946.

Cardiff, Dundee United, Forfar and Arbroath were also all credited with an interest in him at one time.

Before Stobswell’s Scottish Junior Cup tie with Auchinleck Talbot in 1949, Eddie was described in a pen-picture as “a powerful raider and carries a grand shot in either foot”.

A year earlier, a newspaper cutting described him as “a grand player and one of Dundee’s best”.

The photo in the Evening Telegraph was of the Arnot team of 1947.

Players named in the photo were: Cowper, Pennycook, McGovern, McGregor, Skelligan, Moffat, Scott, Jamieson, Linnen, Boyd, Cownie, Mackay (trainer).

IF YOU HAVE THE TOOLS — USE THEM

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has called for video technology to be trialled in England as he insisted replays must be introduced to help referees cut out cheating and injustice.

To be fair to the Gunners supremo, he did make his plea some time before last Wednesday’s howler at Old Trafford when the referee and his assistant failed to see that the ball had landed a foot or so over the Manchester United goalline — thus denying Tottenham full dividend.

Wenger has joined Sir Alex Ferguson, who, ironically, recently also came out in favour of replays in certain circumstances, in claiming football must use any available technology.

However, he insisted officials also need to see the potential benefits of a ‘video referee’ sitting in the stands to review any contentious decisions on monitors.

Recent penalty decisions, including Mike Riley’s failure to award Liverpool a spot-kick against Chelsea last weekend, have sparked the Arsenal manager’s call.

Wenger said, “You cannot accept it when justice is not being done. Whether it is for Arsenal or against Arsenal, I don’t mind, because I love football first.

“I cannot accept that Diego Maradona scores a goal, then makes a stupid statement that it is the ‘Hand of God’, while the rest of the world see it is handball.

“That is stupid. If you love football, you can never accept that. That is cheating — a word I have already used — but it is real cheating.

“You cannot say in 2005, with 600 million people watching a game, that the only man who can’t see what is happening is the referee. That is not football, that is injustice. When you have the tools to help people, you should use them.”

Nearer home, can you just imagine the furore and backlash if that Old Trafford incident happened in an Old Firm game?