WALTER JOINED IN WITH IAN, AND KEN WAS PALLY WITH ALI

The recent boxing stories brought to mind an unusual night which Carnoustie’s IAN FOGGIE had in the company of a former world boxing champion.

“I was interested to read your recent pieces on the local boxing scene,” said Ian, a retired advertising manager with D. C. Thomson, and no mean footballer in his playing days.

“It brought back memories of when I played for West Wickham FC in Kent in the late 1960s.

“Wickham ran seven teams at that time, and our first-team coach was a Scot, whose two sons also played with the club.

“One evening, just before a training match, an elderly man approached our coach and asked if the young man accompanying him could join in our football training session.

“We just assumed the young man was his son. He was made very welcome and invited to play.

“It turned out that the older man was JOE GANS, and the young guy was WALTER McGOWAN, a Scottish boxing champion at that time.

“During the practice match, Walter showed all the determination and directness of a ‘Wayne Rooney’, but without much of the skills (nor the verbals).

“He had a great time, though, and thanked us for the work-out.”

My sports desk colleague JAMES MASSON informs me that Joe Gans was, indeed, Walter McGowan’s father.

James commented, “Walter’s dad was a boxer himself, starting at lightweight and going up to welterweight.

“Joe Gans wasn’t his real name, though. Walter’s dad took the name of his favourite boxer, Joe Gans, who was world lightweight champion in the early 1900s.

“Walter, of course, went on to become European and World flyweight champion, beating Salvatore Burruni in London in 1966 to take the title.

“But he lost it the same year in Bangkok to the Thai boxer Chartchai Chionoi and failed to regain it a year later.

“Walter was previously ABA flyweight champion in 1961 and, two years later, he won the British and Commonwealth flyweight title by defeating Jackie Brown in Paisley.

“In 1966, Walter defeated Alan Rudkin for the British and Commonwealth bantamweight championship, but the Liverpudlian won it back two years later.

“Walter retired from boxing in 1969 and was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.”

James has three great sporting loves — St Johnstone, football in general and boxing.

He meets up now and again with former world lightweight champion Ken Buchanan and recounts a tale which Ken told him recently.

“Ken was one of the real greats of boxing,” recalled James, “and even topped a bill at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1970 — with Muhammad Ali on the undercard!

“I can’t recall who Ken was up against, but Ali was taking on the Argentinian heavyweight Oscar Bonavena.

“There was a shortage of dressing-room space, so Ken and Ali had to share the same room.

“When Ken entered, he paced out the width of the room and, upon deciding where the centre of it was, drew a chalk mark right down the middle of it.

“Ali asked him what he was doing and Ken replied that he would have the space on one side of the line and Ali would have the space on the other.

“Both then set about getting ready for their contests and, after a while, Ken went in front of a mirror to shadow box.

“Suddenly, a figure loomed large behind him. Knowing Ken was looking in the mirror, Ali decided to act the funnyman by going behind the Scottish ring great and jumping backwards and forwards over the line, pulling faces at Ken as he was doing so.

“Ken saw the funny side and the two began a great friendship. They were, and still are, two of boxing’s greats in and out of the ring.”

DUNDONIANS DOWN UNDER

BILL RAE sent in this photo from Melbourne, Australia, with all players on show Dundonians now living Down Under.

“Some of your readers may be interested in this photo,” said Bill. “It was taken in October 2002 and all players are from Dundee.

“The occasion was the World Masters Soccer Tournament for over-45s, and it was staged in Melbourne. I played for a team called Fairfax Legends (dark blue shirts) and we reached the final, only to lose 3-1 to Croydon Arrows (red shirts).

“We had nine Dundonians in our squad, while Croydon had three. Jimmy Rooney played in the 1974 Australian team which went to the World Cup in Germany, and went on to play 100 games for Australia. Jimmy still plays and is just as passionate today as he was when he was a young man.

“Kenny Murphy also played for Australia and played in both games against Scotland in the World Cup Play-Offs for the 1986 World Cup Finals.

“They also played in the Australian National League, as did Grant Smart, David MacIntosh, Dennis Boland, Davie Brogan and John Gardiner. Dave MacIntosh, Dennis Boland, Davie Brogan, Jimmy Rooney, Jimmy Smart, Kenny Murphy and John Gardiner also all played for Victoria.

“In the early part of 2003, John Gardiner had a stroke and is recovering slowly. However, I can tell all his friends and family in Dundee he hasn’t lost his sense of humour. John is by far the best coach I have ever played with. He has such an astute football brain, and his loss to the game is a huge loss to Victorian Soccer.

“It has been an absolute pleasure playing with so many talented players. I stopped playing last year, but still coach. Jimmy Smart and I work together as coaches for the Federation of Victoria-Peninsula Academy.

“Some of your readers may recognise some old friends, family and former team-mates in the photo.”

TRAINS AND BOATS AND . . . A COAL LORRY!

JIM McLEAN, who declares himself “born-and-bred Lochee”, relates a tale of the time he played in an amateur game for Lochee Emmet against Gauldry.

“I was demobbed in 1954 and I think the game took place around the mid-50s,” said Jim, who also played for Lochee Hibs.

“The amazing thing was, we used five different modes of transport to get to the game and back again.

“We took the tram from Lochee down to the Craig Pier in Dundee, then got on the ferry (The Fifie) over to Newport, where we jumped on a bus to Gauldry for the game.

“After the match, we travelled back by train to the Tay Bridge Station, where Divers’ coal lorry picked us up and took us back to Lochee.

“As you can imagine, we took a fair bit of stick from people as we passed through the centre of Dundee on our way home.

“Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me remember what the score was,” added Jim, who worked for the GPO, then British Telecom.