Football question, help required please

[williammcgregor]

I belong to a fan forum for the football team I support up here in Scotland.

Some of you might know that team is Hibernian F.C. from Edinburgh.

I have included in this post a plea from another Hibs fan who is talking about a team we had during the 1972 to 1974 period nicknamed Turnbull's Tornadoes. He mentions that a Turnbull's Tornadoes (Hibs) match was shown on Match of the Day? do any of you football fans have any idea what match that was? If you can come up with the answer then I can reply to the poster on the Hibs fans forum (Thanks)...please see below for the fan's post on that other forum...


Whilst at their peak a Tornadoes match was shown on Match of the Day. Whilst summarising, Jimmy Hill expressed an opinion that both Hibs and Celtic be invited to join the English league.Yes,at that time,both teams were at least equal to the top English clubs.

Don't know if M.O.T.D. was broadcast to Scotland at that time? If it was I hope management and supporters of the club formerly known as Rangers were watching and listening.

Are any netters aware if any other Scottish league game has been shown on MOTD?

[Ronnie McDevitt]

Cant say 100% but it would almost certainly have been either (or both) of the 1972 or 1974 League Cup Finals (both Hibs V Celtic and of course covered by BBC Scotland) and likely just the goals.
If the Hill quote is accurate it suggests it was a match between the Greens.
Its also likely that the 1972 FA Cup Final highlights edition would have featured some of the Hibs V Celtic Scottish Final played the same day, particularly as the Wembley showpiece produced just one goal.
Also the 1971 League Cup was definitely featured on MOTD although it was a headline grabber due to the margin of Partick Thistles shock victory.
The first leg of Hibs V Liverpool in the UEFA Cup was shown on Sportsnight in late 1975 so the poster may be thinking of this although David Coleman would have been presenting but I do recall Hill contributing on some editions.

[williammcgregor]

Thanks very much Ronnie can I quote you on the Hibs forum?

P.S. I heard you for a wee while on "Off the Ball" last Saturday. I did'nt hear the connection as to why you were on the show? have you a new book coming out?

cheers
William

[Ronnie McDevitt]

No problem William. The books been out for a few weeks - www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/scotland-60s

[williammcgregor]

Cheers Ronnie I have posted your reply onto the Hibs forum

[simoncurtis]

Bear in mind that Jimmy Hill's first season presenting MOTD was 1973/74. Before that he worked on LWT's The Big Match.

[williammcgregor]

Thanks Simon, I've passed on your information to my fellow Hibs supporter

[Ronnie McDevitt]

It was very rare - although not unheard of - for Match of the Day to feature football from north of the border.
One of those rare occasions was the 9th August 1975 Charity Shield edition. This was significant as obviously only one English game was featured with league fixtures commencing seven days later.
At the end of the show they screened the Dalglish goal from the Celtic V Aberdeen League Cup tie which was, incidentally, the first goal to be shown on Sportscene (opening title sequence apart!) which had just been rebranded from Sportsreel. Jimmy Hill highlighted Dalglish as a young player attracting attention south of the border.
The Big Match on the other side was more likely to feature Scottish action although certainly not on a weekly basis.
Occasionally Brian Moore would close the show with "a treat for our Scottish viewers" and the goal/s from that weekends featured game on Scotsport.
Also during the viewers letters sequence there was the occasional Scottish goal action usually from a midweek match or in response to an exiled Scots letter requesting footage from the previous weekend.
On FA Cup semi final weekend The Big Match were restricted to covering just one English game and often compensated by showing STVs Scottish Cup semi. In 1973 for example they showed several minutes of the semi final between Dundee and Celtic - which just happened to finish goalless!
Another occasion was in 1979 when due to bad weather in the London area some of their intended matches were postponed and they actually showed five minutes or so of a Morton V Partick Thistle Premier League match.
Hibs did feature on The Big Match in the derby at Tynecastle on 26th August 1978, a 1-1 draw marred by crowd trouble.
I have to say I would consider it extremely unlikely if highlights of ANY Scottish league match were featured on Match of the Day but for the record these fixtures between Hibs and Celtic from the period were definitely all covered by BBC Scotland -
05 August 1972 Hibs 5 Celtic 3 Dryborough Cup Final
23 December 1972 Celtic 1 Hibs 1
28 April 1973 Hibs 0 Celtic 3
04 August 1973 Hibs 1 Celtic 0 (Dryburgh Cup Final)
20 October 1973 Celtic 1 Hibs 1
23 February 1974 Hibs 2 Celtic 4
19 October 1974 Celtic 5 Hibs 0
18 October 1975 Celtic 0 Hibs 2 (match abandoned 83 minutes)

We can eliminate the 1973 Drybrugh Cup match as MOTD was not screened that early in the season. The 1972 Dryburgh Cup Final would however be a likely candidate as the MOTD database (which does not include any Scottish matches throughout) only mentions Bristol Rovers V Sheffield United and the total of eight goals at Hampden may have merited inclusion and any praise from the presenter - clearly not Hill at that time.