In 1877 - five years after their foundation - Rangers contested their first ever Scottish Cup Final against Vale of Leven. Although only a junior club these days, at the time "The Mighty Vale" were considered one of the finest sides in Britain, winning the tournament on three consecutive occasions in that decade. The 1877 Final was played at Hamilton Crescent in Partick on the 17th March, was watched by a crowd of 8,000, and ended in a 1-1 draw leading to a replay a month later, on 17th April. That game was also finely poised at 1-1, when fate ensured that spectator Sir George Husband Baird MacLeod FRCSEd, Regius Professor of Surgery at the University of Glasgow, was to play a crucial part in the game.
George MacLeod was born in Campsie, Stirlingshire on 21 September 1828, a son of Rev Norman MacLeod. Both of George's brothers followed their father into the Church, but he - after schooling at William Munsie’s Academy in Glasgow - studied Medicine at Glasgow University, graduating MD in 1853 with further postgraduate work in Paris and Vienna. He served as a Senior Surgeon at a hospital in Smyrna in Turkey during the Crimean War and returned to private practice in Glasgow in 1856, alongside surgical lecturing positions at Glasgow Royal Infirmary Medical College and the Anderson College of Medicine. The following year he was elected a Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, on the 1st April 1857. His RCSEd Roll Number was 464. By 1870 he had succeeded Joseph Lister as Professor of Surgery at Glasgow University, been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and appointed Senior Surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. As you can imagine, leisure time was limited for such a busy man, but MacLeod enjoyed spending time with his wife and children (four sons; two daughters) at his country residence on the shores of the Gare Loch. He also liked attending football matches...
Back to the 1877 Cup Final. With the scores level, Rangers player William Dunlop broke through the Vale of Leven defence and shot for goal. His attempt beat the goalkeeper and entered the goal, for what Dunlop believed was his second of the game. Unfortunately for Dunlop, in those days nets weren't used, and the ball carried on into the crowd standing behind the goal - where it struck George MacLeod full on the chest and rebounded into the grateful hands of the Vale of Leven goalkeeper, W.C Wood. The referee, Mr James Kerr of Hamilton, missed the ball striking Macleod and - seeing Wood emerge from the ground with the ball - disallowed the "goal" and ordered play to continue. Professor Macleod later said that he was prepared to take an oath and vow that the ball had actually went through the goal before striking him and landing back into Wood’s arms. However, despite his pleas – and a mass pitch invasion by other disgruntled supporters - the referee's decision stood! Consequently the Final went to a second replay, which Vale of Leven won 3-2.
Sir George Husband Baird MacLeod, also Surgeon in Ordinary to Queen Victoria when in Scotland, was knighted by her in 1887. He died in Glasgow on 31 August 1892, and is buried in Campsie Churchyard.
