Edinburgh football stars of the 60s mark trophy glory

Fifty years after clinching a remarkable six cups in the Scottish Secondary Juvenile league football stars of the past will reunite to reminisce about tactics that took them to the top.

Melbourne Thistle, 1969 BACK ROW, from left: Charlie Morrison, Tom Cropley, George Young, Gus Henderson, Lenny Young. SECOND ROW: Charlie Murphy, Ninian Cassidy, Jimmy Thomson, Alistair Matheson, Billy Blues. FRONT ROW: Sandy Brown (manager), Erich Schaedler, Dennis Nelson, Allan Munro (captain), David Ross, Alan Buchanan and Johnny Mochan (coach).

Among the team were Allan Munro, formerly of Hearts who went on to be director of Hibs as well as Chairman of the Scottish Rugby Union, Stirling Albion’s George Young and Charlie Murphy also of Stirling Albion.

In 1969, Melbourne Thistle a team predominantly made up of robust Edinburgh lads won six out of the seven trophies up for grabs as well as the jewel in the crown – the Scottish Cup.

And to mark the achievement the former players are holding a reunion dinner at The Kitchin in Leith on June 28.

Erich Schaedler

Also on the winning team was Tom Cropley, elder brother of Alec Cropley who played for Hibs and Aston Villa, Alan Buchanan, younger brother of boxer Ken Buchanan and Erich Schaedler, who started his career at Stirling Albion in 1969 before moving to Hibs later that year.

It was at Easter Road that Erich would enjoy his greatest success, forming part of the “Turnbull’s Tornadoes” side that won the Drybrough Cup then League Cup in 1972–73, and the Drybrough Cup in 1973–74.

The Scottish Secondary Juvenile Football Association (SSJFA), an offshoot of the Scottish Juvenile Football Association (SJFA), was formed in 1921 and was dominated by clubs on the east coast.

Despite the “juvenile” tag, the level of football in the under 21 league was ferocious and acted as a fertile breeding ground for new talent.

Alan Buchanan pictured with Sparta Boxing Club champions in April 1972.

Clubs, particularly those spotting Second Division players of the future, would cherry-pick the best of the bunch, launching careers of some of Edinburgh’s star players.

And if it wasn’t a springboard forward, it was also the perfect field for footballers returning from professional clubs such as Hibs, Hearts and Rangers. And now, David Ross, a retired-investment banker and one of the goal scorers in the winning Cup match, hopes to get the team back together again.

He said: “It was great fun as well as hard work.

“We were trained really hard but it was a great team atmosphere and we all got on well. We all enjoyed it.

“It would be great to have us all together again for the reunion but I don’t know where they’ve all got to.

“In particular it would be good to reach out to some of the guys I haven’t been able to get in touch with such as Lenny Young, Charlie Morrison, Dennis Nelson and Jim Thomson.”

David will also be marking is 70th birthday and said it seems like the perfect celebration. He added: “It would be just lovely to see them all again.”

That season, Melbourne Thistle were in the running for seven trophies and it was on June 4, 50 years ago today, that they took the grand Scottish Cup prize beating Whitehill Welfare 2-1 at Olive Bank in Musselburgh. David Ross and Billy Blues scored the two goals that took the team to victory.

The amateur players, who were all working at the time, trained hard on a Tuesdays and Thursdays under the tutelage of Johnnt Mochan. #

To their own bitter disappointment the team lost the chance to for a clean sweep during as the final battle for all seven trophies ended after they lost a replay match, blaming a missing number of key players to professional signings or holidays.

“It was a bit of a disappointment not to win the seven trophies,” David added. “But they were very good teams we were playing against and it was a great group of lads. It was an exceptional team really.”

Runaway star Erich, son of a German prisoner of war, was a Borders-boy and joined the team when he was 18 immediately impressing this new teammates with his speed and skill.

“He was a quiet unassuming guy at that age. But when he got on the park he it was a different story. He became a different character,” David told former sports editor and author Colin Leslie in his book Shades: The Short Life and Tragic Death of Erich Schaedler. “He was understated, though – nothing showy, he just got with the job in hand and was a vert important part of the team, totally reliable and never any bother.

“He had pace, he was strong and a very good tackler. I played on the left with him and as pace was not one of my strong points, it was a big help to have him bombing past me up the wing when he was getting forward.”

Erich was snapped up by Stirling Albion before going on to a career with Hibs, interspersed with a period at Dundee in 1977, where he collected his final medal for a First Division championship, before returning to Hibs in 1981.

His story ended in tragedy when, after staying there for four seasons he moved to Dumbarton and was still playing senior football when he committed suicide on Christmas Eve in 1985 at the age of only 36.

Prestigious leagues during their heyday both the SJFA and SSJFA flourished until dwindling numbers saw the eventual dissolution of the both. But Melbourne Thistle have a lasting legacy well worth celebrating.

It was the last Edinburgh club to win the secondary cup before it was renamed the Association of Scottish Youth Football Clubs (ASYFC) in 1985 and their Cup winners were hailed either the Scottish Youth Cup or Scottish U-21 Cup winners.

In 1999 the SJFA merged with the ASYFC and the youth division of the Scottish Amateur FA to create the Scottish Youth FA.

Any former Melbourne Thistle team mates wishing to attend the reunion dinner at Tom Kitchin’s restaurant The Kitchin, Commercial Street on June 28 at 7.30pm should contact David Ross on 0793376976.