June 3, 1928 – Fall River Marksmen 0:0 Glasgow Rangers at Mark’s Stadium (Att.: 15,500)

The Scots were setting footballing standards with their precision short passing game in the 1920s. The Scotland national team had destroyed England, 5-1, in the British Home Championship at Wembley March 31, 1928. After the match, Alex James said “we could have had 10,” and the team was nicknamed “The Wizards of Wembley,” the performance so commanding it remains a symbol of the excellence of Scottish soccer.

The Rangers’ only “Wizard” was Alan Morton, a 5-foot-4-inch left outside forward, who had set up three goals in the Wembley wipeout. Several other Rangers in the lineup against Fall River – Sandy Archibald, Jock Buchanan, Tully Craig, Andy Cunningham, Jimmy Fleming, Dougie Gray, goalkeeper Tom Hamilton, Davie Meiklejohn, Tommy Muirhead – had performed, or would play in the future, for the national team.

Rangers were riding high. They had crushed Celtic, 4-0, in the Scottish Cup final before a 118,115 crowd at Hampden Park April 14, 1928. Rangers concluded the Scottish League season with a 1-1 draw at Bo’ness April 28, ending in first place, capping an eight-match unbeaten streak. Then, Rangers took a 3-1 victory over Queen’s Park in the Charity Cup final at Parkhead May 12, 1928.

Rangers showed their explosiveness during this tour. On June 2, 1928, Fleming scored four goals as Rangers took a 5-0 win over the Brooklyn Wanderers before a 20,000 crowd at Ebbets Field.

According to the Globe, most of the fans “attended the game to see the Rangers sweep the Fall River team off the map.” As Scottish League and Cup champions, Rangers were considered “the sure-enough soccer champions of the world … this aggregation of players is out to show America just why they are the champions.”

Rangers manager Bill Struth apparently rested some players, and the team might have underestimated the Marksmen, who nearly pulled off an upset. Early on, Johnny Ballantyne scored an offside goal. And in the final minute, White hit the crossbar off a corner. The Marksmen “had stopped the winning streak of an invading team of soccer stars,” listing previous successes against Corinthians, Pilgrims, Third Lanark, Uruguay, Sparta.

TODAY IN NEW ENGLAND SOCCER HISTORY