Hill of Beath Hawthorn P Musselburgh Athletic P
The feet of players in the Victorian era once danced across Keir’s Park. The villagers of Hill of Beath once used it as a shortcut to the shops, creating a diagonal strip of permanently damaged turf.
But it became the home of the Haws and on a wicked day in 2026 it was used solely for the purpose of a referee stoating a ball and finding it nestling in the sodden turf, and then said official sliding like one half of Torvill and Dean while creating a gentle surf.
This pitch was inspected more times than the first patient in Wuhan. The first diagnosis, at about 10am, was that the match would go ahead. A series of further inspections only drew the conclusion that the best option was not to have a second-round Scottish Cup tie but consider a boat race across the hallowed turf.
At 2.25pm, the ref signalled the game was off as Hill of Beath started their warm-up.
The upside for this observer was that pies were handed out and an impromptu but entertaining history lesson was available and readily accepted.
The muddy pitch at Keir’s Park saw Hill of Beath’s Scottish Cup tie called off at the last minute
The Haws are celebrating 50 years of existence this season and the village’s football heritage is profound. It is marked by a statue of Jim Baxter, the slim destroyer of England and the cavalier mainstay of a wonderful Rangers side.
Across from that monument is the childhood home of Scott Brown, whose gifts may not have been as subtle as Slim Jim’s but who was a significant presence in a series of Celtic triumphs.
‘This was and is a huge football area,’ said Alan McGregor, historian and long-time fan of the club. ‘Willie Cunningham, who was brought up here, played for Preston North End in the fifties and sixties. Alex Ventners, who played for Rangers in the 1930s, was also raised here.’
The Haws are, by the standards of the venerable history of Scottish football, comparative newcomers.
‘It all started in 1975 with an amateur team,’ said McGregor. ‘This has been a football pitch since Victorian times. Hearts of Beath played in the Scottish Cup in 1890, for example.’
The rise of Hill of Beath was spectacular. They were highly successful as an amateur outfit before moving to the Junior ranks in 1982, winning the Scottish Cup in 1990.
Musselburgh’s players prepare to head for home after discovering their Cup tie was cancelled
‘That was a fantastic achievement in such a short space of time,’ said McGregor. The club then transformed into a senior team with the introduction of the pyramid and the formation of the East of Scotland Super League. That championship was won last season and the Haws now sit handily near the top of the Lowland League East.
‘The club always wanted to challenge itself and advance. You always want to be up against the better sides,’ said McGregor.
Much work has gone in to achieve this. ‘This is a small club with no great fan base and no sugar daddy,’ added McGregor. ‘They survive on the hard work of the committee, the generosity of the sponsors and the commitment of the players.
‘Rivals such as Linlithgow and Musselburgh come from relatively prosperous towns with lots of businesses. We have a post office and a Chinese carry-out.’
But they have a history of dedicated players. ‘We have a large number of players in our history who played hundreds of games for the club. Many ex-players have sons who played for the club and we have two in the squad today.
‘John Mitchell played 702 times for us and his son, Jake, is captain.
Hill of Beath general manager Jock Finlayson is the go-to man for details of the club’s history
‘John was a physical player and in the old days suspensions were meted out in weeks rather than games. He was suspended near the end of the season for five weeks. Given the fixture congestion, he missed 18 games.’
This aspect of Junior football appealed to George Addis, who first came to watch in 1982, and has stayed on as a committee member for decades. ‘I was fed up with the antics of modern football. I came here and saw a player almost halved in a tackle. He got up, dusted himself down and the game went on. I liked that.’
His daughter, Carolyn, is now physio at the club, though it must be said that this level of football no longer majors in separating torso from limbs.
McGregor, though, maintained it was ‘a more honest level of playing’ and he has the experience of not only watching the World Cup final of 1998 live but up to 200 games a season. ‘I much prefer this level,’ he said.
He is now finishing a book to celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary. ’It really is Jock’s book,’ he added. This is in reference to Jock Finlayson, now general manager of the club, who was manager of the team from 1975 to 2015, including leading the team to the Junior cup triumph of 1990.
Rangers and Scotland great Jim Baxter is a son of Hill of Beath and has his statue in the village
The wind battered against the door and the rain pummelled the roof but Finlayson was warm and engaging as he held court in the committee room. He pointed out legendary Haws players who were pictured on the wall and recalled with a gruff facility the beauty of times past.
‘Aye, that’s Jim,’ he said of a portrait of the great Baxter that sits alongside a letter from the SFA informing the great man of his selection for a match in 1963. At 75, Finlayson is obviously younger than Slim Jim, who died in 2001 aged 61.
‘But we all knew of him,’ he said. ‘I mind he had an olive green Jag and would play cards with his pals into the early hours at the ice cream shop.’
Finlayson’s career in football was at a more humble level but his achievements and longevity are astonishing. ‘The Junior cup win was the highlight,’ he said of the 1-0 victory over Lesmahagow at Rugby Park.
‘We stopped on the way to the game and we had a picnic. The committee had a big hamper and it was like a Sunday school outing. The driver got lost and we arrived only an hour or so before kick-off. It was just a matter of a wee talk and the players went out. We had five balls with us, nae markers, nae cones.
Scott Brown grew up in Hill of Beath before going on to star for Hibernian, Celtic and Scotland
‘The boys started singing in the tunnel: “We’re red, we’re white, we’re ****** dynamite”.’
He approached a photograph on the wall. ‘This is the team. What a side. Two of them are dead. One of motor neurone disease and the other of a heart attack,’ said Finlayson.
His eyes lingered on the picture. ‘You know, I have many stories. I am always asked to do after-dinner speaking. But I turn all that doon. I remember all these players. We still have David Baillie, the chairman, who built much of this club with his bare hands and with the help of his workers in the building trade. I could tell all these tales but I am emotional. I would start to greet.’
The stories will be related in the book. The tears are lost in a Saturday storm.
