New Year's Day, 1973, will live in my memory for ever! The day Hibernian beat Hearts 7-0 at Tynecastle.
I remember standing behind the goal at the Tynecastle school end. A full house was soon to see a remarkable game of pure football.
Hearts started brightly but couldn't finish and Hibs went on to score. The football they played was superb. Everyone was dancing and singing around me. My father-in-law who was really not into football couldn't believe the atmosphere. Every time Hibs scored that day my young brother-in-law jumped on my back and pulled the hood of my coat down over my eyes.
The place was rocking - at least at our end. A stranger in the crowd gave my usually teetotal father-in-law a tot of whiskey after every goal we scored. He had suddenly become a singing and dancing Hibby like us all.
The happiness and pride in my team that day is a feeling I'd never felt before and showed me that days like this were what supporting your team through good and bad are about!
By half-time we were 5-0 up and the Hibs support were in heaven (as the song says) Second half brought more silky soccer and another two goals, I thought I was dreaming but it was real,
One man ran the show that day, Pat Stanton ... Hibs captain and a true Hibs man. Spreading passes left and right he dictated the game. No one could live with him on that park, he was supreme!
Pat was an example of everything that Hibs team was about, sheer class! He was not the flamboyant headline maker that we had in those days. He did his talking on the park and boy did they sit up and take notice!
Years later, with new technology, Hibs brought out a DVD of the game, which i bought for my young son to watch.
If you paused the film and looked closely into the crowd you get a flash of me and my family. Amazing, that's all I can say.
A lot has been said of this game, in my opinion Eddie Turnbull said it all when he said, "There's class, then there's Hibs class!"
Glory to the Hibees!
Memory added on November 6, 2011
1 Comment (Add your voice)
I was at that game too (I was 14 at the time) and vividly recall the Hibs fans screaming "We want TEN" after the seventh went in - there were still 20 minutes to go after all!! All I can say is that as a grown man now I have NEVER had a New Year to match that of '73 and I very much doubt I ever will - especially with a team like that famous ELEVEN: Herriot, Brownlie, Schaedler (RIP), Stanton, Black, Blackley, Edwards, O'Rourke, Gordon, Cropley & Duncan.
– happyharry, November 6 2011 at 21:02
