Rangers v Hibs 1979 Scottish Cup Final

I remember looking up on our fixtures at end of season and what was been reported

League end date was 28th April
Scottish Cup Final was 12th May

But with the backlog of games not just us meant the League was extended

Original schedule for us from the outstanding games Scottish Cup Final and Home Internationals

May 2nd Motherwell away
May 5th Celtic home (Hampden)
May 7th Aberdeen home
May 12th Hibs SCF
May 14th Hibs away
May 16th Celtic away
May 18th Partick Home

Drawing with Hibs the SFL to postponed the 3 league game following midweek but then they hadto find dates taken in Home Internationals

May 21st Celtic away
May 23rd Partick Home
May 25th Hibs away

With Celtic game they looked a the previous Saturday taking into account Wales v Scotland and the Scottish Junior Cup Final at Hampden but it didn't happen

With Hibs game Hibs didn't want the Friday as they stated that a party from them were heading to Wembley for the England game the next day, travelling on the Friday

Throwing in the 2nd Scottish Cup Final replay meant a Thursday night game instead, guessing they didn't want to opt for the Wednesday as it was European Cup Final?

I think extra-time was added in the 1st game from 1980 and still level after 120 minutes it went to a replay SCF replays ended after 1987
Great details, I forgot we had so many moved fixtures that year.
Your are correct the final league game should have been on the 28th April v Hearts.
We ended up playing 9 games in May (I had the misfortune to be at all nine games).
 
Great details, I forgot we had so many moved fixtures that year.
Your are correct the final league game should have been on the 28th April v Hearts.
We ended up playing 9 games in May (I had the misfortune to be at all nine games).

Yeah 5 of 6 outstanding league games were from that December & January period of bad weather
 
Did anyone attend the entire three games it took to win the Cup that year ? I was at the first, missed the midweek replay, and can vaguely recall the Hibs own goal that won us the trophy. I can't find any video clips of the games apart from minor footage.


I was at the 3 games. First 2 were instantly forgettable.

Strange to think that back then you just walked up to the turnstile and handed over your cash and got in at both replays. No need for tickets, attendance at both were poor by todays standards, under 40k if my memory is correct.
 
It does seem a bit odd that a Scottish Cup Final from 1979 has no remaining televised footage, especially if there were 3 games needed to finish the Final. :oops:
Centenary Cup final. DJCup final 76 v Hearts 78 v Aberdeen very little footage. The scum Cup victories...
Full match coverage.
Even various friendlies they played in England are available.
 
Yeah 5 of 6 outstanding league games were from that December & January period of bad weather
The home game v Celtic was originally due on the 24th of March, it must have been cancelled when or home European game(Cologne)was moved to Thursday after it was called of for snow the previous night.
For some reason we played Partick at home in a Glasgow cup semi instead two day later on the Saturday.
 
The home game v Celtic was originally due on the 24th of March, it must have been cancelled when or home European game(Cologne)was moved to Thursday after it was called of for snow the previous night.
For some reason we played Partick at home in a Glasgow cup semi instead two day later on the Saturday.

Yeah it was postponed on the Friday reason given was the weather, remember it was scheduled for Hampden and would have been Queen's Park's responsibility to get the ground ready

League season at that stage was formally extended by 3 weeks

 
After the first, I reluctantly attended the other two. For the first replay, we were playing snooker in Victoria Rd and decided to go at the last minute, in a kind of “ach fuuk it” way. For the second replay, it was more a dogged determination to see it through and the cheer that met Arthur Duncan’s diving header was more a relief that the end was sight.
Was at all three and totally agree that after attending the first one, you just had to put up with it until it was over, thankfully at the 3rd attempt
 
First game was live on the telly and the 1st replay had "highlights" (it must have been very brief :))) but by the time of the 2nd replay even TV had given up and all that remains is someone's cine camera recording of what was a better third game, though it wouldn't have taken much to improve on the first two. Terrible weather at all three games plus (I think) a bus strike kept the attendances very low - 50,000, 33,000 then 30,000 from memory.

A really drab end to what should have been a truly historic season. Two cups was hardly failure of course but THAT game at the piggery still casts a huge shadow over it. And then there's what might have been in the European Cup if injuries hadn't hit us at the QF stage (Billy Urquhart :eek:). But if we'd known what the next 7 years were to be like we'd maybe have enjoyed it more.
Was at them all. I remember it was 50000+, 30000+ then 20000+. Just checked 53615, 32853 then 27556.
 
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Centenary Cup final. DJCup final 76 v Hearts 78 v Aberdeen very little footage. The scum Cup victories...
Full match coverage.
Even various friendlies they played in England are available.

Presumably it was either BBC or STV who showed the first 1979 SCF game " live " ?
 
Yeah you would think some kind of footage exists somewhere

I reckon there is substantial film footage of almost every SCF post-war apart from 1979 ? It is all a bit strange, especially if the entire first game at Hampden was broadcast " live " on television.
 
From memory, we lost that horror game at Parkhead on the Monday, beat Thistle at Ibrox on the Thursday. Then the following Monday was the 3rd cup game v Hibs and we ended the season at Easter Road on the Thursday night.

Edit no the Thistle game was the Wednesday.
I was working late on the Wednesday of the Thistle game, but headed over and got in just as they opened the gates in last 20 mins to let people out. Crowd was given as 2,000, to this day I wonder if I am in that meagre total ;(
 
I reckon there is substantial film footage of almost every SCF post-war apart from 1979 ? It is all a bit strange, especially if the entire first game at Hampden was broadcast " live " on television.

There will be footage of most finals sure British Pathe covered them for a period

Since 1977 every SC Final (1st game) has been live on TV

But yes 1979 seems strange that there is little coverage
 
There will be footage of most finals sure British Pathe covered them for a period

Since 1977 every SC Final (1st game) has been live on TV

But yes 1979 seems strange that there is little coverage

I know the televised first game at Hampden was pretty poor, but surely even highlights would be available somewhere ?
 
yeah does seems strange there is none out there

Both channels had highlights programmes

There must even be footage somewhere of the team receiving the Scottish Cup in 1979, but there isn't ? It gets more mental, the more you think about it. I can't think of any major Scottish Final where there's nothing of the game on film.
 
There must even be footage somewhere of the team receiving the Scottish Cup in 1979, but there isn't ? It gets more mental, the more you think about it. I can't think of any major Scottish Final where there's nothing of the game on film.

Yeah no mention of tv coverage by either channel for the 2nd replay

Crazy given today's coverage the team getting it
 
There must even be footage somewhere of the team receiving the Scottish Cup in 1979, but there isn't ? It gets more mental, the more you think about it. I can't think of any major Scottish Final where there's nothing of the game on film.
There was a strike by tv technicians in May 79, that why I think there in no decent highlights of the 2nd replay.
As posted earlier that was the reason the Parkhead title game was not filmed by either Sportscene or Scotsport.
 
Have to admit, I attended all three. Three of the worst cup final games ever.

Of course, the fact that history will show we won the cup is the most important fact.
 
There was a strike by tv technicians in May 79, that why I think there in no decent highlights of the 2nd replay.
As posted earlier that was the reason the Parkhead title game was not filmed by either Sportscene or Scotsport.

The original first game of the SCF of 1979 at Hampden was broadcast " live " on televsion, mate. Later highlights were shown that night or the next day. Any footage has since vanished.
 
Yeah it was postponed on the Friday reason given was the weather, remember it was scheduled for Hampden and would have been Queen's Park's responsibility to get the ground ready

League season at that stage was formally extended by 3 weeks

Excellent find from the Evening Times regarding the cancelled old firm game.
If it had been on we would have played Thursday night / Saturday.
The Glasgow cup semi v Thistle at Ibrox must have been scheduled on the same day as the old firm game at Hampden.
We also won the Glasgow cup at Ibrox (3-1 against them) the night of the second replay v Hibs, passed their support heading into Ibrox on route to Hampden
 
As an aside, I recall hivs semi final was at Ibrox against ???, I was in the stadium bar.
was at first game and third, my daughter was born at second.
 
The original first game of the SCF of 1979 at Hampden was broadcast " live " on televsion, mate. Later highlights were shown that night or the next day. Any footage has since vanished.
Don't disagree with any of that, I was talking about th 3rd game v Hibs.
My only memory of the 3-2 game is poor quality news clips of the Duncan winning goal which now seem to be lost.
 
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As an aside, I recall hivs semi final was at Ibrox against ???, I was in the stadium bar.
was at first game and third, my daughter was born at second.
Hibs played Aberdeen at Hampden in the semi that year.
The game you are talking about was 1976 , it was a quarter final 2nd replay v Motherwell. Motherwell won 2-1, the year we came back from 2 down in the semi.
I went along to Ibrox that night.
 
There will be footage of most finals sure British Pathe covered them for a period

Since 1977 every SC Final (1st game) has been live on TV

But yes 1979 seems strange that there is little coverage
I was sure the 1976 SCF v Hearts was live on tv.
 
Hibs played Aberdeen at Hampden in the semi that year.
The game you are talking about was 1976 , it was a quarter final 2nd replay v Motherwell. Motherwell won 2-1, the year we came back from 2 down in the semi.
I went along to Ibrox that night.
Cheers A. Old age comes at a price, lols.
 
Went to all three and also the final league game at Easter Road which was the same week as the third game.
The 3-2 game was the only decent match.
Less than 5k at final league game as everyone just wanted the season to end.
 
We only needed a draw at the piggery to put outselves in the driving seat. If we had got it, imagine the amount of Bears turning up at Easter Road for a title party.
 
Excellent find from the Evening Times regarding the cancelled old firm game.
If it had been on we would have played Thursday night / Saturday.
The Glasgow cup semi v Thistle at Ibrox must have been scheduled on the same day as the old firm game at Hampden.
We also won the Glasgow cup at Ibrox (3-1 against them) the night of the second replay v Hibs, passed their support heading into Ibrox on route to Hampden

Yes if went ahead the would have been the case, not unknown to happen in those days

The Friday edition of Evening Times doesn't read well on the link I have posted

Not clear if Partick game was hastily arranged that day?

The tone of Monday article maybe says it does that we could played another outstanding game instead?

Yeah Glasgow Cup final seems to arranged for that date no matter which sides we playing in it?
 
Of all our Scottish Cup wins since 1960 the 1979 one is the one I find most elusive to find either photos or film of. These two are two of the very few photos I have from those matches. The first is from the first game, the second is obviously from the 2nd replay:


x21zUJu.jpg



vHL6rAi.jpg
 
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