Putting it back

After several years away, when the Armistice Day wreaths had to be laid against some of the wire cages that encircle the tram works, the Haymarket Clock is being put back. The clock memorial was built in 1922 in honour of the Hearts footballers who fought and died in the First World War and those that fought alongside them.

The memorial was moved five years ago and put in storage and at the time there were concerns that it may never return to Haymarket and be moved to another location in the city.

In 1914 Hearts were one of the best football teams in Scotland and were top of the league in November having started the season with eight successive victories. Two players - Geordie Sinclair and Neil Moreland - were army reservists and had therefore been called up the day after war was declared and a few months later another player, Jimmy Speedie, had decided to volunteer. However, some members of the public, in the years before conscription, questioned why fit and healthy footballers were enjoying sport while other men were dying on the battlefields of France.

So when Sir George McCrae raised a new battalion 13 more Hearts players decided to do their bit and enlisted together in November, 1914. Their action is believed to have had significant effect on the history of football in the UK. In 1914, just like today, a great many football teams were living beyond their means and there was a fear that if football had been officially suspended by the government that a significant number of famous clubs would have gone out of business. On the day the Prime Minister was being asked in Parliament to stop all football he was able to say that the example set by the Hearts players proved that football didn't need to be suspended. Football did not stop, income continued to come in and the clubs survived. Even after conscription was introduced in 1916 matches continued with teams made up of guest players, servicemen on leave, youths and men engaged in vital war work.

On July 1, 1916, McCrae's Battalion fought in the first day of the Battle of the Somme. That day remains the darkest in the history of the British Army, with 20,000 dead and 40,000 more injured. Three of the Hearts players were amongst those killed that day. In all seven of the Hearts players - Duncan Currie, John Allan, James Boyd, Tom Gracie, Ernest Ellis, James Speedie and Harry Wattie - didn't return from the war. It is claimed that during the First World War Scotland lost a higher proportion of its young men than any other nation that took part.

All of which makes Tuesday football seem a little trivial. Four versus five after another late call-off. I was on the team of four and once again we managed to beat our numerically superior opponents. Played in the rain, which was a bit of a novelty and it was a close-fought game that saw the lead change hands several times before we ultimately took control in the last few minutes.