Football star's gold Inverness Cup medal gifted to Inverness Football Memories Project, highlighting links between Clachnacuddin and Newcastle United
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The Inverness Football Memories Project has been gifted a gold Inverness Cup medal and chain which once belonged to a Highland-born football star.
Dating back to 1922, it belonged to Roddie Mackenzie who played for Clachnacuddin before he joined Newcastle United, winning an English FA Cup winners’ medal with the Magpies.
The football memories project, promoted by Inverness Caledonian Thistle Community Trust in partnership with Clachnacuddin FC and High Life Highland, is producing an online catalogue of photos, film and memories on Ambaile but also aims to create a permanent display of memorabilia.
The recently-gifted medal dates back to an era when Clach had an impressive team, winning the Highland League on four consecutive seasons from 1920-21 and the North of Scotland Cup in 1920-21 and 1922-23.
Roddie Mackenzie’s medal was initially given to Clach by the executors of his sister, Violet Fairchild of Fairfield Road, Inverness, on her death in 1993.
The covering letter from solicitors, Innes and Mackay, stated that Roddie was "something of a football star", moving from Clach to play for league clubs in England.
The medal was held by former Clach director Calum Grant until his death in December 2020 when his wife, Phyllis, passed it on to his good friend and former team-mate, Peter Corbett.
He, in turn, donated the medal to the Inverness Football Memories Project for a future permanent display of memorabilia.
The Inverness Cup medal was one of the last won by Roddie Mackenzie with Clach before he signed for Newcastle United that year, following a month-long trial.
He went on to play 238 games for Newcastle United, scoring six goals in a career that was capped by helping the Magpies lift the English FA Cup in April 1932, beating Arsenal 2-1 in front of a crowd of 92,000 at Wembley Stadium.
He was in the Newcastle party which travelled north on March 18 1933 to play Inverness Thistle in a friendly match at Kingsmills Park.
The Inverness side put up a terrific fight in front of a crowd of more than 5000, before going down 5-3 to their illustrious opponents.
This match was played only four days before the famous first floodlight match played in Scotland – at Telford Street, Inverness - when Caley beat Clach 2-1.
Nessie hunt scuppered first footballing floodlight system
Newcastle had also won the English FA Cup in 1924, when former Caledonian and Inverness Thistle inside forward Tommy MacDonald was in the team which defeated Aston Villa 2-0. Tommy scored 113 goals in more than 300 games for Newcastle united.
The link with Newcastle United continues as former Inverness Thistle player Peter McWilliam – who went on to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur, steering the team to the English Cup in 1921 – played for Newcastle team which won the English Cup in 1910, beating Barnsley 2-0 in a replay in front of 60,000 fans at Goodison Park in Liverpool.
A crowd of 77,747 witnessed the first game at Crystal Palace which ended 1-1.
Many of the 1910 cup-winning Newcastle side – including Peter McWilliam and his Inverness friend and fellow Thistle teammate, Andy McCombie – travelled to Inverness in 1912 to play a Thistle and Caley Select at Kingsmills Park.
The game was such a big attraction that The Highland Railway put on special trains from all over the Highlands.
At half-time, Boy Scouts took up a collection on behalf of the Titanic Disaster Fund.
Not for the first time, the Inverness part-timers put up a great showing to secure a 3-3 draw – a result which was all the more remarkable as Inverness Select lost their goalie when he was injured saving a fiercely-struck penalty.
In addition to Peter McWilliam and Andy McCombie, Newcastle United also signed Alexander 'Ackie' Fraser and George 'Dod' Urquhart in December 1903, both from Thistle.
More recently, Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s sporting director, John Robertson, played 14 games for Newcastle United in 1988.
He made his name scoring 214 goals for Hearts, including 27 against Hibs, and was capped 16 times for Scotland, scoring 3 goals.
More than 200 photos and 40 stories can be seen on the project's page on the Am Baile website.
