1895 World Championship (football)

1895 World Championship

Event	Football World Championship
Heart of Midlothian Sunderland 3 5
Date	27 April 1895
Venue	Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh
Referee	Mr Dickson (Scotland)
Attendance	15,000

The 1895 World Championship was a football match that took place at Tynecastle Park on 27 April 1895 between the winner of the English Football League First Division, Sunderland, and Scottish League Division One, Heart of Midlothian.^[1][2] The match was won by Sunderland 5–3.^[1][3][4][5]

The wealthy miner Samuel Tyzack, who alongside and shipbuilder Robert Turnbull funded the Sunderland side known as the "team of all talents," often pretended to be a priest while scouting for players in Scotland, as Sunderland's recruitment policy in Scotland enraged many Scottish fans. In fact, the Sunderland lineup in the 1895 World Championship consisted entirely of Scottish players - Scottish players who moved to England to play professionally in those days were nicknamed the Scotch Professors.^[4][6]

The game was not the first "World Championship" game between English and Scottish sides; and it was the second such club competition won by an English team, with previous winners being Aston Villa and Renton (both Scottish Cup and FA Cup winners, as the leagues had not been yet created at the time). The Scottish and English leagues were pre-eminent in the world at that time.^[2] However, it was the first ever game played between the respective champions of two different leagues.^[6]

This was the only international competition Sunderland won; they subsequently participated in the British League Cup in 1902 and the Empire Exhibition Trophy in 1938 but exited early in those competitions.^[7][4]

Participant teams

Team	Qualification
Sunderland	1894–95 Football League First Division champions
Heart of Midlothian	1894–95 Scottish Division One champions

Match details

1895 Football World Championship

27 April 1895

Heart of Midlothian	3–5	Sunderland[8]
Taylor McLaren	Report	Johnston Campbell Millar Harvey

Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh, Scotland

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Mr Dickson, Scotland

Heart of Midlothian

Sunderland

GK Jock Fairbairn DF Barney Battles DF James Mirk MF Alexander Hall MF Bob McLaren MF George Hogg FW Willie Taylor FW Thomas Chambers FW Willie Michael FW George Scott FW Davie Baird

GK Ned Doig DF Robert McNeill DF Donald Gow MF Billy Dunlop MF John Auld MF Harry Johnston FW Jimmy Hannah FW James Gillespie FW John Harvey FW John Campbell FW Jimmy Millar

References

1. "Sat 27 April 1895 Hearts 3 Sunderland 5". londonhearts.com. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
2. "World Champions!". roker-roar.com. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
3. "Most Successful Era Of Some Famous English Clubs". 1SPORTS1. 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
4. Jonathan Wilson (2020-04-25). "Sunderland's Victorian all-stars blazed trail for money's rule of football". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
5. Saturday's Football. | Heart of Mid-Lothian v. Sunderland, The Glasgow Herald, 28 April 1895
6. When Sunderland met Hearts in the first ever 'Champions League' match | Nutmeg Magazine, Nutmeg Magazine, September 2017
7. "When Sunderland AFC Were World Champions! – Ryehill Football". Retrieved 2019-12-31.
8. "Hearts 3 Sunderland 5". The Stat Cat. Retrieved 2 May 2013.