◆ Playing on the Sabbath is now the norm, but it all started half a century ago this week with a Deans hat-trick and some protests

Why is the end of this week of significance to Celtic? Well, Brendan Rodgers turns 51 today, but, sorry Brendan, it isn't that. Or at least not only that.

The reason one date ought to register on the Parkhead calendar is not so much a birthday as an anniversary. And it’s relevant to not only Celtic, although they – or more strictly Dixie Deans – did create a very special piece of Scottish football history 50 years ago this weekend. At 2.34pm on January 27, 1974, the striker scored Scottish football’s firstever Sunday goal just four minutes into a Scottish Cup thirdround tie against Clydebank, who featured someone called Andy Roxburgh up front (whatever happened to him?).

Sunday football clearly suited Celtic. Deans went on to create another entry in the Scottish football history book by scoring the first-ever Sunday hat-trick in his side's 6-1 win.

“He actually gave me a doing that day,” recalls Bankies defender Jim Fallon, now 73, when I called him a couple of days ago. “Unplayable. Well, I found him unplayable. It was an unhappy experience, put it that way.” Fallon did get on the scoresheet in the final minutes from the spot. Although it was only a consolation goal for him and his team, it still riled Celtic who were bidding for a sixth successive clean sheet. “I remember preparing to take the penalty and Billy Mcneill was still arguing with the referee that it was never a penalty," remembers Fallon.

It was an afternoon when several clubs stuck their toe in the water by performing on the Sabbath. The Lord's Day Observance Society was one group not surprisingly angered by this perceived desecration of the day of rest. A minister protested outside Brockville where Falkirk were hosting Dunfermline.

“The Rev. Robert Mcghee of St Andrew's Church Falkirk lost his fight against Sunday football,” reported The Scotsman the following day. He began picketing outside the ground at 2pm and handed out leaflets to those going to the game. “He was unable to persuade anyone to turn back from the turnstiles,” the same article noted.

Elsewhere, Aberdeen lost against Dundee in front of over 23,000. In total ten Scottish Cup ties were watched by 92,000 people. It was described as Scottish football supporters voting overwhelmingly in favour of Sunday football although not everyone – including some from within the game – were onside. Hibs managing director Tom Hart

The Lord's Day Observance Society greet the Stoke City coach before a match at Bolton in January 1974, the same month Dixie Deans, above, scored three on a Sunday afternoon against Clydebank urged consideration for the players, "especially the married men, who like to spend that day with their families".

So what had motivated the experiment, which Jock Stein hailed a huge success? Speaking after a crowd of 28,000 had turned up to see Celtic sweep Clydebank aside, the then Celtic manager said: "We would normally have 12-14,000 for that match on Saturday. It seemed to be a family occasion, with lots of wives and children."

Rodgers, the current Celtic manager, had celebrated his first birthday the previous day. He was born into uncertain times. Interest rates had shot up and there was, like now, severe tension in the Middle East, which would explode in the form of the Yom Kippur war. The Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exports Countries suspended oil deliveries to western nations who had supported Israel in the conflict with Egypt and Syria. The subsequent energy crisis in the United Kingdom was then exacerbated by industrial action by miners, who refused to do overtime. This halved coal production and had serious repercussions, since most electricity at the time was generated by coal-fired power stations.

Football suffered. How could it be otherwise? Floodlights were no longer permitted to glow for as long, hence why Celtic v Clydebank kicked off at 2.30pm, with Deans striking soon afterwards. The introduction of a three-day week meant Saturday became a working day. Celtic had felt the impact a few weeks earlier when their League Cup final against Dundee was brought forward to 1.30pm from 3pm. That along with the foul weather meant the final was watched by an all-time low crowd of just 28,000 as the favourites fell to a 1-0 defeat.

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