The day Dom saw referees at the double at Shawfield!
When did you last see a referee or linesman leave the field with cheers ringing in his ears?
These days it’s about as likely as a game being completed without anyone claiming for handball in the penalty box.
So there’s every chance the last time an official took the acclaim of the crowd was on January 4, 1975.
And it happened during a match that briefly had two referees on the park at the same time.
This odd sequence of events was sparked off by whistler, Bob Keggie, from Edinburgh.
For reasons unknown, he failed to turn up for the First Division match between Clyde and Arbroath at Shawfield.
There was a party atmosphere at the stadium as fans rounded off their New Year celebrations.
The crowd of 5,000 that turned up – some keeping warm in the ground’s public bar – was made aware of the problem that might have prevented the game starting.
And, as former Clyde midfielder, Dom Sullivan, recalls, a solution was soon found.
He said: “A lad was taken out of the crowd to run the line, and one of the linesmen took over as referee. It was pretty bold of him to take on the job of officiating at a top-flight game.
“There was a delay to the start of the game before we got underway.
“The lad running the line didn’t make any mistakes and Peter Boyle scored to put us ahead.”
Behind the scenes, there were plans afoot to cut short the career of the stand-in linesman.
Referee Bob Henderson of Dundee appeared on the scene with 11 minutes on the clock.
That briefly resulted in the game carrying on with two referees on the pitch.
Some observers reckoned there was a touch of Monty Python about proceedings.
“The temporary linesman went off and got a big cheer from the supporters,” said Dom.
“He was taken into the boardroom and well treated for the part he played in making sure the game went ahead.”
Clyde won the game 3-1 – Peter Boyle scoring a second time and Bobby Ferris making it three.
It was the last sighting of the mystery man with the flag but we saw a lot more of another debutant.
It was the first game in senior football for 18-year-old Steve Archibald.
He played in midfield and it wasn’t an easy introduction to professional football, as Arbroath had the former Rangers pair, Dave Smith and Andy Penman, in their side.
Archibald went on to great things with Aberdeen, Spurs, Barcelona and Scotland.
Dom added: “You could definitely see Steve had something when he came to play with us.
“He was very determined and single-minded, but he didn’t always listen to advice at that time.
“When I went on to play for Aberdeen, our manager, Billy Mcneill, said he was thinking of buying Joe Ward or Steve Archibald from Clyde.
“He asked my opinion, and I said that Steve was great on the deck and an intelligent boy but, in my view, Joe Ward had more ability.
“Billy thanked me for my view – and said he was signing Archibald. What I’d said had confirmed his view of Steve.
“He lived beside me when he came to Aberdeen, and I fixed him up with a car.
“Another near neighbour was Joe Harper, and Steve built up a great relationship with him.
“Joe taught him all a lot of the tricks he needed to become a great player inside the 18-yard box. He learned a lot.
“I really enjoyed playing for Aberdeen and living up there. Then I fell out with Alex Ferguson, and Billy Mcneill made my dream of playing for Celtic come true.”
Dom had won the League Cup with Aberdeen and went on to win back-to-back League titles with Celtic.
He was player-manager of Alloa when they took on Clyde in the last-ever game at Shawfield.
Now 69, he runs the Railway Hotel in Denny.