Cartoon capers
Frank Boyle pencils in historic football match
AWARD WINNING cartoonist Frank Boyle’s depiction of the first ever Edinburgh derby is highly regarded by supporters of both sides but there is much more to the drawing than apparent at first glance.
As always with Frank’s cartoons, the devil is in the detail. The historic match between the newly formed Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian took place on Christmas Day 1875 in the Meadows and while photography was in its infancy, no-one thought the encounter important enough to record for prosperity.
Hibs formed in August of that year but the Edinburgh Football Association declined their application to join as they considered them to be an Irish team, and issued instructions to all member clubs that they must not play any matches or have any contact with the new club.
The players trained hard and played practice games among themselves on the Meadows and eventually Heart of Midlothian broke ranks and agreed to play the fixture.
Frank learned of the game after reading Alan Lugton’s book
“The making of Hibernian FC” and decided that the event merited his attention, but it was not just a question of putting pen to paper. He said: “It was something I had been considering for some time and had already spoken to the historians at both Hearts and Hibs. Tom Wright took me to the east Meadows where the game was played so that I could see for myself. I had a clear idea of the white Hearts strip, but there was a dispute about the Hibs’ strip. Their first official photo featured the green and white hoops so I went with that.
“I also went to the Central Library to research what spectators would have worn in those days, and the policeman is wearing an accurate City of Edinburgh police uniform. The navvies that attended the game as bodyguards are also depicted and look as though you wouldn’t want to mess with them.
“Robert Louis Stevenson would have been around at the time. He often walked through Edinburgh, so it’s possible he could have been passing and he is included on the far right.
“Some players were real people, including the two captains Michael Whelehan of Hibs and Tom Purdie of Hearts. I also learned that the Hearts’ keeper Jake Reid only had three fingers on one of his hands. I asked the club Museum Manager Davy Allan if he knew which hand but he didn’t. A few days later he met one of Jake’s descendants who confirmed it was his left hand.”
Based in Glasgow, Frank has a large following in the capital thanks to his daily ‘Boyling Point’ cartoons which featured in the Edinburgh Evening News between 1999 and 2015 and lampooned the great and the good of the capital and beyond.
One of Frank’s cartoons was bought by National Galleries of Scotland for their permanent collection of drawings. National Convener of the Scottish Socialist Party, Colin Fox, insisted that
Frank’s cartoons were the best thing in the newspaper and the late politician Margo McDonald said that she had the “utmost admiration for his work” and was “chuffed” to be drawn by him.
Former First Minister Jack McConnell claimed they were the “highlight of the first eight years of devolution” even though they were occasionally embarrassing and made him cringe but he accepted that they always made him laugh.
It’s not just politicians who admire Frank’s work however. He continued: “Rod Petrie has a few prints including the one which featured after Hibs were relegated. There was a large demo outside Easter Road and the fans had built a large Wicker Man in the car park and Rod inside looking out of the window with his hand on a petty cash box. When he got the job at the SFA he contacted me and bought a number of prints for his office at Hampden.”