The 3 M's and the hardest man ever to pit on fitba boots
A brewer flanked by a pair of miners. Those who bemoan the vast gulf between the football stars of the 21st century and the fans who watch them could have no complaints about Alloa Athletic's pre WW1 half-back line. The 3 M's at the heart of the Alloa team were an excellent representation of the demographics of Clackmannanshire at the time. And they could play a bit too...
Even a strong April wind gusting in from the west couldn’t spoil the gala day in Tillicoultry. The Annfield Park home of Tillicoultry Rovers was the venue for the 1904 Clackmannanshire Junior Cup Final with Alva Albion Rangers taking on Alloa Seafield Thistle. Thistle were very much the underdogs against an Alva side on their way to yet another Clackmannanshire league title, their eighth in ten years, and determined to add the cup to their haul. The man they looked to was Billy Hunter, a noted attacker who had been key to Alva’s semi-final defeat of Clackmannan. Hunter was setting out on a footballing journey that would take him first to Millwall and on to Holland, Switzerland and Turkey. On this particular Tillicoultry afternoon however, he frequently found his progress impeded by a bustling young defender by the name of Robert Jackson. “Great things were expected of Alva’s right wing, but the manner in which Jackson broke up their combination was a revelation”, reported the Alloa Advertiser.
With their defence standing strong and the wind at their backs, an emboldened Seafield Thistle went into attack. A double salvo on the cusp of half-time put Thistle into a 2-0 lead as “visions of the cup going to Alloa loomed before their supporters”. Alas for Seafield, it wasn’t to be. With the benefit of wind advantage, years of experience, and a good old dodgy penalty, the Hillfoots men set about turning the game around. If all that wasn't enough, there was more of a hint of controversy about their equaliser too, the Advertiser noting that Herbert Young was standing under the crossbar when he got the final touch. Regardless, momentum had swung and Alva Albion Rangers added three more goals in the closing stages for a 5-2 scoreline.
It was tough on Alloa Seafield and one man in particular. Young Jackson had caught the eye of Advertiser columnist ‘Old Player’. “All eyes were turned to Hunter, who did the deed at Clackmannan, but one player seemed determined not to let him work wonders at Tillicoultry and that player was Jackson. Great, the play of the lad from Menstrie was really so, and he had the Alva right wing on toast all through the first-half”. So who was the impressive youngster in the Seafield defence? Robert Moir Jackson (the middle name is important) had been born in Sauchie in 1883 and brought up in Menstrie. On leaving school he had made his first steps in the brewing industry as a distillery labourer, while also making a name for himself in local football circles.
Seafield were entitled to feel confident about their league opener against Tillicoultry Rovers in August 1904. The disappointment of the cup final defeat behind them, Thistle were optimistic that they were a coming team, capable of challenging Alva and Clackmannan for local junior supremacy. But Seafield hadn’t counted on a last minute mutiny. “Thistle were confident they would be able to put a strong eleven on the field, but at the last minute several of their team deserted them. Wotherspoon, Jackson and Brember and M’Ewan all turned out for Alva”, reported the Advertiser, adding that “During the good old summer time the Rangers committee have been busy fixing up home talent, and as a result all of the Seafield’s Alva players have been booked”.
Alva’s plans of local domination were thwarted by an outstanding Clackmannan Juniors side, the majority of whom would go on to play senior football, several in the black and gold of Alloa. Among them was Sandy ‘Bogie’ Brown, the man who would captain the Wasps to their first national success in 1908. Another prominent future Wasp in that Clackmannan side was Sandy Malcolm. They didn’t know it at the time, but Sandy Malcolm and Robert Jackson would later attain legendary status together at the Recs. In 1904/05, they were rivals in the bitter Clackmannan Alva struggle. April 1905 saw the sides face off in the county junior semi-final where Jackson was described as “the best of half back trio” and the scorer of a goal that was a “real beauty”. But Clackmannan prevailed 3-2 on their way to a clean sweep of the local trophies. Despite that, it had been a successful first year with Alva for Robert and it ended with promotion to the role of vice captain. That summer of 1905 provides another insight into the sporting pastimes of the Wee County in this era with Jackson one of several Albion Rangers stalwarts that appear in the Alva Water Polo team.
Back on terra firma for the new football season, Alva and Clackmannan renewed hostilities. Clackmannan retained the league title, although Alva complained bitterly that they could have overhauled the County Lads had they been able to fulfill their fixtures. There was consolation for the Alva men on the wider stage with a fine run to the final of the East of Scotland Cup. The Recs was the venue as Alva faced Bowhill Thistle of Fife. The press reported that weather conditions ruined the match and that both sides were poor, “but the same cannot be said of Jackson who played a really splendid game for his side”. The replay went ahead at Central Park, Cowdenbeath, with Jackson at centre-half. Alva were too good for the Fifers at the second attempt and lifted the cup on a scoreline of 2-1. The returning heroes were met by the Alva R.V Band and paraded through the town. “This is the first time the cup has ever crossed the Forth Bridge, so the Rangers have every reason to feel proud of themselves”, noted the Advertiser.
The vultures were now hovering. In the well established route to football stardom in this era, young players could learn their trade at juvenile level before stepping up to the juniors. The best junior prospects could then except to be hoovered up the local senior clubs. By that summer of 1906 the cream of the Clackmannan Juniors crop had been lured away by a piratical Alloa and the Advertiser reported in August that “Jackson and Donaldson (Alva) are expected to turn senior this season".
Alva, which had been a little island of Stirlingshire in Clackmannanshire as late as 1891, was different. “It takes a lot to make Alva players give up juniorism", the Advertiser had noted around the turn of the century, and local pride won the day once again in 1906. Jackson and Donaldson were still in the Alva ranks when the new season kicked off and Jackson's loyalty was rewarded with a promotion to the role of skipper.
It wasn’t long before he was lifting trophies. March 1907 saw a record crowd as Alva defeated Sauchie 2-1 to win the County Challenge Cup final; “Captain Jackson accepted the cup on behalf of Alva…..the half back trio was the best part of the Alva team”. The league title followed. Alva again managed to retain Robert’s services that summer and while the team would lose their grip on the league to Denny Hibernian, they held onto the Clackmannanshire Junior Cup. The Advertiser reported on the semi-final against Sauchie that “Jackson seemed to have a roving commission on Saturday - the centre half being seen to advantage all over the field. It was a good thing for the Hillfoot club that Bob was in tip top form as his colleagues were not too brilliant”.
Presumably with more support from his teammates, Jackon helped Alva back to the final of the East of Scotland Cup where they drew 2-2 with Arniston Rangers at Tynecastle. The replay was back in Edinburgh at the Gymnasium home of St Bernards in Stockbridge, where Alva cruised to a 3-0 win to claim the cup once more. The Alva folk took to the streets again as the victorious Albion Rangers paraded behind the Alva R.V Band. With Alloa having lifted the Scottish Consolation Cup and Stirlingshire Cup just a few weeks earlier, these were heady times for Clackmannanshire football and the local bands were surely never so busy.
Robert Jackson was firmly ensconced at the heart of the Albion Rangers team. As others departed and as the Clackmannanshire Junior League itself was abandoned in 1909, the clubs moving en masse to make up a Second Division of the Stirlingshire Junior FA, Robert remained a reassuring presence. Indeed, as Alva established themselves in their new league, an Alloa Advertiser columnist suggested that “as long as Jackson is at centre-half, I have no doubt that this part of the team will be as strong as ever”. There was one notable change though, one which was probably rather confusing for fans at the time and even more so for anyone trying to research the matter a century later. As season 1909/10 progressed, the press increasingly began to use Robert’s middle name rather than his surname. Robert Jackson gave way to Robert Moir. A minor issue, but one which would have a big impact on how Robert’s football career was remembered.
Regardless of his chosen name, Robert continued to lead by example. In October 1910 the Albion Rangers took the drastic step of moving him to centre-forward for a clash with Croy Celtic. The gamble paid off, Robert scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win: “Moir being the star performer among the forwards”. But Robert returned to centre-half and it was from here that he orchestrated Alva’s league title triumph of 1910/11 and with it promotion to the top flight of the Stirlingshire League. The step up didn’t faze Robert and Alva with a very respectable 4th place finish the following season.
Robert Moir had now been a noted player with Alva Albion Rangers for eight seasons. He was approaching his 29th birthday and seemed fated to see out his career as stalwart pivot of the Albion Rangers, something of a Hillfoots Franz Beckenbauer. However, an opportunity was about to arise which would give Robert a belated crack at the senior game. As Alva prepared for another shot at the Stirlingshire Junior league in 1912/13, the Alloa committee were on the look out for a replacement for centre-half Alexander Tainsh, who had been tempted south to try his luck with Plymouth Argyle, where Alloa man and former Wasp Bob Jack was manager. Jack had originally moved from Alloa to Bolton in 1895. He remembered his roots and the strength of local football in Clackmannanshire and Alex Tainsh wasn’t the only player he returned home to sign. Back in Alloa, the departure of Tainsh left a hole in the middle of a fine half-back line, with Sandy Malcolm and William Main on either side. In 2018, Alloa boss Jim Goodwin solved a similar defensive headache by recruiting an Englishman and a Bulgarian. The Wasps of 1912 only went as far as the Hillfoots, the committee persuading Robert Moir to finally make the leap to senior football. Perhaps Robert himself realised that it was probably now or never. He swapped Alva for Alloa and slotted straight into the Wasps team between Main and Malcolm.
This was an era when 2 – 3 – 5 was omnipresent with centre-half at its heart. In ‘Inverting the Pyramid, The History of Football Tactics’, Jonathon Wilson writes that the “centre-half became the fulcrum of the team, a figure far removed from the dour stopper he would become. He was a multi skilled all-rounder, defender and attacker, leader and instigator, goal scorer and destroyer. He was, as the great Austrian football writer Willy Meisl put it, ‘the most important player on the field’”. This was the role that Robert Moir took on at the Recs. Any doubts over his ability to adapt from junior to senior were quickly dispelled. He got off the mark quickly with a goal in a Central League clash against Armadale in August 1912 - “Moir beat Black and opened the scoring” - as Alloa won 2-1 at Volunteer Park. The Linlithgowshire Gazette was impressed with the Wasps: “The Alloa team showed a fine understanding with each other, and while every member was clever on the ball, they were in no way selfish”.
That early season promise set the tone for the months ahead. Alloa had been members of the Central League since 1909 and were runners-up twice without quite managing to secure the league flag. The target was to go one better and the Wasps made a fine start, sitting just behind Bathgate in 2nd place as East Fife visited the Recs in early November. After a cagey start, Alloa grabbed the lead with a Roberto Carlos style effort from their centre-half, the St Andrews Citizen reporting that “a dropping ball from Moir made an unaccountable swerve inside the uprights as Skene was watching it apparently go behind”. Alloa pulled cleared to win 4-1, any East Fife effort to to turn the tied met with “stiff opposition from a bustling trio of halves, Moir being prominent for good tackling”. Alloa's 3 M's were making a name for themselves.
So just who were these three Wee County musketeers? Robert had settled in nicely at centre-half and his earlier decision to be known as Moir rather than Jackson was now vindicated. Well, 'The 2 M’s and Jackson’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. On his right was William Main. A miner and the outsider of the trio - he hailed from just over the Forth in Bothkennar - Main had first come to prominence with a juvenile side called the Rising Star. From there he had gone junior with Forth Wanderers before stepping up to the senior grade with East Stirlingshire in 1907. The Falkirk Herald had reported that young Main was regarded as a capture for the Shire and that he had "an aptitude for dispossessing his opponents by rushing in at the psychological moment". The picture which accompanied the article shows the imposing 20 year old Main in shirt and tie, a barrel of a boy. He had crossed the Forth to sign for Alloa in 1911 and now the Wasps had a defender as strong and sturdy as the pit props that also came over the water from South Alloa. William laid down a marker at the Recs immediately, the Alloa Advertiser noting after a 1-0 win over Dunfermline that “Main, like Malcolm, is a hardy tyke and a very forceful player – at times too much so”.
The aforementioned Malcolm made up the trio. Sandy was a Clackmannan boy and part of a family rooted in the town's mining community. Coal had claimed his father Robert, who had passed away in 1900 with 'black lung', leaving his wife Lydia and five sons. These boys had followed their father down the pit. Two of them, Richard and Bob, were awarded medals for bravery in 1906 following the rescue of five entombed miners in Clackmannan's Pretoria Pit. Above ground, the Malcolm boys formed the spine of Clackmannan football teams.
When Alloa secured a windfall with the sale of James Bauchop to Celtic on New Year's Day 1906, Sandy Malcolm had been part of a group of Clackmannan Juniors players tempted down the road to sign for the Wasps. His impressive form in Black and Gold quickly earned him a move to Hearts. Initially tempted home by Clackmannan on their resurrection as a senior club in 1907, Sandy had soon found his way back down the road to Alloa. By 1913 he was a very well-established and popular left half-back at the Recs. Two miners and a brewer: physically powerful, brave, and with no little football talent, Alloa’s 3 M’s were a formidable combination not to be messed with.
Alloa followed their win over East Fife in November 1912 with a break from league action and the chance to resurrect their rivalry with Clackmannan in the Stirlingshire Cup. The clubs had endured a fractured relationship since Clackmannan’s return to the senior grade and although Alloa viewed themselves very much as top dogs in the Wee County, the men from Chapelhill had managed to upset the Wasps with some notable victories, the most recent of which had seen them eject Alloa from the Qualifying Cup. The defeat had provoked unsuccessful Alloa protests about the Clackmannan teamsheet and the lining of the Chapelhill pitch. It’s fair to say that relations weren’t great as the County Lads arrived at the Recs for the Stirlingshire Cup tie. Alloa got some revenge this time with a 2-0 win, but Clackmannan immediately lodged a protest that “McIntosh, Alloa’s inside right, committed irregularities that have not yet been specified”. It soon became clear that Clackmannan’s grievances extended beyond just the game itself, a subsequent letter to the Stiringshire FA “complaining about the reception they had met with at the hands of the Alloa club”. Alloa had ordered the visiting officials out of the enclosure, they claimed, and on refusal had asked the police to remove them. Allegations of missing gate money and posters being torn down arose in the ensuing claim and counter claim. It must have been a testing time at 102 North Street, Clackmannan, where Sandy Malcolm lived with his four brothers, all of whom played or had played for Clackmannan.
The matter ultimately came to a close with the SFA confirming that admittance to the Alloa enclosure was a matter for the Wasps alone. The result stood and Alloa progressed to a Stirlingshire Cup semi-final with Falkirk. Back on the field of play they consolidated their position at the top of the league with Robert Moir “banging through the leading goal” in a late November win over Stenhousemuir. The Wasps would go into 1913 very much in contention for Central League and Stirlingshire Cup glory.
Falkirk ‘A’ were the next team to run into the 3 M's as the sides lined up at Brockville for the Stirlingshire Cup semi-final. There was only one goal in this game, Weir of Alloa picking up on “a huge punt” from the back before driving the ball into the net. Try as they might, Falkirk couldn’t find a way back into the match. “Alloa’s half-back line gave a grand display”, concluded the Falkirk Herald as the Wasps progressed to the final against old rivals King’s Park.
Attention now switched back to the race at the top of the Central League. Early March saw Alloa make the trip to face Bo’ness. The Wasps took to the field to a “good reception from a contingent of 200 supporters who arrived by special steamer”. Alloa fans of the present day would surely relish such a trip, albeit with the very real danger of special steamers of a different sort on arrival on the southern bank of the Forth. Back in 1913, a hard fought first half ended goalless, the Bo’ness defence bearing up under pressure despite “the Alloa half-backs feeding their forwards in great style”. The home team grew in confidence as the second half progressed however, and there was a great roar as Martin found the net in the closing stages, only for the linesman’s flag to put a dampener on the celebrations. There was still time for the unfortunate Martin to miss an open goal. A sore Linlithgowshire Gazette reported that to have a “hard wrought goal struck off without any apparent justification was galling”, but acknowledged that “Main and Moir, especially the centre-half, were demons for work, and their tackling and strong punting quite upset the calculations of their opponents”. Alloa sailed home with a valuable point.
Next up was a hard fought 1-0 win over Arbroath that sent the Wasps into April at the top of the table. A point at Methil would secure the flag and Alloa went one better on a tense afternoon at Bayview, defeating East Fife 2-1 to clinch the title. The success was very much built upon the 3 M’s at the fulcrum of the Wasps team. At centre-half, Robert Moir must have felt vindicated in his decision to go senior. After just one season, he had tasted glory on the bigger stage. A week after seeing off East Fife, Alloa welcomed a strong Celtic side to the Recs for a friendly. A Quinn goal saw the Celts secure a narrow 1-0 win in front of 3000 supporters, a crowd which the press noted “should enable the Athletic committee to carry out their intention of providing their team with badges to signalise their winning of the Central League Championship”. There was just one more challenge left for the Wasps back in those halcyon days of 1912/13, in the shape of King’s Park in the final of the Stirlingshire Cup.
The 3 M's once again impressed as Alloa took control in the decider at Brockville. The Wasps won plaudits for their defensive work as the threat of King’s Park was almost entirely neutralised, but the Alloa strikers let the side down with some poor finishing. It finished 0-0 and Alloa’s luck was out once more when a post-match ballot saw King’s Park’s Forthbank home drawn as the venue for the replay 2 days later.
After the rather flat first encounter, this replay in front of a bumper crowd did not disappoint. The Falkirk Herald reported that the match was “one of the best seen this season, play being remarkably fast, vigorous and full of incident from beginning to end”. Following an exciting but goalless first half, there was an almighty roar when Forbes put King’s Park ahead in the second period. Back came the Wasps and Snadden brought the Wee County men level amid great cheering from the visiting support. With the teams level in the closing stages and extra-time looming, Harvey of King’s Park was wiped out by a late tackle. A furious section of the home support poured onto the pitch and surrounded the referee. The unfortunate official was escorted to the safety of the pavilion, from where he made the controversial decision not to proceed with extra-time.
The drama now moved to Larbert's Station Hotel and a meeting of the Stirlingshire FA. A bullish Alloa kicked off by announcing that they were claiming the cup and the badges. The Wasps stated that the clubs had agreed to play to a finish at Forthbank but that King’s Park had reneged on account of their fans invading the field of play. Fullerton of Alloa had been attacked, as well as an assault on the ref. What’s more, the Wasps had even offered King’s Park the option of a second replay on Tuesday evening, an invitation allegedly declined by the Stirling club. Alloa were adamant – the cup should go to the Wee County without further ado. Not so, replied King’s Park. In a fiery riposte, the Stirling secretary branded Alloa’s accusations “preposterous” before launching a stunning counter attack. Darkness had set in early, he claimed, and this was the reason the referee had concluded that extra-time could not be played. Only then had the crowd entered the field, and the subsequent controversy had been caused by an Alloa official striking a youth, an assault for which said official was very lucky indeed not have faced a criminal charge. And yes, King’s Park had refused to play on Tuesday, but only on the reasonable grounds that they already had a Dewar Shield tie on Wednesday. The unfortunate match official was now put on the spot. It had indeed been too dark for extra-time he agreed. There had been a pitch invasion, but he couldn’t say for sure who was behind it. The hard-pressed Stirlingshire FA took the easy option. King’s Park were instructed to post notices on their enclosure warning their supporters to behave, but the match would be replayed, and perhaps to give everyone the benefit of a few months to calm down, it would go ahead at the start of the following season.
And so 1913/14 began at the Recs with the much delayed final and this time Alloa left nothing to chance, trouncing their rivals 5-0 to win the Stirlingshire Cup for the first time since 1909. Alloa were harvesting trophies and their half-back line was the envy of local football. Robert Moir marked his 30th birthday in September 1913 as Alloa won 3-1 away at East Fife in the Central League, the Dundee Courier saying that “the two elevens were almost level but Alloa had slightly the better of it, Moir being the outstanding figure”.
Disaster struck at the end of November in the return match with East Fife. In a tousy encounter, Alloa at one point had three players down with injury. The Dundee Courier reported that “the first to be assisted off was Moir, Alloa’s burly centre half, whose disablement came as a shock to the home crowd, who have come to regard the stalwart as impervious to mishap. Moir made a plucky attempt to resume, but was carried back to the pavilion a minute later”. Alloa battled on a man down and a late goal from William Main secured a battling 2-1 win. Even 2 M’s were a formidable proposition.
Alloa waited with bated breath for an update on Robert Moir’s knee. The news wasn’t good with an absence of five or six weeks predicted. The Dundee Evening Telegraph reported that “Alloa folks regard this as nothing short of a calamity, for Moir was reckoned to be the finest player in his position in the Central League. The management will have difficulty in filling his place”. Frustrating as this must have been for Robert, he could count himself rather fortunate in comparison to Wasps keeper Wilson, who had “been removed to the hospital suffering from diphtheria”. All of a sudden a dodgy knee didn’t look so bad.
Robert made his comeback on 24th January 1914 as Arbroath visited the Recs on Central League business. Alas, he lasted only 10 minutes before hobbling off. The Daily Record noted that “Alloa Athletic suffered a severe handicap in the opening minutes of their Central League game with Arbroath when their centre-half Moir, who resumed after being 6 weeks on the injured list, had to be assisted off in consequence of his injury re-asserting itself”. The Wasps had been too hasty in bringing Robert back and there was a hefty price to pay for he was now ruled out for the season. He was missed as Alloa lost their grip both on the Central League and Stirlingshire Cup.
The outbreak of war in the summer of 1914 cast a shadow but after an initial delay of a month due to the situation in Europe, the Central League kicked off once more. Robert Moir’s knee had recovered and the 3 M’s were re-united. Happily, goalkeeper Wilson had also battled back from diphtheria. This was all timely as Alloa had been drawn once more against King’s Park, this time in the Qualifying Cup. Another three game epic ensued, the Wasps clinching a 1-0 win in the decider at East End Park. The disgusted Stirling Observer columnist exclaimed that “I would never have journeyed across the great Forth Bridge to Dunfermline las Saturday if I had thought that the ‘bottle blowers’ were going to pull through”, although rather ominously, another report suggested that Alloa’s “middle line is not so robust as in former times”.
As 1915 arrived there was a warning in the press that Alloa’s support was declining “through their followers having joined the more serious game of defending the country”. Still football continued and once more the Stirlingshire Cup represented Alloa’s best chance of glory. King’s Park again stood in their way at the semi-final stage and after a 1-1 draw at the Recs, the sides lined up at Forthbank for the replay, where the Stirling men were able to take revenge on their neighbours with a 2-0 win. The Stirling Observer revelled in this long awaited victory, praising their own half-back line and taking the opportunity to get a wee dig in too: “The three “M’s” have served Alloa well, but they have lost some of their former energy”.
King’s Park went on to clinch the trophy against Falkirk A but with war now raging, football was taking a back seat. Alloa were having problems fielding a team and finished their abbreviated league season with a 1-0 win over Broxburn at the end of March 1915. In the bloody years of conflict that followed, Alloa fans, players and officials were among the many who served at the front.
It would be August 1919 before the Wasps would take to the field once more. They marked the occasion with a 4-1 win over old foes Clackmannan. Only one of the M’s featured and Sandy Malcolm, now very much a veteran, did so in the colours of Clackmannan.
It was the end of an era. Alloa would build a new side who would excel in the Scottish Cup before gaining entry to the Scottish League and immediately winning promotion to the top flight. New legends such as Orrock, Crilley and Craig earned their own place in Alloa folklore. The glorious feats of 1912/13 lived on however, in the memories of those who watched the team and the iconic combination at its heart. 70 years later, local historian Anthony Hall recalled “The famous half back line of the 3 M’s, Main, Moir and Malcolm”. Around the same time, a relative of Robert Moir spotted a black and white picture of three footballers on the wall of an Alva bar. "Main, Moir and Malcolm”, pointed out a local worthy, “and Moir was the hardest man ever to pit on fitba boots”. Quite the compliment, particularly in light of the two hardy souls who played on other side of him. Robert Moir Jackson can still be spotted in Alva, in the Alva Albion Rangers colours that he also graced with such distinction, looking down from the wall of the town barber. Just a youngster in this particular shot, Robert already looks like very inch the solid citizen, the man who Alloa fans would later regard as "impervious to mishap”.
Adapted from a series of articles first featured in 'The Wasp', the Alloa Athletic FC match programme.
Helen Syme Eccles
Even a strong April wind gusting in from the west couldn’t spoil the gala day in Tillicoultry. The Annfield Park home of Tillicoultry Rovers was the venue for the 1904 Clackmannanshire Junior Cup Final with Alva Albion Rangers taking on Alloa Seafield Thistle. Thistle were very much the underdogs against an Alva side on their way to yet another Clackmannanshire league title, their eighth in ten years, and determined to add the cup to their haul. The man they looked to was Billy Hunter, a noted attacker who had been key to Alva’s semi-final defeat of Clackmannan. Hunter was setting out on a footballing journey that would take him first to Millwall and on to Holland, Switzerland and Turkey. On this particular Tillicoultry afternoon however, he frequently found his progress impeded by a bustling young defender by the name of Robert Jackson. “Great things were expected of Alva’s right wing, but the manner in which Jackson broke up their combination was a revelation”, reported the Alloa Advertiser.
With their defence standing strong and the wind at their backs, an emboldened Seafield Thistle went into attack. A double salvo on the cusp of half-time put Thistle into a 2-0 lead as “visions of the cup going to Alloa loomed before their supporters”. Alas for Seafield, it wasn’t to be. With the benefit of wind advantage, years of experience, and a good old dodgy penalty, the Hillfoots men set about turning the game around. If all that wasn't enough, there was more of a hint of controversy about their equaliser too, the Advertiser noting that Herbert Young was standing under the crossbar when he got the final touch. Regardless, momentum had swung and Alva Albion Rangers added three more goals in the closing stages for a 5-2 scoreline.
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| Robert Moir Jackson. |
It was tough on Alloa Seafield and one man in particular. Young Jackson had caught the eye of Advertiser columnist ‘Old Player’. “All eyes were turned to Hunter, who did the deed at Clackmannan, but one player seemed determined not to let him work wonders at Tillicoultry and that player was Jackson. Great, the play of the lad from Menstrie was really so, and he had the Alva right wing on toast all through the first-half”. So who was the impressive youngster in the Seafield defence? Robert Moir Jackson (the middle name is important) had been born in Sauchie in 1883 and brought up in Menstrie. On leaving school he had made his first steps in the brewing industry as a distillery labourer, while also making a name for himself in local football circles.
Seafield were entitled to feel confident about their league opener against Tillicoultry Rovers in August 1904. The disappointment of the cup final defeat behind them, Thistle were optimistic that they were a coming team, capable of challenging Alva and Clackmannan for local junior supremacy. But Seafield hadn’t counted on a last minute mutiny. “Thistle were confident they would be able to put a strong eleven on the field, but at the last minute several of their team deserted them. Wotherspoon, Jackson and Brember and M’Ewan all turned out for Alva”, reported the Advertiser, adding that “During the good old summer time the Rangers committee have been busy fixing up home talent, and as a result all of the Seafield’s Alva players have been booked”.
Alva’s plans of local domination were thwarted by an outstanding Clackmannan Juniors side, the majority of whom would go on to play senior football, several in the black and gold of Alloa. Among them was Sandy ‘Bogie’ Brown, the man who would captain the Wasps to their first national success in 1908. Another prominent future Wasp in that Clackmannan side was Sandy Malcolm. They didn’t know it at the time, but Sandy Malcolm and Robert Jackson would later attain legendary status together at the Recs. In 1904/05, they were rivals in the bitter Clackmannan Alva struggle. April 1905 saw the sides face off in the county junior semi-final where Jackson was described as “the best of half back trio” and the scorer of a goal that was a “real beauty”. But Clackmannan prevailed 3-2 on their way to a clean sweep of the local trophies. Despite that, it had been a successful first year with Alva for Robert and it ended with promotion to the role of vice captain. That summer of 1905 provides another insight into the sporting pastimes of the Wee County in this era with Jackson one of several Albion Rangers stalwarts that appear in the Alva Water Polo team.
Back on terra firma for the new football season, Alva and Clackmannan renewed hostilities. Clackmannan retained the league title, although Alva complained bitterly that they could have overhauled the County Lads had they been able to fulfill their fixtures. There was consolation for the Alva men on the wider stage with a fine run to the final of the East of Scotland Cup. The Recs was the venue as Alva faced Bowhill Thistle of Fife. The press reported that weather conditions ruined the match and that both sides were poor, “but the same cannot be said of Jackson who played a really splendid game for his side”. The replay went ahead at Central Park, Cowdenbeath, with Jackson at centre-half. Alva were too good for the Fifers at the second attempt and lifted the cup on a scoreline of 2-1. The returning heroes were met by the Alva R.V Band and paraded through the town. “This is the first time the cup has ever crossed the Forth Bridge, so the Rangers have every reason to feel proud of themselves”, noted the Advertiser.
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| Alva Albion Rangers in 1905/06 with Robert Moir Jackson second from left in the second row. |
The vultures were now hovering. In the well established route to football stardom in this era, young players could learn their trade at juvenile level before stepping up to the juniors. The best junior prospects could then except to be hoovered up the local senior clubs. By that summer of 1906 the cream of the Clackmannan Juniors crop had been lured away by a piratical Alloa and the Advertiser reported in August that “Jackson and Donaldson (Alva) are expected to turn senior this season".
Alva, which had been a little island of Stirlingshire in Clackmannanshire as late as 1891, was different. “It takes a lot to make Alva players give up juniorism", the Advertiser had noted around the turn of the century, and local pride won the day once again in 1906. Jackson and Donaldson were still in the Alva ranks when the new season kicked off and Jackson's loyalty was rewarded with a promotion to the role of skipper.
It wasn’t long before he was lifting trophies. March 1907 saw a record crowd as Alva defeated Sauchie 2-1 to win the County Challenge Cup final; “Captain Jackson accepted the cup on behalf of Alva…..the half back trio was the best part of the Alva team”. The league title followed. Alva again managed to retain Robert’s services that summer and while the team would lose their grip on the league to Denny Hibernian, they held onto the Clackmannanshire Junior Cup. The Advertiser reported on the semi-final against Sauchie that “Jackson seemed to have a roving commission on Saturday - the centre half being seen to advantage all over the field. It was a good thing for the Hillfoot club that Bob was in tip top form as his colleagues were not too brilliant”.
Presumably with more support from his teammates, Jackon helped Alva back to the final of the East of Scotland Cup where they drew 2-2 with Arniston Rangers at Tynecastle. The replay was back in Edinburgh at the Gymnasium home of St Bernards in Stockbridge, where Alva cruised to a 3-0 win to claim the cup once more. The Alva folk took to the streets again as the victorious Albion Rangers paraded behind the Alva R.V Band. With Alloa having lifted the Scottish Consolation Cup and Stirlingshire Cup just a few weeks earlier, these were heady times for Clackmannanshire football and the local bands were surely never so busy.
Robert Jackson was firmly ensconced at the heart of the Albion Rangers team. As others departed and as the Clackmannanshire Junior League itself was abandoned in 1909, the clubs moving en masse to make up a Second Division of the Stirlingshire Junior FA, Robert remained a reassuring presence. Indeed, as Alva established themselves in their new league, an Alloa Advertiser columnist suggested that “as long as Jackson is at centre-half, I have no doubt that this part of the team will be as strong as ever”. There was one notable change though, one which was probably rather confusing for fans at the time and even more so for anyone trying to research the matter a century later. As season 1909/10 progressed, the press increasingly began to use Robert’s middle name rather than his surname. Robert Jackson gave way to Robert Moir. A minor issue, but one which would have a big impact on how Robert’s football career was remembered.
Regardless of his chosen name, Robert continued to lead by example. In October 1910 the Albion Rangers took the drastic step of moving him to centre-forward for a clash with Croy Celtic. The gamble paid off, Robert scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win: “Moir being the star performer among the forwards”. But Robert returned to centre-half and it was from here that he orchestrated Alva’s league title triumph of 1910/11 and with it promotion to the top flight of the Stirlingshire League. The step up didn’t faze Robert and Alva with a very respectable 4th place finish the following season.
Robert Moir had now been a noted player with Alva Albion Rangers for eight seasons. He was approaching his 29th birthday and seemed fated to see out his career as stalwart pivot of the Albion Rangers, something of a Hillfoots Franz Beckenbauer. However, an opportunity was about to arise which would give Robert a belated crack at the senior game. As Alva prepared for another shot at the Stirlingshire Junior league in 1912/13, the Alloa committee were on the look out for a replacement for centre-half Alexander Tainsh, who had been tempted south to try his luck with Plymouth Argyle, where Alloa man and former Wasp Bob Jack was manager. Jack had originally moved from Alloa to Bolton in 1895. He remembered his roots and the strength of local football in Clackmannanshire and Alex Tainsh wasn’t the only player he returned home to sign. Back in Alloa, the departure of Tainsh left a hole in the middle of a fine half-back line, with Sandy Malcolm and William Main on either side. In 2018, Alloa boss Jim Goodwin solved a similar defensive headache by recruiting an Englishman and a Bulgarian. The Wasps of 1912 only went as far as the Hillfoots, the committee persuading Robert Moir to finally make the leap to senior football. Perhaps Robert himself realised that it was probably now or never. He swapped Alva for Alloa and slotted straight into the Wasps team between Main and Malcolm.
This was an era when 2 – 3 – 5 was omnipresent with centre-half at its heart. In ‘Inverting the Pyramid, The History of Football Tactics’, Jonathon Wilson writes that the “centre-half became the fulcrum of the team, a figure far removed from the dour stopper he would become. He was a multi skilled all-rounder, defender and attacker, leader and instigator, goal scorer and destroyer. He was, as the great Austrian football writer Willy Meisl put it, ‘the most important player on the field’”. This was the role that Robert Moir took on at the Recs. Any doubts over his ability to adapt from junior to senior were quickly dispelled. He got off the mark quickly with a goal in a Central League clash against Armadale in August 1912 - “Moir beat Black and opened the scoring” - as Alloa won 2-1 at Volunteer Park. The Linlithgowshire Gazette was impressed with the Wasps: “The Alloa team showed a fine understanding with each other, and while every member was clever on the ball, they were in no way selfish”.
That early season promise set the tone for the months ahead. Alloa had been members of the Central League since 1909 and were runners-up twice without quite managing to secure the league flag. The target was to go one better and the Wasps made a fine start, sitting just behind Bathgate in 2nd place as East Fife visited the Recs in early November. After a cagey start, Alloa grabbed the lead with a Roberto Carlos style effort from their centre-half, the St Andrews Citizen reporting that “a dropping ball from Moir made an unaccountable swerve inside the uprights as Skene was watching it apparently go behind”. Alloa pulled cleared to win 4-1, any East Fife effort to to turn the tied met with “stiff opposition from a bustling trio of halves, Moir being prominent for good tackling”. Alloa's 3 M's were making a name for themselves.
So just who were these three Wee County musketeers? Robert had settled in nicely at centre-half and his earlier decision to be known as Moir rather than Jackson was now vindicated. Well, 'The 2 M’s and Jackson’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. On his right was William Main. A miner and the outsider of the trio - he hailed from just over the Forth in Bothkennar - Main had first come to prominence with a juvenile side called the Rising Star. From there he had gone junior with Forth Wanderers before stepping up to the senior grade with East Stirlingshire in 1907. The Falkirk Herald had reported that young Main was regarded as a capture for the Shire and that he had "an aptitude for dispossessing his opponents by rushing in at the psychological moment". The picture which accompanied the article shows the imposing 20 year old Main in shirt and tie, a barrel of a boy. He had crossed the Forth to sign for Alloa in 1911 and now the Wasps had a defender as strong and sturdy as the pit props that also came over the water from South Alloa. William laid down a marker at the Recs immediately, the Alloa Advertiser noting after a 1-0 win over Dunfermline that “Main, like Malcolm, is a hardy tyke and a very forceful player – at times too much so”.
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| William Main pictured on signing for East Stirlingshire in 1907. |
The aforementioned Malcolm made up the trio. Sandy was a Clackmannan boy and part of a family rooted in the town's mining community. Coal had claimed his father Robert, who had passed away in 1900 with 'black lung', leaving his wife Lydia and five sons. These boys had followed their father down the pit. Two of them, Richard and Bob, were awarded medals for bravery in 1906 following the rescue of five entombed miners in Clackmannan's Pretoria Pit. Above ground, the Malcolm boys formed the spine of Clackmannan football teams.
When Alloa secured a windfall with the sale of James Bauchop to Celtic on New Year's Day 1906, Sandy Malcolm had been part of a group of Clackmannan Juniors players tempted down the road to sign for the Wasps. His impressive form in Black and Gold quickly earned him a move to Hearts. Initially tempted home by Clackmannan on their resurrection as a senior club in 1907, Sandy had soon found his way back down the road to Alloa. By 1913 he was a very well-established and popular left half-back at the Recs. Two miners and a brewer: physically powerful, brave, and with no little football talent, Alloa’s 3 M’s were a formidable combination not to be messed with.
Alloa followed their win over East Fife in November 1912 with a break from league action and the chance to resurrect their rivalry with Clackmannan in the Stirlingshire Cup. The clubs had endured a fractured relationship since Clackmannan’s return to the senior grade and although Alloa viewed themselves very much as top dogs in the Wee County, the men from Chapelhill had managed to upset the Wasps with some notable victories, the most recent of which had seen them eject Alloa from the Qualifying Cup. The defeat had provoked unsuccessful Alloa protests about the Clackmannan teamsheet and the lining of the Chapelhill pitch. It’s fair to say that relations weren’t great as the County Lads arrived at the Recs for the Stirlingshire Cup tie. Alloa got some revenge this time with a 2-0 win, but Clackmannan immediately lodged a protest that “McIntosh, Alloa’s inside right, committed irregularities that have not yet been specified”. It soon became clear that Clackmannan’s grievances extended beyond just the game itself, a subsequent letter to the Stiringshire FA “complaining about the reception they had met with at the hands of the Alloa club”. Alloa had ordered the visiting officials out of the enclosure, they claimed, and on refusal had asked the police to remove them. Allegations of missing gate money and posters being torn down arose in the ensuing claim and counter claim. It must have been a testing time at 102 North Street, Clackmannan, where Sandy Malcolm lived with his four brothers, all of whom played or had played for Clackmannan.
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| Clackmannan Juniors. Sandy Malcom fourth from left in middle row. |
The matter ultimately came to a close with the SFA confirming that admittance to the Alloa enclosure was a matter for the Wasps alone. The result stood and Alloa progressed to a Stirlingshire Cup semi-final with Falkirk. Back on the field of play they consolidated their position at the top of the league with Robert Moir “banging through the leading goal” in a late November win over Stenhousemuir. The Wasps would go into 1913 very much in contention for Central League and Stirlingshire Cup glory.
Falkirk ‘A’ were the next team to run into the 3 M's as the sides lined up at Brockville for the Stirlingshire Cup semi-final. There was only one goal in this game, Weir of Alloa picking up on “a huge punt” from the back before driving the ball into the net. Try as they might, Falkirk couldn’t find a way back into the match. “Alloa’s half-back line gave a grand display”, concluded the Falkirk Herald as the Wasps progressed to the final against old rivals King’s Park.
Attention now switched back to the race at the top of the Central League. Early March saw Alloa make the trip to face Bo’ness. The Wasps took to the field to a “good reception from a contingent of 200 supporters who arrived by special steamer”. Alloa fans of the present day would surely relish such a trip, albeit with the very real danger of special steamers of a different sort on arrival on the southern bank of the Forth. Back in 1913, a hard fought first half ended goalless, the Bo’ness defence bearing up under pressure despite “the Alloa half-backs feeding their forwards in great style”. The home team grew in confidence as the second half progressed however, and there was a great roar as Martin found the net in the closing stages, only for the linesman’s flag to put a dampener on the celebrations. There was still time for the unfortunate Martin to miss an open goal. A sore Linlithgowshire Gazette reported that to have a “hard wrought goal struck off without any apparent justification was galling”, but acknowledged that “Main and Moir, especially the centre-half, were demons for work, and their tackling and strong punting quite upset the calculations of their opponents”. Alloa sailed home with a valuable point.
Next up was a hard fought 1-0 win over Arbroath that sent the Wasps into April at the top of the table. A point at Methil would secure the flag and Alloa went one better on a tense afternoon at Bayview, defeating East Fife 2-1 to clinch the title. The success was very much built upon the 3 M’s at the fulcrum of the Wasps team. At centre-half, Robert Moir must have felt vindicated in his decision to go senior. After just one season, he had tasted glory on the bigger stage. A week after seeing off East Fife, Alloa welcomed a strong Celtic side to the Recs for a friendly. A Quinn goal saw the Celts secure a narrow 1-0 win in front of 3000 supporters, a crowd which the press noted “should enable the Athletic committee to carry out their intention of providing their team with badges to signalise their winning of the Central League Championship”. There was just one more challenge left for the Wasps back in those halcyon days of 1912/13, in the shape of King’s Park in the final of the Stirlingshire Cup.
The 3 M's once again impressed as Alloa took control in the decider at Brockville. The Wasps won plaudits for their defensive work as the threat of King’s Park was almost entirely neutralised, but the Alloa strikers let the side down with some poor finishing. It finished 0-0 and Alloa’s luck was out once more when a post-match ballot saw King’s Park’s Forthbank home drawn as the venue for the replay 2 days later.
After the rather flat first encounter, this replay in front of a bumper crowd did not disappoint. The Falkirk Herald reported that the match was “one of the best seen this season, play being remarkably fast, vigorous and full of incident from beginning to end”. Following an exciting but goalless first half, there was an almighty roar when Forbes put King’s Park ahead in the second period. Back came the Wasps and Snadden brought the Wee County men level amid great cheering from the visiting support. With the teams level in the closing stages and extra-time looming, Harvey of King’s Park was wiped out by a late tackle. A furious section of the home support poured onto the pitch and surrounded the referee. The unfortunate official was escorted to the safety of the pavilion, from where he made the controversial decision not to proceed with extra-time.
The drama now moved to Larbert's Station Hotel and a meeting of the Stirlingshire FA. A bullish Alloa kicked off by announcing that they were claiming the cup and the badges. The Wasps stated that the clubs had agreed to play to a finish at Forthbank but that King’s Park had reneged on account of their fans invading the field of play. Fullerton of Alloa had been attacked, as well as an assault on the ref. What’s more, the Wasps had even offered King’s Park the option of a second replay on Tuesday evening, an invitation allegedly declined by the Stirling club. Alloa were adamant – the cup should go to the Wee County without further ado. Not so, replied King’s Park. In a fiery riposte, the Stirling secretary branded Alloa’s accusations “preposterous” before launching a stunning counter attack. Darkness had set in early, he claimed, and this was the reason the referee had concluded that extra-time could not be played. Only then had the crowd entered the field, and the subsequent controversy had been caused by an Alloa official striking a youth, an assault for which said official was very lucky indeed not have faced a criminal charge. And yes, King’s Park had refused to play on Tuesday, but only on the reasonable grounds that they already had a Dewar Shield tie on Wednesday. The unfortunate match official was now put on the spot. It had indeed been too dark for extra-time he agreed. There had been a pitch invasion, but he couldn’t say for sure who was behind it. The hard-pressed Stirlingshire FA took the easy option. King’s Park were instructed to post notices on their enclosure warning their supporters to behave, but the match would be replayed, and perhaps to give everyone the benefit of a few months to calm down, it would go ahead at the start of the following season.
And so 1913/14 began at the Recs with the much delayed final and this time Alloa left nothing to chance, trouncing their rivals 5-0 to win the Stirlingshire Cup for the first time since 1909. Alloa were harvesting trophies and their half-back line was the envy of local football. Robert Moir marked his 30th birthday in September 1913 as Alloa won 3-1 away at East Fife in the Central League, the Dundee Courier saying that “the two elevens were almost level but Alloa had slightly the better of it, Moir being the outstanding figure”.
Disaster struck at the end of November in the return match with East Fife. In a tousy encounter, Alloa at one point had three players down with injury. The Dundee Courier reported that “the first to be assisted off was Moir, Alloa’s burly centre half, whose disablement came as a shock to the home crowd, who have come to regard the stalwart as impervious to mishap. Moir made a plucky attempt to resume, but was carried back to the pavilion a minute later”. Alloa battled on a man down and a late goal from William Main secured a battling 2-1 win. Even 2 M’s were a formidable proposition.
Alloa waited with bated breath for an update on Robert Moir’s knee. The news wasn’t good with an absence of five or six weeks predicted. The Dundee Evening Telegraph reported that “Alloa folks regard this as nothing short of a calamity, for Moir was reckoned to be the finest player in his position in the Central League. The management will have difficulty in filling his place”. Frustrating as this must have been for Robert, he could count himself rather fortunate in comparison to Wasps keeper Wilson, who had “been removed to the hospital suffering from diphtheria”. All of a sudden a dodgy knee didn’t look so bad.
Robert made his comeback on 24th January 1914 as Arbroath visited the Recs on Central League business. Alas, he lasted only 10 minutes before hobbling off. The Daily Record noted that “Alloa Athletic suffered a severe handicap in the opening minutes of their Central League game with Arbroath when their centre-half Moir, who resumed after being 6 weeks on the injured list, had to be assisted off in consequence of his injury re-asserting itself”. The Wasps had been too hasty in bringing Robert back and there was a hefty price to pay for he was now ruled out for the season. He was missed as Alloa lost their grip both on the Central League and Stirlingshire Cup.
The outbreak of war in the summer of 1914 cast a shadow but after an initial delay of a month due to the situation in Europe, the Central League kicked off once more. Robert Moir’s knee had recovered and the 3 M’s were re-united. Happily, goalkeeper Wilson had also battled back from diphtheria. This was all timely as Alloa had been drawn once more against King’s Park, this time in the Qualifying Cup. Another three game epic ensued, the Wasps clinching a 1-0 win in the decider at East End Park. The disgusted Stirling Observer columnist exclaimed that “I would never have journeyed across the great Forth Bridge to Dunfermline las Saturday if I had thought that the ‘bottle blowers’ were going to pull through”, although rather ominously, another report suggested that Alloa’s “middle line is not so robust as in former times”.
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| Robert Moir Jackson in later life. |
As 1915 arrived there was a warning in the press that Alloa’s support was declining “through their followers having joined the more serious game of defending the country”. Still football continued and once more the Stirlingshire Cup represented Alloa’s best chance of glory. King’s Park again stood in their way at the semi-final stage and after a 1-1 draw at the Recs, the sides lined up at Forthbank for the replay, where the Stirling men were able to take revenge on their neighbours with a 2-0 win. The Stirling Observer revelled in this long awaited victory, praising their own half-back line and taking the opportunity to get a wee dig in too: “The three “M’s” have served Alloa well, but they have lost some of their former energy”.
King’s Park went on to clinch the trophy against Falkirk A but with war now raging, football was taking a back seat. Alloa were having problems fielding a team and finished their abbreviated league season with a 1-0 win over Broxburn at the end of March 1915. In the bloody years of conflict that followed, Alloa fans, players and officials were among the many who served at the front.
It would be August 1919 before the Wasps would take to the field once more. They marked the occasion with a 4-1 win over old foes Clackmannan. Only one of the M’s featured and Sandy Malcolm, now very much a veteran, did so in the colours of Clackmannan.
It was the end of an era. Alloa would build a new side who would excel in the Scottish Cup before gaining entry to the Scottish League and immediately winning promotion to the top flight. New legends such as Orrock, Crilley and Craig earned their own place in Alloa folklore. The glorious feats of 1912/13 lived on however, in the memories of those who watched the team and the iconic combination at its heart. 70 years later, local historian Anthony Hall recalled “The famous half back line of the 3 M’s, Main, Moir and Malcolm”. Around the same time, a relative of Robert Moir spotted a black and white picture of three footballers on the wall of an Alva bar. "Main, Moir and Malcolm”, pointed out a local worthy, “and Moir was the hardest man ever to pit on fitba boots”. Quite the compliment, particularly in light of the two hardy souls who played on other side of him. Robert Moir Jackson can still be spotted in Alva, in the Alva Albion Rangers colours that he also graced with such distinction, looking down from the wall of the town barber. Just a youngster in this particular shot, Robert already looks like very inch the solid citizen, the man who Alloa fans would later regard as "impervious to mishap”.
Adapted from a series of articles first featured in 'The Wasp', the Alloa Athletic FC match programme.
Thanks to:
Alan Cameron
The Changing Face of Alloa - Anthony Hall
The County Lads - David A Allan
Rejected FC of Scotland Volume 3 - Dave TywdellHelen Syme Eccles
Alloa Ale - A History of the Brewing Industry in Alloa - Charles McMaster
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