1904–05 Scottish Division One

The 1904–05 Scottish Division One season was won by Celtic. Celtic and Rangers had finished the league campaign level on 41 points, and a play-off at Hampden Park (doubling up as a fixture in the minor Glasgow Football League) was arranged to decide the championship. An English-based referee was drafted in to officiate at the match due to increasing tensions between the two groups of supporters and controversies in recent matches between the sides. Celtic won 2–1, with Jimmy McMenemy and Davie Hamilton scoring the decisive goals.^[1][2][3]

Scottish Division One

Season	1904–05
Champions	Celtic 5th title
Matches played	182
Goals scored	583 (3.2 per match)
Top goalscorer	Robert Hamilton Jimmy Quinn (19 goals each)
← 1903–04 1905–06 →

The 'Old firm' clubs (a term recently employed for the growing commercial draw of the frequent fixtures between them) had already been involved in two other unusual matches during that season:

• The pivotal New Year's Day fixture at Ibrox had to be abandoned in the second half – the unexpectedly large crowd in attendance (estimated at 70,000) was cleared from the pitch to allow play to start, but spectators continued to spill on at regular intervals, with the contemporary report noting that "the game assumed a farcical order" as a result.^[4] the match was eventually played to a conclusion on 18 February 1905, with Celtic winning 4–1.^[5]
• The Scottish Cup semi-final between the clubs, played at Celtic Park on 25 March, was abandoned on 80 minutes with Rangers two goals ahead when supporters invaded the field and confronted the referee after Celtic striker Jimmy Quinn had been sent off for violent conduct.^[6][2] The opponent he was accused of kicking, Alex Craig, offered a statement exonerating Quinn but the Scottish Football Association imposed a one-month ban^[7] – however, Celtic had already completed all their league fixtures, and by the time of the play-off Quinn had served the ban and took part in the match.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
=1	Celtic (C)	26	18	5	3	68	31	+37	41	Champions
=1	Rangers	26	19	3	4	83	28	+55	41
3	Third Lanark	26	14	7	5	60	28	+32	35
4	Airdrieonians	26	11	5	10	38	45	−7	27
5	Hibernian	26	9	8	9	39	39	0	26
6	Partick Thistle	26	12	2	12	36	56	−20	26
7	Heart of Midlothian	26	11	3	12	46	44	+2	25
8	Dundee	26	10	5	11	38	32	+6	25
9	Kilmarnock	26	9	5	12	29	45	−16	23
10	St Mirren	26	9	4	13	33	36	−3	22
11	Port Glasgow Athletic	26	8	5	13	30	51	−21	21
12	Queen's Park	26	6	8	12	28	45	−17	20
13	Morton	26	7	4	15	27	50	−23	18
14	Motherwell	26	6	2	18	28	53	−25	14

Source: SPFL Archive
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	AIR	CEL	DND	HOM	HIB	KIL	MOR	MOT	PAR	PGA	QPA	RAN	STM	THI
Airdrieonians		1–3	2–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	3–2	3–2	3–0	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–3	1–1
Celtic	2–3		3–0	1–1	2–0	3–1	5–2	4–2	2–2	3–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	2–1
Dundee	0–1	2–1		2–0	4–1	3–0	6–1	0–0	0–1	4–0	3–0	0–3	2–0	0–0
Heart of Midlothian	6–0	2–0	3–1		1–0	1–3	2–0	4–1	0–1	2–0	2–0	0–5	3–1	4–1
Hibernian	3–2	2–2	1–1	3–0		2–1	4–0	2–0	4–0	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–1
Kilmarnock	1–0	0–3	2–1	3–2	2–1		1–0	0–2	3–2	1–1	2–1	0–4	1–0	0–0
Morton	2–0	0–1	5–1	1–0	2–2	2–1		1–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–3	0–0
Motherwell	1–0	2–6	0–2	0–4	1–2	2–1	0–3		1–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	3–2	0–1
Partick Thistle	0–3	0–5	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	1–0		3–0	3–1	1–4	0–1	3–2
Port Glasgow Athletic	1–3	1–4	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	6–1		4–2	0–3	0–2	1–1
Queen's Park	1–1	2–3	0–1	2–0	4–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–4	2–0		0–4	2–1	0–1
Rangers	4–1	1–4	2–1	1–1	4–0	6–2	5–0	3–2	8–1	5–1	5–0		2–3	3–1
St Mirren	0–1	2–3	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	2–2	1–2	1–1	3–0		1–2
Third Lanark	6–0	1–2	2–2	7–1	4–1	3–1	5–0	4–3	6–1	3–0	2–0	2–1	3–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship play-off

6 May 1905

15:00

Celtic	2–1	Rangers
McMenemy Hamilton		Robertson

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Frederick Kirkham

Teams

Celtic: GK Davey Adams RB Hugh Watson LB Willie Orr RH Alec McNair CH Willie Loney LH Jimmy Hay OR Alec Bennett IR Jimmy McMenemy CF Jimmy Quinn IL Peter Somers OL Davie Hamilton

Rangers: GK Tom Sinclair RB Alex Fraser LB Alex Craig RH Adam Gourlay CH James Stark LH John May OR John Robertson IR Finlay Speedie CF Robert McColl IL Charles Donaghy OL Alex Smith

See also

• 1890–91 Scottish Football League#Championship play-off