Barcelona, Real Madrid - they made a
gallant bid!
Generations of Hibs fans can glimpse what the fuss was
about! Stuart Crowther reviews another Hibs video classic
GENERATIONS OF HIBS FANS know the
words of the song as well as they know their own family! Barcelona,
Real Madrid, they will make a gallant bid, but we're out to show the world
what we can do! Only those who lived through the heady days that
were to become enshrined in Hibernian history could truly understand the
meaning of these words. Until now.
The revolution brought to home entertainment by
the video tape was slow to catch on in Hibernian circles! For years Hibs
fans, for one reason or another, were starved of the ability to own a
permanent record on film of the great deeds carried out by Hibs sides of the
past. In the last year this has been addressed, at long last, by the
Hibsvideo.com team who have already
delighted Hibs fans by releasing their "Turnbull's Tornadoes" production, a
video that gave Hibs fans the chance for the first time to own footage of the
famous 7-0 game along with many other great days of that 1970's Hibs side.
Given the recent sad death of Bobby
Johnstone, Hibs fans will be looking forward to being able to own for life
footage of Johnstone and the rest of the Famous Five in a forthcoming
production honouring that greatest of Hibs sides. But just to keep us
going in the meantime we have a video tape that has been much anticipated by
Hibs fans brought up on a diet of European nights at Easter Road in the
1960's, as in association with Hibs.net the production company
will release on Monday 3rd September "Hibernian F.C. - European Nights".
Willie Hamilton strides through the Real
Madrid midfield, side-foots the ball to Scott, he slides it neatly along the
18 yard line where the 17-year-old sensation Peter Cormack is waiting to take
the ball first-time and drive it into the net. A simple description of
an equally simply executed goal, but this was Real Madrid, the Kings of Europe
who until that night were undefeated by any British club. Over the years
since that night much has been written of the fantastic play of Hamilton, who
overshadowed such as the great Puskas, Gento, Amancio, world-renowned players
who certainly looked the part - but then, so did Hamilton! Much as
footage of the 7-0 game made the "Turnbull's Tornadoes" product a must-have
for all Hibs fans, so the highlights of the Real Madrid game made this a vital
part of every Hibees collection.
The images dull with the memory - Jim Scott scores against Rangers
Watch out for a delightful move started by
Hamilton, an arrogant ball slipped into the path of Neil Martin, inside to
Scott, a deft flick in the path of Cormack, and his nick over the goalkeeper
just skipping an inch over the bar. Delightful? It was the first
time around, but after almost 40 years having passed since it all happened and
many a Hibs fan are going to love seeing once again that and all of the superb
football on show at Easter Road that night in October 1964. This is
indeed worth the £9.99 cost of the video, but there is more. Much more.
Check out for example Sammy Baird on 6 September 1961, when Hibs went in at
half-time 3-0 down at home to Portuguese side Belenenses. Baird came out
in the second half with a new shirt with no number on the back, common back
then. From the midfield Baird drove Hibs into attack after attack, and
within 20 minutes of the half being underway it was back to 3-3. The
equalising goal in that game is a peach, from the penalty spot Baird, who had
to be under enormous pressure, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and
arrogantly flicked the ball neatly into the corner.
Then there is the Joe Baker show as Hibs
sunk Bayern Munich on 23 November 1960. Again a Hibs legend that every
fan knows about, but few have had the honour of actually seeing in his prime.
The opening footage of the video, highlights of the night when Hibs took on
Barcelona on their own patch and drew 4-4, shows glimpses of the Baker genius,
in particular his ability to escape the attention of his markers. We see
much of the same against Bayern, but we also see a typical Baker goal, beating
two Bayern defenders before scoring from 28 yards out with ease.
So is there a downside to this video?
Of course, the quality of some of the old black-and-white footage is not
great, but given that most of it has been lost in the archives for nearly 40
years the fact that it still exists at all is amazing enough, and it is to the
great credit of the producers that they managed to dig it out at all. It
might also possibly have been enhanced had a few interviews with the players
of the day been included, but heck it's what happened on the field that
mattered and it would be churlish of any Hibee to complain when at last they
have the chance to own another piece of Hibee history!
"Hibernian - European Nights" will be
available on-line at
http://www.hibsvideo.com
from Monday 3rd September priced at £9.99.
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