IT is a Saturday evening at the end of June, 1966, and a substantial Hampden crowd, eager to see Scotland take on the reigning world champions, Brazil, have scarcely settled in their seats when Stevie Chalmers puts the Scots ahead (main image).
A flash of brilliance from Jim Baxter created an opening for Chalmers, who, as the Glasgow Herald put it, gave Scotland “the immense though short-lived satisfaction of dumping Brazil on the seat of their distinguished pants”.
The Brazilians – Gerson and Pele among them – equalised in what was their latest rehearsal for the World Cup tournament in England the following month. But for a save by their goalkeeper, however, Celtic’s Chalmers – “lively and direct” – might have won the game for Scotland.
Chalmers is also seen here (right) scoring the first of his two goals in Celtic’s 5-3 victory over Dundee in the final of the Scottish League Cup, at Hampden, in October 1967.
Inbetween these two matches, Chalmers had written himself into Celtic folklore by scoring the winning goal in the team’s victory over Inter Milan in the final of the European Cup, in Lisbon in May 1967.
Chalmers was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2016, and its summary of his distinguished career describes him as a “fast and unselfish centre forward”, who scored 228 goals in 405 games in his 12 years with Celtic. He won four League Championships, four League Cups, three Scottish Cups and, of course, the European Cup.
Chalmers passed away on April 29 last year, aged 83, just a week after the death of his old captain, Billy McNeill.
Speaking upon the news of Chalmers’s death, Celtic’s chief executive, Peter Lawwell, said: “Stevie Chalmers was a Celtic legend, and one of the greatest goalscorers this club has ever seen.
“Indeed, only three other legends in Jimmy McGrory, Henrik Larsson and Stevie’s close friend, Bobby Lennox, have scored more goals. However, there is only one man who is able to lay claim to having scored the most important goal in Celtic’s 131-year history, and that man is Stevie Chalmers.”
This week the Herald reported that Chalmers’s family is to auction off some of his memorabilia, including the medal he received for the European Cup win in 1967.
The items also include the shirt that Pele wore in that 1966 game at Hampden. “It’s amazing how many people still ask about the Pele shirt and ask if I still have it,” Chalmers told a Glasgow newspaper in February 2014. “Billy Bremner was trying to get it but Pele didn’t want to give it to him. I have a photo of us changing strips and Billy is at the back of me. Pele just came up to me and asked if I would swap so that was nice. I don’t think any other Scottish player got a Pele shirt, so I am very fortunate”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here