- Contributed by听
- mcleanmuseum
- People in story:听
- Adam Little
- Article ID:听
- A2461899
- Contributed on:听
- 25 March 2004
This contribution is taken from the collections of the McLean Museum, Greenock, Inverclyde Council.
Dr. Adam Little, a local GP, played for Glasgow Rangers and Greenock Morton. During the war he would play for Arsenal and the Army.
Dr Adam Little
I was called up to the army on a Saturday.. and on that Saturday we were playing Celtic, so I wrote to the CO and asked if I could be excused and he let me off!
The sergeant in the mess was a fellow I played football with, a goalkeeper with Blantyre Vic. This fellow Gillespie he said there's a doctor in Aldershot who wants to see you, Jimmy McKillop, he wants you to go up for afternoon tea and I go away along to Aldershot and theres tea dancing and so that was my introduction to the Army and while I was there I played for the Arsenal, I used to go up, I'd leave on the Friday, go up and stay in a hotel in London, Arsenal payed my digs, well the boys used to come up on the Saturday and I stayed Saturday night and they stayed in the hotel room, they couldn't get accommodation so they slept on the floor, three or four of my pals!
When I went out to the Middle East, I arrived at the transit camp.. the CO posted me to GHQ Cairo Surplus T as a surplus doctor - I was posted there so I could play football for the army. I played for the army and the combined team, the Wanderers against the Egyptians and the CO says to me well we've got to beat these Egyptians...I said there's only one way, to select 14,15 players and all stay together and train together. We did that for a fortnight. The boys were all excused duties and we played them and won. The CO said what would you like to do now and I said 'I'd like to do a tour of Cyprus. Right! and it was organised, we went to Cyprus. A cooks tour!
The soldiers came from miles around..The Wanderers had International players - like Harry Johnstone, Andy McLaren. We went all over Palestine and it was amazing, the fellows were fed up with life really, confined to barracks, and areas and the like. They appreciated the football teams coming to play for them.
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