Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Inverness Football Memories project is gifted 100-year-old medal

ICT Community Development Manager Craig Masterton (left) accepts the donation of the 1922 Inverness Cup medal from Peter Corbett.
ICT Community Development Manager Craig Masterton (left) accepts the donation of the 1922 Inverness Cup medal from Peter Corbett.

A 100-year-old gold medal won by an Inverness player who went on to FA Cup glory has been presented to a football memories project.

The 1922 Inverness Cup medal and chain was one of the last won by Clachnacuddin player Roddie Mackenzie before he joined Newcastle United.

Clach’s successful team also won the Highland League on four consecutive seasons from 1920-21 and the North of Scotland Cup in 1920-21 and 1922-23.

Winning the FA Cup

Roddie went on to play 238 games for Newcastle, nicknamed The Magpies, scoring six goals in a career capped by United lifting the FA Cup in April 1932.

He was in the Newcastle party that travelled north in March 1933 to play Inverness Thistle in a friendly match which ended 5-3 to the English side.

This match was played only four days before the famous first floodlight match played in Scotland – at Telford Street, Inverness, when Caley beat Clach 2-1.

Roddie’s Inverness Cup medal was initially given to Clach by the executors of Roddie’s sister, Mrs Violet Fairchild of Fairfield Road, Inverness, on her death in 1993.

It was held by former Clach director Calum Grant until his death in December 2020 when his wife Phyllis passed it to his friend and former team-mate, Peter Corbett.

Roddie Mackenzie’s Inverness cup medal from 1922.

Mr Corbett, a former Highland councillor, also managed Clach and played for Caley and Ross County.

With Clach’s blessing, he has now donated the medal to the Inverness Football Memories Project to feature in a future permanent display of memorabilia.

The donation of the medal continues a footballing connection between Inverness and Newcastle.

United also won the FA Cup in 1924, when former Caledonian and Inverness Thistle inside forward Tommy MacDonald was in the team that defeated Aston Villa 2-0.

Former Inverness Thistle player Peter McWilliam, who went on to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur and steer them to the English Cup in 1921, played for Newcastle when they won the trophy in 1910.

Inverness-Newcastle connection

Many of the 1910 cup-winning Newcastle side – including Peter McWilliam and his Inverness friend and fellow Thistle teammate, Andy McCombie – travelled to Inverness in 1912 to play a Thistle and Caley Select.

The game, which ended 3-3, was such a big attraction that The Highland Railway put on special trains from all over the Highlands.

At half-time, local Boy Scouts took up a collection on behalf of the Titanic Disaster Fund.

Newcastle United 1907-08.

In addition to Peter McWilliam and Andy McCombie, Newcastle United also signed Alexander “Ackie” Fraser and George “Dod” Urquhart in December 1903, both from Thistle.

More recently Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s sporting director, John Robertson, played 14 games for Newcastle United in 1988.

The Inverness Football Memories Project is being promoted by Inverness Caledonian Thistle (ICT) Community Trust in partnership with Clachnacuddin FC and High Life Highland.

More than 200 photos and 40 stories can be seen on the Am Baile website.

Are you interested in more exclusive and breaking Highland and Islands news from the P&J? If so, why not join our dedicated Facebook page HERE

Conversation