The Broxburn footballer who swapped shale pits for silverware

Jan 21 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

The Courier takes a look back at the colourful, and often controversial, career of West Lothian’s unsung footballing hero, former Celtic and Hibs star Peter Meechan

PETER MEECHAN swapped the shale pits of West Lothian for a starring role on British football’s grandest stages, winning the top titles in Scotland and England while also earning a full Scotland cap and playing in two FA Cup finals.

The Broxburn-born star was a transfer record breaker and Meechan (sometimes incorrectly spelled Meehan) is one of West Lothian’s most successful football exports and a former favourite at Glasgow Celtic.

But little has been written of a player who must have been one of the first from the area to have earned championship medals on both sides of the border.

Peter was born on February 28, 1872, to James and Ann Meechan, who had left Donegal, Ireland in 1858.

The census of 1891 shows that 19-year-old Peter was living at home with his Gaelic -speaking parents and 15-year-old sister Annie in a two-room house at Stewartfield Row in Broxburn.

He, like his father, listed his occupation as a shale miner and the census also shows the family spelling of their name was indeed Meechan, confirming the family name which has been spelt in many different ways at each of the clubs he played for and by his descendants in Nova Scotia.

Peter showed an early flair for football and quickly made a name for himself on the pitch.

The opening whistle on the reliable right--back’s career sounded on the local parks of his hometown with Broxburn Emmett.

Broxburn was then a thriving mining town and the working men helped fill the starting line-ups of several different clubs dotted around the area — including four senior sides.

Broxburn Shamrock were the most successful local club at the time and had forged an impressive Scottish Cup pedigree, taking cup-holders Hearts all the way in an epic 5-4 sixth-round defeat in December 1891.

But Meechan, who had risen to the role of Shamrock captain, sat the game – played at Shamrock Park, then-located on Pyothall Road in the town – out due to a monetary dispute with his club.

The sports pages of this very newspaper reported the following in December 1891.

“The Scottish Cup holders Hearts had their full team out, while Shamrock were minus their captain Meechan at the back.

“Various rumours were afloat as the cause of the home captains absence from the team.

“Some newspapers attribute it to a dispute with the committee over ‘terms’, while another puts it down to that he was disappointed at the size of a subscription raised for him during the time he was off work.”

It was the first incident of controversy in his fledgling career but it would certainly not be his last, as the annals of history show Meechan was a man unafraid to take a stand for what he believed was right.

Following this incident, Meechan made a short-term switch to another local club — Broxburn FC.

He then moved to Hibs, where his stunning displays earned him a transfer to Sunderland in 1893 where he won the English Division One Championship the following year.

He enjoyed a successful time in the North East, with 50 appearances and one goal.

His debut came against Aston Villa on September 9, 1893, and he scored his solitary Sunderland goal in a 2-0 win over West Brom at Stoney Lane on Boxing Day 1894.

It was while with the Black Cats when Peter enjoyed his second brush of controversy when he was embroiled in a war of words which was again detailed in the pages of the Courier.

A Mr Strachan used the newspapers’ columns to object to Meechan’s name remaining on the local voters list, despite him living across the border in England.

The Sunderland star had an ally in his corner though in a Mr Dodds, who argued that Peter was like a commercial traveller who found it necessary to be away from his home from time to time.

Back to football and Peter returned across the border to Glasgow Celtic in 1895, where he was a member of the side that won the Scottish League Championship in 1896 and the Charity Cup.