Three moments in time…Celtic in the Thirties (Part 2 – The Polo Grounds, NYC) | OneFootball

Three moments in time…Celtic in the Thirties (Part 2 – The Polo Grounds, NYC)…

Over the past three months I have been sharing some of the memorabilia collection of former Celtic, Scotland and Ireland trainer Will Quinn, courtesy of his great-grandson Steven. If you missed any of these articles on The Celtic Star you can catch HERE.

The most recent offering is a page from one of his scrapbooks, featuring three very different Celtic images from matches which feature in the first volume of my Celtic in the Thirties compilation.

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, available in two volumes at Celticstarbooks.com

The top photo was covered in the first part of this article and captured an incident at Dens Park on Saturday, 17 October 1931, as Jimmy McGrory tries to score against Dundee.

The middle image is a real find, as although there is a photo on The Celtic Wiki of captains Jimmy McStay (note not Willie McStay, as per the caption) and Pavel Mahrer shaking hands before the game between Celtic and Hakoah All-Stars played at The Polo Grounds in Manhatan on Sunday, 14 June 1931, this is the first I have ever seen of the match in progress.

Celtic at The Polo Ground

The match against Hakoah was the eighth on Celtic’s hectic tour schedule and took place just 24 hours after a 7-0 victory over Carsteel at Montreals’ Baseball Stadium, a first match for the Hoops on Canadian soil and a unique afternoon for Peter Scarff, deputising for the injured Jimmy McGrory. Wearing a dress shirt borrowed from the crowd, as for some reason Celtic found themselves one hooped jersey short, Peter helped himself to five of the seven goals!

Peter Scarff, Celtic FC.Image by Celtic Curio for Celtic in the Thirties (Vol 1 & 2) by Matt Corr.

Here is how I describe the events of that day in Manhattan in Volume One of Celtic in the Thirties…

Celtic in the Thirties author Matt Corr (R) at the Peter Scarff CSC. Photo The Celtic Star

The following day, Sunday, 14 June 1931, an unchanged Celtic team was back at the Polo Grounds in New York City – scene of their victory over the New York Giants in late May – for a clash with Hakoah All-Stars.

Celtic’s latest opposition had been established the previous year as a merger of two clubs playing in rival competitions, the ASL’s Brooklyn Hakoah and New York Hakoah from the Eastern Soccer League. There would be at least one familiar face in the hosts line-up, Englishman George Moorhouse having played against Celts for the New York Yankees in their 4-3 win in Boston two weeks earlier. New York-born wing-half Philip Slone became the latest member of the USA’s 1930 World Cup squad to face Celtic, albeit his solitary international cap came against Brazil in a friendly played after that tournament.

The bulk of the All-Stars team were from Eastern Europe, many of them internationalists who had played at one time for Austrian club Hakoah Vienna, an all-Jewish outfit who had toured the USA in 1926 and 1927.

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, Volumes One & Two, signed copies available from celticstarbooks.com/shop

Wing-half Pavel Mahrer was a Czech internationalist whilst inside-forward Moritz Hausler had represented Austria on seven occasions, and his countryman Siggy Wortmann is viewed as one of the country’s greatest footballers.

Despite hopes that he would arrive from Montreal in time there was no sign of Erno Schwarz, but the Hungarian contingent included former Ujpest defender Laszlo Sternberg, who would captain his country in the 1934 World Cup finals, centre-forward Rudolph Nickolsburger, who had played club football in four European countries and centre-half Bela Guttman, a title-winner in both Hungary and Austria before he embarked upon a successful playing career across the Atlantic.

Having just about lost everything following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Guttman would go on to become one of the all-time great managers, winning national titles in Hungary with Ujpest and Honved, in Portugal with Porto and Benfica, and in Uruguay with Penarol. He would also win two European Cups whilst in Lisbon, becoming the first coach to break Real Madrid’s five-year stranglehold on the tournament. Two play-off goals from Santos star Pele then denied him the chance to add the South American version – the Copa Libertadores – with Penarol in 1962.

The Celtic and Hakoah teams had been guests at a pre-match banquet hosted by New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker in midweek, however events on the pitch were anything but cordial, the sides finishing the match with nine players apiece. Charlie Napier and Peter Scarff were dismissed, as were Hungarians Guttman and Nikolsburger in a brawl of a game. The latter had given Hakoah the lead on the half-hour, with Napier equalising after the break as the match ended in an unpleasant 1-1 draw in Upper Manhattan in front of 20,000 spectators.

The Celtic team in Manhattan that afternoon was as follows;

An extract from Celtic in the Thirties: Volume One by Matt Corr published by Celtic Star Books, signed copies of both volumes available HERE.

Hail, Hail!

Matt Corr

Follow Matt on X/Twitter @Boola_vogue

Order both volumes of Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr and save a tenner! Link below…

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Celtic in the Thirties by Celtic Historian Matt Corr is published in two volumes by Celtic Star Books.

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Jul 20 2025, 19:16

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Jul 20 2025, 18:28

Daizen Maeda – If Celtic get an offer too good to refuse he’s away

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