You Couldn't Make It Up!

by Jack Little

On 7/8/1922 "Athletic News" ran a full-length article giving all 20 club's prospects for season 1922/23 including their players' height and weight. 355 players were listed and 9 were 13 stones (82.6 Kg) or more. 4 were goalkeepers, 3 were centre-halves, 1 was an outside-left and 1 was a centre-forward. Thistle's Alec Lambie was the only player listed as being 14 stones (88.9 Kg) so he was almost certainly the heaviest player in the first division that season. In contrast to modern-day footballers - especially goalkeepers - only 12 players were 6 feet (1.82 m) or more tall - 5 were goalkeepers and 7 were outfield players and (at 6 feet) Alex Lambie was one of them. 31 goalkeepers were listed so only 1 in 6 was over 6 feet tall. In modern times aspiring goalkeepers around 6 feet tall are often dismissed as being far too small!

Publishing date An original Thistle Archive publication, 07-Sep-2020.
Latest edit date Latest edit version 02-Jun-2020.

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