22 SPORT
Turnbull’s Tornadoes
New Year’s Day marks
the 50th anniversary
of the ‘Seven Nil game’,
and Hibs’ finest ever
performance
Edinburgh for
Fredriksen
By JOHN HISLOP
NEW YEAR’S DAY marks the 50th anniversary
of THE Seven Nil game, arguably the finest
performance from the legendry team known at
Turnbull’s Tornadoes.
The Tornadoes were Jim Herriot, John
Brownlie, Erich Schaedler, Pat Stanton, Jim Black,
John Blackley, Alex Edwards, Jimmy O’Rourke,
Alan Gordon, Alex Cropley and Arthur Duncan.
That eleven only started 22-games together,
wining 18, drawing two and losing two. But one
of these defeats was away to Sporting Lisbon and
the soon rectified that with a 6-1 hammering of
the Portuguese giants a couple of weeks later and
one of the draws was in the second leg of a Uefa
Cup tie against FC Besa from Albania and we
were 7-1 up from the first leg.
By mid-December the team had scored more
than 100 goals in all competition and they added
another seven without reply at Tynecastle in front
of 36,000 fans. Doubles from O’Rourke, Gordon
and Duncan and one from Cropley secured the
famous victory although Stanton still believes his
name should have been included in that list.
He recalled: “We arrived at Tynecastle that day
in a confident mood although Hearts games were
always difficult. It didn’t matter how either team
was playing. Both sets of players were up for it
and there was a fierce determination to win form
both sides. It could be quite frantic.“Hearts had some good players but everything
clicked that day and we were 5-0 up at half time.
Eddie told us to keep going and give it our all
because that what the Hearts players would
prefer rather than us keeping possession and
taking the mickey.
“And he was spot on. I thought I’d scored the
sixth, but Jimmy knocked it over the line. I said
to him afterwards “Some pal you!” but he said he
was just making sure, and we still argue if the ball
was going in. I think it was but he insists that it
was heading for the corner flag. After the game I
went straight home. Normally Jimmy and I
would go for a couple of pints, but I was drained.
I’d had enough excitement that day. I still can’t
believe that it was 50-years ago, but I’ll never
forget it.”
Five days later against East Fife at Easter Road
Brownlie was carried off with a broken leg and
the eleven never played together again. Alex
Edwards picked up a booking that day for
throwing the ball away which would lead to a
mammoth 56-day ban.Hibs eventually finished
third in the league behind the Old Firm, were
knocked out the Scottish Cup by Rangers after a
quarter-final replay and exited the Cup Winners
Cup at the same round having been 4-2 ahead
from the first leg.By NIGEL DUNCANLASSE FREDRIKSEN is back with
Monarchs next spring and admitted:
“Edinburgh was my first choice.”
The 25-year-old agreed that he
struggled to find consistency last
summer and that is his goal for 2023.
The rider has decided to pull out of
international competition to focus on
league racing with Monarchs and also
with Valsarna in Sweden.
He said: “I found it hard last year when
maybe I had matches over the weekend
and had to travel overseas in between
and I finished up not doing well in any of
them. This year I won’t do that.”
The Norwegian wasn’t helped by
some unlucky crashes, notably one
against Birmingham when he was wiped
out on the third turn, allegedly because
the following rider was affected by the
low sun.
He added: “Missing matches was
disappointing, especially because I
wanted to ride all the tracks during the
season. I missed Plymouth, Poole and
Birmingham in the middle of the season.”
He was also on the wrong end of some
first bend incidents but he learned from
riding with Monarchs then No 1 Sam
Masters who has now moved on.
Fredriksen said: “The whole team was
awesome, I really got to know them all
and because we lived near each other, I
was able to hang out with Kye, Jacob and
Paco a lot.
“I will be using much the same
machinery, but I have a man I really
trust working on them in Scotland,
David McAllan. He will go over the bike
in the winter.”Spot the trendy footballer
haircuts hereThe best ever Hibs game?