Plenty of Nothing

Miss Baker

Memorial to Miss Baker, who flew into space aboard Jupiter missile AM-18 on this date in 1959. She went on to live to the ripe old age of 27. Before Miss Baker's flight no monkey had survived a US space launch. Alan Shepherd's flight aboard Mercury-Redstone 3 occurred just two years after hers. Source.

Nankatsu

Nankatsu SC. Source.

Nankatsu SC is a Tokyo club playing in the Kanto league, Division 1. They started out in 1983 as Tokiwa Club, but in 2013 assumed the name Nankatsu SC, after Captain Tsubasa's fictional home town. The Nankatsu uniform is based on the one in the manga, too. (See below.)

Tokyo 23 FC [1 - 0] Nankatsu SC

The Scottish Premiership season ends this weekend. Dundee United are all but guaranteed to finish 12th, and Ross County all but guaranteed to finish 11th.

Motherwell vs Dundee United (tomorrow)

Kilmarnock vs Ross County (tomorrow)

SPFL Premiership playoff semi-final, second leg:

Ayr United 0 - 5 Partick Thistle

Partick advance.

The Canadian Championship semi-finals were held midweek:

Pacific 0 - 3 Vancouver Whitecaps

CF Montréal 2 - 0 Forge

South Challenge Cup final (tomorrow):

The Spartans vs Drumchapel

Other matches:

Pacific vs HFX Wanderers

Winterthur 0 - 2 Zurich (May 25)

Young Boys vs Winterthur (Monday)

This ends the Super League schedule.

Drogheda 3 - 1 UCD (yesterday)

Minajs 0 - 0 Rukh Vynnyky (May 25)

Metalist vs Minaj (Monday)

Mito HollyHock vs Renofa Yamaguchi (tomorrow)

Honda FC [0 - 0] Tokyo Musashino United

Ganju Iwate vs Morioka Zebra

Fujieda City Hall vs Tokai Gakuen University (tomorrow)

NPL2 Vic: Preston Lions 1 - 3 Werribee City (yesterday)

North Mississauga [0 - 4] Scrosoppi (yesterday)

Premiership playoff finals to date:

2013-14        Hibs L/W Hamilton Academical

2014-15        Motherwell W/L Rangers

2015-16        Kilmarnock W/L Falkirk

2016-17        Hamilton Academical W/L Dundee United

2017-18        Partick Thistle L/W Livingston

2018-19        St Mirren W/L Dundee United

2019-20        not played

2020-21        Kilmarnock L/W Dundee

2021-22        St Johnstone W/L Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Mortonalia:

The Easdales are worth £1.425 billion. Source.

Read about Gozie Ugwu's time in Saudi Arabia.

Historical Matches:

The North American Soccer League was a twelve-team tournament played across North America from May to July 1967. Ten European and two South American teams took part, playing under assumed North American identities. Hibs, Aberdeen and Dundee United participated under the names Toronto City, Washington Whips and Dallas Tornado. It was a one-time experiment intended to excite North American interest in soccer. The most notable long-term effect of the competition was that Dundee United permanently adopted the orange and black strip they wore as Dallas Tornado.

Let's follow Toronto City (a.k.a. Hibs) through the 12 twelve-game NASL schedule.

1967/5/28      Cerro 1 - 1 Hibs

Clydesdale FC in the Scottish Cup:

1873/10/25    R1    Clydesdale 6 - 0 Granville

1873/11/8      QF    Clydesdale 1 - 1  3rd LRV

1873/11/15    QF    Clydesdale 0 - 0  3rd LRV

1873/12/6      QF    Clydesdale 2 - 0  3rd LRV

1873/12/20    SF    Clydesdale 4 - 0 Blythswood

1874/3/21        F    Queen's Park 2 - 0 Clydesdale

1874/10/24    R1    Clydesdale 0 - 0 Vale of Leven (Vale of Leven disqualified)

1874/11/21    R2    Clydesdale 1 - 0 Dumbreck (protested)

1875/1/16      R2    Clydesdale 1 - 0 Dumbreck

1875/x           QF    bye

1875/3/20      SF    Clydesdale 0 - 0 Queen's Park

1875/3/27      SF    Queen's Park 2 - 2 Clydesdale

1874/4/3        SF    Clydesdale 0 - 1 Queen's Park

1875/10/16    R1    Clydesdale 1 - 0 Eastern

1875/11/6      R2    Clydesdale 6 - 0 Kilmarnock

1875/11/27    R3    Queen's Park 2 - 0 Clydesdale

1876/10/7      R1    Clydesdale 6 - 0 Craigpark

1876/10/21    R2    3rd LRV 0 - 0 Clydesdale

1876/10/28    R2    Clydesdale 0 - 4  3rd LRV

1877/9/29      R1    Clydesdale 3 - 0 Dennistoun

1877/10/20    R2    Clydesdale 0 - 2 Queen's Park

1878/9/28      R1    Clydesdale scr/scr Dennistoun

1879/9/20      R1    Parkgrove wo/scr Clydesdale

1880/9/18      R1    Clydesdale scr/wo Shawlands Athletic

1881/9/17      R1    Clydesdale scr/wo Clyde

(Source: The Beautiful Dribbling Game)

Source.

La Décapole: Sélestat

Sélestat Cathedral. Source.

Skylab by Robert T. McCall

This is the fiftieth anniversary of Skylab 2, the crewed mission to the damaged Skylab module. Source.

Speyer Pilgrim

The St. James pilgrim route runs through Speyer in the Rhine-Palatinate. Source.

Dorchester

The first locomotive in Canada was Dorchester, imported from Britain in 1836 for the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railway. This photo is of a replica on display in Montreal in 1936. Source.

Scottish Junior Cup Final, 1960

JUNIOR CUP TO ST ANDREWS

From Our Special Correspondent

   St Andrews United 3,

    Greenock Juniors 1

    St Andrews United won the Scottish Junior Cup on Saturday with an unexpected and somewhat fortuitous win in the final against Greenock Juniors at Hampden Park.

    Greenock were much the better side in the first half, when they scored their goal, but poor finishing prevented them from taking as big a lead as their superior outfield play merited. St Andrews' infrequent attacks generally were competently dealt with by the powerful Greenock defence.

    The match continued in the same vein until three goals for the Fife side in less than 12 minutes quite upset the rhythm of Greenock's attack. They eventually recovered, but St Andrews were by then a much more confident and forceful side.

    Lister, sure handed and agile in their goal, and Davidson at centre half served St Andrews best in defence. All of the forwards, whose play if unmethodical was enthusiastic, appeared to profit from the move of Borella, who started on the right wing, to inside left late in the first half, but their attacks often broke down because of inaccurate passing.

    Stewart, at right half, was Greenock's outstanding player. He worked hard in defence and was also very useful in giving added thrust to the attack. Greenock stifled his effectiveness, however, when they moved him to centre forward after their opponents' second goal, relegating the nippy McKellar, their goal-scorer, to the half-back line.

    The defence were less steady after the barrage of goals against them, but Buchanan remained cool at centre half.

Good Goals

    Three of the goals were most intelligently taken. In the twenty-sixth minute Stewart, although he almost lost control, ran the ball down the right wing to the by-line and chipped it across the goal-mouth to Winter, who headed into the centre, and Samuel let the ball run through to McKellar, who beat Lister with a fine drive.

    Borella accepted with alacrity the chance to equalize in the fifty-seventh minute after the defence had failed to stop a weak cross from Smith on the left, and four minutes later he again scored with a magnificent shot from the edge of the penalty area after carrying the ball just clear of the left back. McGinlay, who had no chance to prevent these goals, was most unfortunate in the sixty-eighth minute when an innocuous shot by Penman (W.) struck Buchanan and spun past the goalkeeper.

    Greenock almost reduced the margin in the hard-fought closing stages -- the play was then unfortunately marked more by petty offences and injuries than constructive football -- when Stewart gathered a neat through pass from McCartney, but his shot struck the underside of the crossbar and rebounded to the inside right, whose header was tipped over the bar by Lister.

    ST ANDREWS UNITED --  Lister; Penman (W. P.) and Hughes; Crookston, Davidson, and Wills; Carmichael and Fraser; Smith; Penman (W.) and Borella.

    GREENOCK JUNIORS -- McGinlay; Riley and Hogg; Stewart, Buchanan, and Brabender; Gibson and McCartney; McKellar; Samuel and Winter.

    Referee -- I. Smart (Bo'ness).

Glasgow Herald, May 23, 1960, p. 9. Photo.

103rd Emperor's Cup, Round One

Belugarosso. Source.

Match No. 1: Briobecca Urayasu (JFL) [3 - 2] University of Tsukuba (Kanto Univ 1)

Match No. 2: Kataller Toyama (J3) [2 - 1] Hokuriku University (Hokushinetsu Univ 1)

Match No. 3: Reilac Shiga (JFL) [2 - 1] Azul Claro Numazu (J3)    Upset

Match No. 4: Veertien Mie (JFL) [2 - 0] Gainare Tottori (J3)    Upset

Match No. 5: Arterivo Wakayama (Kansai 1) 1 - 3 Kansai University (Kansai Univ)

Match No. 6: Vanraure Hachinohe (J3) [2 - 3] Sony Sendai (JFL)    Upset

Match No. 7: Nara Club (J3) [0 - 1] Honda FC (JFL)    Upset

Match No. 8: Nagano Parceiro (J3) 2 - 0 Laranga Kyoto (Kansai 2)

Match No. 9: Kamatamare Sanuki (J3) 2 - 1 Brew Kashima (Kyushu)

Match No. 10: Fukui United (Hokushinetsu 1) [0 - 1] Cento Cuore Harima (Kansai 1)

Match No. 11: BTOP Hokkaido (Hokkaido) [7 - 0] Yamagata University Faculty of Medicine

Match No. 12: Giravanz Kitakyushu (J3) [2 - 2] Kagoshima United (J3) [Giravanz win on PK]

Match No. 13: Tochigi City (Kanto 1) 4 - 1 Maruyasu Okazaki (JFL)    Upset

Match No. 14: Belugarosso Iwami (Chugoku) [1 - 2] Kochi United (JFL)

Match No. 15: Iwate Grulla Morioka (J3) [4 - 0] Criacao Shinjuku (JFL)

Match No. 16: Tonan Maebashi (Kanto 2) [3 - 4] Yamanashi Gakuin University Pegasus (Yamanashi 1)    Upset

Match No. 17: SC Sagamihara (J3) [2 - 1] Tokyo International University (Kanto 1)

Match No. 18: Verspah Oita (JFL) [2 - 1] Baleine Shimonoseki (Chugoku)

Match No. 19: SRC Hiroshima (Chugoku) [1 - 3] FC Tokushima (Shikoku)

Match No. 20: FC Imabari (J3) [1 - 0] Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki (Nagasaki)

Match No. 21: FC Gifu (J3) 2 - 1 Niigata University of Health and Welfare (Hokushinetsu Univ 1)

Match No. 22: Fukushima United (J3) 4 - 0 North Asia University (Tohoku Univ 1)

Match No. 23: Tegevajaro Miyazaki (J3) 3 - 0 Tokai University Kumamoto (Kyushu Univ)

Match No. 24: FC Ryukyu (J3) [2 - 1] Mitsubishi Mizushima (Chugoku)

There are sixteen J3 clubs in this round, nine JFL clubs, fourteen from the regional leagues, two from prefectural leagues, six from university leagues, plus Yamagata University Faculty of Medicine (I can't figure out which league they play in).

Matches No. 5, 8, 9, 13, 21, 22 and 23 were played yesterday.

Yohei Takaoka

Vancouver Whitecaps goalie Yohei Takaoka has played for Yokohama FC, Sagan Tosu, and Yokohama F. Marinos, and was named to the J. League Best XI in 2022. Source.

Premiership playoff semi-final, first leg:

Partick Thistle 3 - 0 Ayr United (May 19)

Championship playoff final:

Airdrieonians 1 - 0 Hamilton Academical (May 17)

Hamilton Academical [2 - 1] Airdrieonians (May 20)

[Airdrieonians win on PK. They are promoted to the Championship. Hamilton go down to League One.]

League One playoff final:

Annan Athletic 3 - 1 Clyde (May 16)

Clyde 1 - 2 Annan Athletic (May 19)

Annan Athletic make it up to League One for the first time.

League Two playoff, second leg (May 20):

Albion Rovers [0 - 1] The Spartans

[Albion Rovers go down. The Spartans enter the SPFL.]

Lowland League Cup final (tomorrow):

East Kilbride [2 - 2] Bo'ness United [EK win on PK.]

Other matches:

Thespakusatsu Gunma 2 - 1 Mito HollyHock (May 17)

Derry City 4 - 1 UCD (yesterday)

Helmond Sport 2 - 3 PEC Zwolle (yesterday)

NPL2 Vic: Pascoe Vale 0 - 1 Preston Lions (yesterday)

Winterthur [0 - 1] Servette

Chornomorets Odesa [0 - 1] Minaj

HFX Wanderers [0 - 3] York United

The Concacaf rankings are out and HFX Wanderers are in 82nd place between Herrera FC of Panama and CDS Vida of Honduras. Source.

Former Wanderer Iida Kodai has a new vlog up. It's mainly in Japanese, but you get a sense of how his season is going when you see he has his arm in a sling.

Montedio Yamagata [2 - 1] Blaublitz Akita (tomorrow)

Mito HollyHock [0 - 3] Roasso Kumatmoto (tomorrow)

Elfen Saitama [0 - 2] Kobe Leonessa (tomorrow)

Alliance United [1 - 2] Scrosoppi (tomorrow)

Dryburgh [3 - 1] Morton Women (tomorrow)

This ends the 2022-23 SWF Championship. [Morton finish 8th.]

Mortonalia

Reckoning that climate change will bring Greenock even more rain than the too much it already receives the club is installing drainage pipes under the main stand side of the pitch. Picture.

Andrew Barrowman (Morton 2014-15) is the new CEO of Raith Rovers.

SPFL Conference League

The powers that be have been pushing a proposal to insert a new league between League Two and the fifth tier, to be made up of four Premiership reserve squads and six lower league clubs. Almost everyone below League Two hates this idea because it puts another league between them and the SPFL. And almost everyone in the SPFL hates it because it's the next step toward B teams playing in League One and the Championship, which might fly in Germany but no in Scotland.

Aberdeen, who were previously floated as one of four Premiership clubs to participate, have opted out. (They didn't have a reserve team this year.) There is talk that Queen's Park will take the fourth B-team spot.

Which Scottish clubs had reserve teams in 2022-23?

In the Lowland League: Celtic, Hearts, Rangers

In the Reserve League: Ayr Utd, Dundee, Dundee Utd, Hamilton, Hibs, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Queen of the South, Queen's Park

In the South of Scotland League: Caledonian Braves, Stranraer

In the East of Scotland League 2nd Division: Stirling University

In the North Caledonian League: Clachnacuddin, Nairn County

In the North Region Championship: Banks O'Dee

League Two playoffs to date:

2015    Montrose W/L Brora Rangers

2016    East Stirlingshire L/W Edinburgh City

2017    Cowdenbeath W/L East Kilbride

2018    Cowdenbeath W/L Cove Rangers

2019    Berwick Rangers L/W Cove Rangers

2020    not played

2021    Brechin City L/W Kelty Hearts

2022    Cowdenbeath L/W Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic

Renfrew FC in the Scottish Cup:

1876/9/30      R1    Busby 2 - 0 Renfrew

1877/9/29      R1    Renfrew 0 - 0 Pollokshaws Athletic

1877/10/6      R1    Pollokshaws Athletic 0 - 2 Renfrew

1877/10/27    R2    Glenkilloch 0 - 4 Renfrew

1877/11/10    R3    Renfrew 1 - 2 Barrhead

(Some kind of wrangle resulted in Renfrew reappearing in R5.)

1877/1/5        R5    Renfrew 0 - 2 Mauchline 

1878/9/28      R1    Renfrew 1 - 1  17th Renfrewshire RV

1878/10/5      R1    17th Renfrewshire RV 1 - 2 Renfrew

1878/10/19    R2    Levern 1 - 2 Renfrew

1878/11/9      R3    bye

1878/11/30    R4    Renfrew 0 - 4  3rd LRV

1879/9/20      R1    Barrhead 0 - 5 Renfrew

1879/10/11    R2    bye

1879/11/1      R3    Arthurlie 1 - 2 Renfrew

1879/11/22    R4    Pollokshields Athletic 2 - 1 Renfrew

1880/9/18      R1    Thornliebank 3 - 0 Renfrew

1881/9/17      R1    Cartvale 4 - 2 Renfrew

1882/9/16      R1    Pollock 3 - 2 Renfrew

1883/9/8        R1    Morton 1 - 0 Renfrew

1884/9/13      R1    Renfrew 1 - 0 Johnstone Rovers

1884/10/4      R2    Clippens 1 - 7 Renfrew

1884/10/25    R3    St Mirren 1 - 0 Renfrew (protested)

1884/11/8      R3    St Mirren 3 - 0 Renfrew (protested)

1884/11/13    R3    St Mirren 6 - 3 Renfrew

1885/9/12      R1    Renfrew 1 - 0 Greenock Northern

1885/10/3      R2    Renfrew 0 - 3 Abercorn

1886/9/11      R1    Renfrew 3 - 3 Abercorn

1886/9/18      R1    Abercorn 9 - 0 Renfrew

1887/9/3        R1    1st RRV 1 - 8 Renfrew

1887/9/24      R2    Renfrew 3 - 3 Port Glasgow Athletic

1887/10/1      R2    Port Glasgow Athletic 5 - 3 Renfrew

1888/9/1        R1    Renfrew 0 - 0 Arthurlie

1888/9/8        R1    Arthurlie 3 - 1 Renfrew

1889/9/7        R1    Renfrew scr/wo Greenock Abstainers

(Source: The Beautiful Dribbling Game)

Made Up Cups:

2022-23 Plenty of Nothing Championship League Cup:

R1    Cove Rangers 1 - 2 Ayr    Aug 20

R2    Partick Thistle 2 - 1 Raith Rovers    Aug 27

R1    Queen's Park 1 - 2 Morton    Oct 4

R2    Dundee 2 - 1 Ayr    Oct 15

R2    Inverness CT 0 - 1 Hamilton Accies    Oct 18

R2    Arbroath 1 - 1 Morton    Dec 3    Arbroath advance on the yellow card rule.

SF    Hamilton 1 - 1 Dundee    February 4    Dundee advance on the yellow card rule.

SF    Arbroath 0 - 0 Partick Thistle   February 25    Arbroath advance on the yellow card rule.

F      Arbroath 0 - 0 Dundee    April 8    Dundee win on the corner kicks rule.

Consolation Cup:

R1    Queen's Park 2 - 1 ICT    March 18

R1    Cove Rangers 0 - 5 Partick Thistle    April 1

SF    Partick Thistle 4 - 0 Queen's Park April 8

R1    Morton 2 - 0 Hamilton    April 11

R1    Ayr 1 - 0 Raith    April 29

SF    Ayr vs Morton    no fixture available

F      Partick vs Ayr or Morton    no fixture available

Championship League Cup winners so far:

2019-20    no winner

2020-21    no winner

2021-22    Arbroath

2022-23    Dundee

Consolation Cup winners:

2021-22    no winner

2022-23    no winner

Chateau Clair

As incongruous as it may seem, one of Canada's earliest wine-growing regions was in the centre of Mississauga. Clair House Winery operated from about 1865 to 1925 and had vineyards at the present corner of Dundas and Confederation Parkway. Source.