Plenty of Nothing

Leap Day Football

Morton Castle, 1789, which was not a leap year. Source.

It's the Morton Castle Game. The winner of today's match at Palmerston gains possession of Morton Castle in Nithsdale.

Morton are in sixth place with 32 points, 3 behind fourth-place Ayr United. Morton have not had a loss since St Johnstone put them out of the Scottish Cup on January 18th, and have not had a loss in league play since Partick beat them on December 28th. They have not been this high up in the table since October.

Queen of the South are ninth with 26 points. They're on a six-game winless streak. They have not won a game in 2020.

But Morton have yet to win against QoS this season, unless you count that 2-point shoot-out win in the League Cup group stage.

Past Morton Castle games:

Jan 28, 2012        QoS 2 - 1 Morton

Mar 29, 2014       QoS 3 - 0 Morton

Oct 10, 2015        QoS 1 - 0 Morton

Feb 4, 2017         QoS 3 - 0 Morton

Feb 17, 2018       QoS 1 - 1 Morton

April 6, 2019        QoS 1 - 1 Morton

This is only the sixth time that Morton have played a competitive match on February 29th. The previous occasions were:

1908/2/29    Morton 1 - 1 St Mirren

1936/2/29    Forfar 7 - 3 Morton

1964/2/29    Morton 6 - 1 Forfar

1984/2/29    Morton 1 - 2 Clydebank

1992/2/29    Montrose 1 - 1 Morton

The other Championship matches:

Alloa (8th) [0 - 2] Ayr United (4th)

Dundee (3rd) vs Arbroath (5th) [postponed]

Dunfermline (7th) [2 - 0] Dundee United (1st)

ICT vs Partick (postponed to March 17)

[And Morton win the castle 0 - 4. Goals by Tumilty, Nesbitt, Cadden and McGuffie.]

League One:

Clyde (8th) [3 - 2] Falkirk (2nd)

Dumbarton (6th) [1 - 0] Raith Rovers (1st)

Forfar (9th) [0 - 1] East Fife (4th)

Montrose (5th) [1 - 0] Airdrieonians (3rd)

Stranraer (10th) vs Peterhead (7th) (postponed)

Lowland League: Kelty Hearts (1st) [3 - 2] Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic (2nd)

It's also the Scottish Cup quarter-finals:

Hibs 5 - 2 Inverness CT (last night)

These two have only met twice before in the Scottish Cup. Hibs won both times.

Hearts [1 - 0] Rangers [Upset!]

This is the 26th Scottish Cup tie between these two. Hearts have prevailed six times.

St Mirren [0 - 2] Aberdeen

Aberdeen have prevailed seven out of eleven times.

St Johnstone [0 - 1] Celtic (tomorrow)

These two have met in the Scottish Cup seven times, of which Celtic have won six.

Which clubs have knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup, and how often?

25 times        Celtic

11 times        Hibs

  6 times        Hearts [now 7]

  6 times        Dundee United

  6 times        Aberdeen

  5 times        Vale of Leven

  5 times        Clyde

  5 times        Dundee

  3 times        Dumbarton

  3 times        Kilmarnock

  2 times        Queen's Park

  2 times        Third Lanark

  2 times        Partick Thistle

  2 times        Falkirk

  2 times        Motherwell

  2 times        Dunfermline

  1 time          Renton

  1 time          Cambuslang

  1 time          St Bernard's

  1 time          Port Glasgow Athletic

  1 time          Albion Rovers

  1 time          Morton

  1 time          Ayr United

  1 time          St Mirren

  1 time          Queen of the South

  1 time          Berwick Rangers

  1 time          Hamilton Academical

  1 time          Raith Rovers

Scottish Junior Cup quarter-finals:

Auchinleck Talbot vs Hurlford United [postponed]

Beith Juniors [4 - 1] Kello Rovers

Darvel Juniors vs Broughty Athletic [postponed]

Neilston Juniors [1 - 4] Pollok

1907-08. See the Leap Day scores above.

1963-64. See above. Morton secured promotion with this win.

SWF Championship South: Morton 4 - 2 St Mirren (Feb 26)

SWF Championship Cup, Round Two: Ayr United [1 - 2] Morton (tomorrow)

Swiss Challenge League: Vaduz vs Winterthur [postponed]

Europa League, Round of 32, return leg (Feb 27):

Celtic 1 - 3 Copenhagen

Braga 0 - 1 Rangers

Malmö 0 - 3 Wolfsburg

Celtic and Malmö are out. Rangers advance to the Round of 16.

The J League has postponed all its fixtures till March 15 because of the coronavirus.

Copa Libertadores, Third Stage, second leg (Feb 26):

No Bolivian teams.

Bolivian league:

The Strongest 4 - 0 Royal Pari (Feb 27)

Nacional Potosi [3 - 1] The Strongest (tomorrow)

Concacaf Champions League, Round of 16, second leg (Feb 26):

Montreal Impact 0 - 0 Saprissa

Impact advance on the away goal rule.

HFX Wanderers have signed two Brazilians: João Morelli, most recently of the Estonian club Levadia, and Eriks Santos, most recently of FC Dila Gori in Georgia. There are now six foreign citizens on the squad -- Wanderers are permitted one more. Onetime Wanderer Elliot Simmons has signed with Cavalry.

Dumfries YMCA in the South of Scotland League:

                  G     W     D     L      F      A       GD    Pts    Pos

2014-15    26     0      1    25    32    201    -169      1    14th

2015-16    26     2      0    24    32    138    -106      6    14th

2016-17    26     0      1    25    22    163    -141      1    14th

2017-18    28     2      0    26    26    148    -122      6    15th

2018-19    30     3      2    25    29    125      -96    11    15th

2019-20    Withdrew after 12 matches -- record expunged.

Hamburg Crocodiles versus Tilburg Trappers

Former Ottawa Senator Christoph Schubert finished his playing career with Hamburg Crocodiles. Source.

Canadians currently playing for Hamburg: Chase Witala and Jordan Draper.

Tilburg have one more game against Leipzig and then the regular season is done and the playoffs are next. I'll write one blog post for each playoff series that Tilburg are in.

[Crocodiles win 3 - 1.]

[Tilburg Trappers were scheduled to meet Selber Wölfe, the eighth-place finisher in the Oberliga Süd, in the eighth-finals, but the playoffs were cancelled on March 11 because of the coronavirus.]

Skating in Winnipeg, 1913

Source.

Kogao

I've written before about Rita Cowan and Masataka Taketsuru and how they look as if they were designed by a manga artist. Rita really does, and the heart of it is that she has kogao, or "small face." Apart from having quite a small head compared to her husband's she has the narrow jaw and pointy chin that characterize this Japanese beauty ideal. Source. See this article on kogao and body image.

Rearranged Ayr Fixture

Ayr Racecourse, home of the Scottish Grand National. In 2006 the Scottish government poured £35 million into this facility, because privilege. Suffragists set fire to the grandstand in 1913. Source.

Morton visit Somerset Park for a fixture rescheduled from February 15th. Ayr are fourth with 35 points, Morton seventh with 29. Morton have played to four draws in a row, and are on track to finish the season with 43 or 44 points.

Morton have scored 36 goals in 24 games, which by extension makes 54 in 36 games. They scored only 36 all last season. But they've allowed 47, which is the worst in the division, 2 goals worse than Partick.

[Morton win 1 - 2. Orsi and Cadden.]

Also this evening:

Dunfermline (6th) [1 - 2] Inverness CT (2nd)

Also this evening in League One:

Dumbarton (6th) [1 - 0] Clyde (8th)

After 24 games played both Morton and Dumbarton have 29 points, 8 wins, 5 draws and 11 losses, and are -11 on goal difference, in case you were wanting Duffy back again.

Stranraer vs Montrose [postponed]

Peterhead [1 - 1] Forfar

Reserve league: Morton 1 - 0 St Mirren (yesterday)

The League of Ireland First Division started on the weekend, and Longford Town showed up for their match with Shamrock II and beat them 2 - 0.

How soon could Morton be playing Clydebank again?

If the West of Scotland league is created this summer (looks likely) and Clydebank join it (looks very likely), and Clydebank win it in 2020-21 and earn promotion to the Lowland League, Morton could meet them in the 2021-22 Scottish Cup. If Clydebank win the 2021-22 Lowland League and promotion to the SPFL, and at the same time Morton suffer two relegations in three years, they could both be in League Two in 2022-23.

East Fife versus East Stirlingshire in the Central Football League:

1919/12/6      East Stirlingshire 1 - 2 East Fife

1920/1/31      East Fife 1 - 1 East Stirlingshire

1920/10/2      East Fife 2 - 0 East Stirlingshire

1921/4/23      East Stirlingshire 0 - 0 East Fife

Source: Scottish Football Historical Archive.

East Kilbride vs East Stirlingshire in the Lowland Football League:

2016/9/3        East Kilbride 1 - 0 East Stirlingshire

2017/4/22      East Stirlingshire 3 - 2 East Kilbride

2017/9/23      East Kilbride 0 - 5 East Stirlingshire

2017/12/16    East Stirlingshire 1 - 1 East Kilbride

2018/4/21      East Kilbride 1 - 0 East Stirlingshire (Lowland League Cup)

2018/11/3      East Kilbride 2 - 0 East Stirlingshire

2018/12/22    East Stirlingshire 0 - 2 East Kilbride

2019/8/24      East Stirlingshire 0 - 1 East Kilbride

2019/11/9      East Kilbride 1 - 0 East Stirlingshire (South Challenge Cup)

2020/4/11      East Kilbride vs East Stirlingshire

Source: East Stirlingshire FC website.

Tang Wensheng

Tang Wensheng acted as interpreter during Richard Nixon's trip to China in February 1972. Here she is between Nixon and Jiang Qing (a.k.a. Madame Mao) at the theatre. The three appear in the 1987 opera Nixon in China, and are sung as baritone, mezzo-soprano and coloratura soprano.  Source.

Tilburg Trappers versus Hannover Scorpions

Hannover Scorpions, German Champions 2010. Source.

Tilburg Trappers host Hannover Scorpions, the only club in the 2019-20 Oberliga Nord to have been Deutscher Meister.

Hannover Scorpions currently have four Canadians on their roster: Kevin Miller, Julien Pelletier, Mike Robinson and Mario Valery-Trabucco.

The top-tier Deutsche Eishockey Liga has been relatively free from churn over the past decade. It has had the same number of clubs (14) since 2010 and has operated as a closed shop without relegation or promotion except for cases of financial insolvency. Hannover Scorpions dropped out in 2012, and were replaced by Schwenninger Wild Wings. Hamburg Freezers left in 2016 to be replaced by Fischtown Pinguins.

DEL2 started in 2013 with 12 teams, expanded to 14 the next year, and has maintained that number each year since. Nine of the original 12 are still in it.

The Oberliga is in pretty constant flux. Oberliga Ost, Nord and West were amalgamated in 2015 to make a division of sixteen clubs called Oberliga Nord. Since then that number has risen to eighteen and then been whittled down to twelve.

[Scorpions win 5 - 0.]

Nails Morton

Chicago mobster Samuel "Nails" Morton collected racehorses and met his end not at the hands of a rival gang or the cops but when he was trampled to death by one of his own thoroughbreds. His associates duly rubbed out the horse. Source.

Alloa Athletic visit Cappielow. Morton are seventh in the division with 28 points. Alloa are ninth with 26.

Morton have won both previous meetings this season. The Wasps are the only Championship side that Morton can sweep in 2019-20. Alloa swept Morton in 2013-14.

They'll be lucky if this game goes ahead. East Hamilton Street was underwater yesterday.

The other Championship matches:

Dundee United (1st) 2 - 1 ICT (2nd) (last night)

Arbroath (4th) vs Ayr United (3rd) [match abandoned]

Partick (10th) vs Dunfermline (6th) (postponed)

QoS (8th) [0 - 1] Dundee (5th)

[Morton 4 - 4 Alloa. Morton goals by Jacobs, Colville, Tumilty and McHugh.]

League One:

Falkirk 2 - 0 East Fife (Feb 18)

Dumbarton (6th) vs Forfar (9th) (postponed)

East Fife (4th) [4 - 2] Stranraer (10th)

Falkirk (2nd) [1 - 0] Montrose (5th)

Peterhead (7th) [0 - 2] Airdrieonians (3rd)

Raith Rovers (1st) [1 - 0] Clyde (8th)

Scottish Cup Round Five replays:

Motherwell 4 - 4 St Mirren (St Mirren win on PK.) (Feb 18)

Kilmarnock 3 - 4 Aberdeen (Feb 19)

1963-64. Morton travelled to Douglas Park in Hamilton and beat the Accies 1 - 3.

First and last place teams week by week (2 of 3):

Week 13        Dundee United        Partick Thistle

Week 14        Dundee United        Partick Thistle

Week 15        Dundee United        Partick Thistle

Week 16        Dundee United        Alloa

Week 17        Dundee United        Alloa

Week 18        Dundee United        Alloa

Week 19        Dundee United        Alloa

Week 20        Dundee United        Alloa

Week 21        Dundee United        Alloa

Week 22        Dundee United        Partick Thistle

Week 23        Dundee United        Partick Thistle

Week 24        Dundee United        Partick Thistle

This is fun: if the six Premiership clubs that make the split turn out to be Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Livi and Hibs, then all of Celtic's post-split matches will be home games and all of Rangers' will be away games.

Scottish Junior Cup quarter-finals:

Auchinleck Talbot vs Hurlford United (postponed)

The 2017-18 finalists.

Beith vs Kello Rovers (postponed)

Neilston vs Pollok (postponed)

Darvel vs Broughty Athletic (postponed)

Reserve League: Dundee United 4 - 0 Morton (Feb 18)

Swiss Challenge League: Winterthur 0 - 4 Lausanne Sport (Feb 19)

Concacaf Champions League, Round of 16, first leg (Feb 19):

Saprissa 2 - 2 Montreal Impact

AFC Champions League East, group stage, matchday 2 (midweek):

Group F: FC Tokyo 1 - 0 Perth Glory

Group G: Suwon Samsung Bluewings 0 - 1 Vissel Kobe

Group H: Yokohama F. Marinos 4 - 0 Sydney FC

Iwaki FC have two training matches this weekend:

Iwaki FC 2 - 1 Tokyo United FC (today)

Iwaki FC [5 - 0] Mito HollyHock (Monday)

Iwaki's Byron Vasques has been loaned to Universidad Católica of the Peruvian league.

Europa League, Round of 32, first leg (Feb 20):

Copenhagen 1 - 1 Celtic

Rangers 3 - 2 Braga

Wolfsburg 2 - 1 Malmö

The success of Celtic and Rangers in Europe this year has improved Scotland's coefficient enough that Scotland could have two clubs in the 2021-22 Champions League.

Copa Libertadores, Third Stage, first leg (Feb 19):

There are no Bolivian teams in this round.

Copa Sudamericana, First Stage, second leg (Feb 18 - 20):

Oriente Petrolero 0 - 0 Vasco de Gama (Vasco de Gama advance.)

Emelec 2 - 0 Blooming (Emelec advance.)

Melgar 0 - 2 Nacional Potosí (Melgar advance on PK.)

Always Ready 1 - 0 Millionarios (But Millonarios advance.)

Bolivian league: Bolivar 5 - 4 The Strongest (yesterday)

The Strongest really are off to a terrible start.

Which clubs have won the Lowland League, how many league matches did they lose, and who beat them?

2013-14    Spartans (3) East Kilbride, Preston, Stirling University

2014-15    Edinburgh City (1) Dalbeattie Star

2015-16    Edinburgh City (3) Whitehill Welfare, Dalbeattie Star, Stirling University

2016-17    East Kilbride (3) Cumbernauld, East Stirlingshire, Spartans

2017-18    Spartans (3) East Kilbride twice, BSC Glasgow

2018-19    East Kilbride (2) BSC Glasgow, Civil Service Strollers

SWF Championship South: Renfrew [2 - 0] Morton (tomorrow)

Morton Women vs Renfrew, the record:

2018/4/22      Morton 0 - 1 Renfrew        SWFL1 South

2018/8/26      Renfrew 1 - 0 Morton        SWFL1 South

Source for past women's football results.

The Canadian Premier League 2020 schedule is out. The Spring and Fall Seasons are gone, and every team plays every other team exactly four times. At the end of the season the second and third teams will play a semi-final and the winner will meet the first place team in the final.

HFX Wanderers have signed Jems Geffrard, another player with Finnish league experience. Former HFX Wanderer Matthew Arnone has signed with York9 FC. York9 will hold their spring training camp in Orlando March 4 - 17.

The word is that Atlético Ottawa will play the same style of football as Atlético Madrid. Going by the current standings in the Spanish League that means low scoring, stingy goalkeeping, and as many draws as wins.

Isabel Coursier

Isabel Coursier of Revelstoke, British Columbia held the title of women's world ski-jumping champion from 1922 to 1929. Source.

Lindsay Somers Goes Skating

Lindsay's skating at The Forks in Winnipeg. Source.