Jackie Stewart kicked off his East Fife career on 24th February 1951 when he was signed from Dunfermline Athletic, his first senior club. Before season 1950/51 was over, the right-winger had made eleven first-team appearances for the Fife, scoring one goal in the process. Jackie quickly established himself as a first-team regular during season 1951/52 and, over the following three seasons, never missed a single competitive first team match, making 117 appearances and scoring 23 goals during this incredible run. He was also in the East Fife team that won the League Cup for a third time in October 1953.
Such form was bound to come to the attention of the international selectors sooner rather than later, and in September 1952 Jackie was selected to play for the Scottish League against the Irish League in Belfast. On a pleasant late summer evening at Windsor Park, Jackie took up his position at outside-right alongside some notable names from the halcyon days of Scottish football, including the likes of Dundee’s Billy Steel and two of Hibernian’s “Famous Five”, namely Lawrie Reilly and Willie Ormond. The Scots were slow to start, and during the first thirty minutes play the visitors’ defence came under considerable pressure from the Irish, with the dark blues only once managing to threaten the home goal. During the final fifteen minutes of the half, however, the Scots turned the tables completely, and raced to a three-nil lead, with Jackie Stewart playing a huge part in two of the goals. After Hibs’ Willie Ormond had opened the scoring against the run of play, the Scots added a second goal when Jackie Stewart, following a mazy run down the right wing, sent in a perfect cross for Hibs’ Lawrie Reilly to head home. Then, with half-time looming, the East Fife man took advantage of a mix-up in the Irish defence before playing the ball into the path of Ormond, who fired home number three. Two further goals were added in the second half, during which the Scots even managed to miss a penalty, and when the final whistle sounded the Scottish League were declared victors by five-goals-to-one. It had been a dream start to the East Fife winger’s international career, and the match report which appeared in the following morning’s Dundee Courier heaped praise on the player, stating that: “Jackie pulled quite a repertoire of tricks out of the bag. Most assuredly he will get a further chance to prove his international claims”.
It came as no surprise therefore, when Jackie was selected to play again for the Scottish League three weeks later against the Welsh League in Cardiff. Rather surprisingly, despite the Scots’ emphatic victory against the Irish, the East Fife man was one of only five players to retain his place in the side! Unfortunately, the League side’s match against their Welsh counterparts turned out to be a damp squib, with the Scots eventually finding themselves well-beaten by the home side on a wet and dismal evening at Ninian Park. The Scots had actually started the game looking the more dangerous, and Jackie Stewart was involved in setting up Scotland’s first chance after ten minutes’ play.
“It was Scotland who first looked dangerous”, commented the Dundee Courier, who continued: “Little Jackie Stewart wormed his way through and put a short pass into the goal-mouth. Humphries, with the goal at his mercy, slipped as he was about to shoot”. The East Fife man was again in the thick of the action when, seventeen minutes into the game, he played the ball to Lawrie Reilly, who was subsequently brought down in the box. Sammy Cox stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick, but on a night when nothing seemed to be going the Scots’ way, the Rangers man shot tamely at the Welsh ‘keeper. Four minutes later, the Welsh opened the scoring, before going on to dominate the match. When the final whistle sounded, the Scottish side found themselves on the wrong end of a three-nil drubbing which, if the press reports are to be believed, could have been far worse had it not been for the heroic performance of Fred Martin, the Aberdeen goalkeeper, who had been a late call-up to replace Partick Thistle’s Tommy Ledgerwood between the sticks!
“The display of the Scottish League team was in keeping with the elements”, reported the Dundee Courier, who went on to lament that the Scots had been well beaten by a side that was made up from players selected from the three senior Welsh teams that were members of the English League at that time; namely Cardiff City and Swansea Town, who both played in the English Second Division; and Newport County, from the Third Division South. The players who had so convincingly put the Scots to the sword were, therefore, were not exactly the stars of the day, which made the defeat all the more embarrassing for all concerned!
Jackie Stewart, however, was one of the few players to come in for what little praise the press had to offer, with the other players singled out being Hearts’ Davie Laing, Hibs’ Lawrie Reilly and the aforementioned Fred Martin. Despite having been one of the better team players during his two appearances for the Scottish League, however, the East Fife outside-right was never again selected for international duty. Jackie Stewart continued to thrill the Bayview faithful until the end of the 1956/57 season, when he was transferred to English Third Division side Walsall. He remained with the Fellows Park side for only one season, before ending his career with non-league Nuneaton Borough. Jackie passed away in January 2004 aged seventy-five.
Jim Corstorphine
