Innes O'Donnell on a Celtic Great - and His Dad's All-Time Hero - Jimmy Johnstone

Jimmy ‘Jinky’ Johnstone some say is the greatest Celtic player of time along with players like Henrik Larsson. Jinky’s balance, dribbling skills and  athleticism that he managed to play at the highest level for over 12 years without suffering a serious injury make him stand out as one of Celtic's best ever. At just 5ft 4in and nine-and-a-half stones, he was picked on by tough, but insecure opposition defenders. Johnstone started his career in 1961 aged 17 having a terrible debut against Kilmarnock losing 6-0 away.  His second game was a 4-3 defeat against Hearts although that was the game where he scored his first senor goal. Despite the defeats, Johnstone’s performances earned him a place in the Celtic starting eleven. His second season he helped Celtic reach the semi-finals of the European Cup scoring in the first round against Basel FC in a 5-0 win at Parkhead.  In 1965 when Jock Stein arrived as manager he doubted Johnstone as a player but later he won him over with his skill and won his first winners medal on the 23^rd of October 1965 when he played against Rangers in a 2-1 victory in the Scottish League Cup Final.

 

Jimmy Johnstone celebrates a goal against Old Firm rivals Rangers

 

 

Jimmy was of Celtic’s famous “Lisbon Lions”, the team which won the 1967 European Cup against Inter Milan.  In an early tie against Nantes Johnstone was named by the French media “The flying flea” because of his trickery on the right wing.  That year he finished third in the European footballer of the year award.  Two weeks later after the 2-1 win against Inter in the European Cup Final Johnstone played in a testimonial match at the Bernabéu in a game where the Great Alfredo Di Stefano played.  In front of 100,000 fans Johnstone dazzled the “Los Blanco’s” fans with the chant “Olé!” ringing out around stadium. Johnstone capped his outstanding performance by playing a pass to Bobby Lennox for the only goal of the game.

 

 

Johnstone had a fear of flying which meant manager Jock Stein had to replace him in certain matches abroad. Ahead of the first leg of a European tie against Red Star Belgrade at Parkhead in November 1968, Stein told Johnstone that if Celtic won by three goals he wouldn't have to travel to Yugoslavia for the second leg. Johnstone went on to produce an outstanding performance on the night at Parkhead, scoring twice and providing assists for the other three goals in a 5-1 win.

 

 

Johnstone was capped 23 times for Scotland.  He made his international debut on the 3^rd of October 1964 in a British Home Championship match against Wales.  It was a 3-2 loss for Scotland against Wales but Johnstone did get involved with Scotland's second goal.  His second game for Scotland was against Finland where the scots won 3-1 at Hampden.  However Johnstone performance in that game was very poor and he didn’t get another game till 1966. That was a game where he scored his first and second goal for Scotland in another loss to rivals England. Days before the match against England in 1974 before the world cup Johnstone was involved in an embarrassing moment where he took part in a drinking session.  In the early hours that day Johnstone decided to go in out in a Rowing boat and he found himself being taken out by the tide.  A coast guard had to save Jimmy and after that incident he was in the headlines of many newspapers.  Despite the embarrassing headlines Johnstone went on to have an outstanding performance helping Scotland to a 2-0 win.

 

Johnstone was one of Scotland's finest players and should have had far more than his 23 caps

 

Johnstone died in March 2006.   Thousands of Celtic fans, and fans of many other clubs, including those of arch-rivals Rangers paid tribute to his memory outside Celtic Park on St Patrick's Day, the day of his funeral.  There was also a minute silence between before the Celtic vs. Dunfermline game.  The Celtic players also wore number 7 shorts in respect to Johnstone.  In 2011 John McKenna a sculptor made a bronze life sized statue of Johnstone at Viewpark memorial garden.

 

John McKenna's statue of Jimmy Johnstone can be found in Glasgow's Viewpark Garden

 

For Celtic fans Johnstone remains a club legend one of the finest Lisbon Lions and arguably the greatest Celtic player of all time.

 

 

 

 

by

Innes O'Donnell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fraser and Erin Report From the Falkirk Schools' Gymnastics Competition

The Falkirk Schools gymnastics competition is held annually at the Hallogen Sports Centre. Larbert were going in with a strong team put together by Miss Norrie and were hopeful of a strong result.

The day started with all the teams warming-up. Miss Norrie made the team do lots of stretches in order to be ready for the competition. In this competition, there was 3 levels; level 1, 2 and 3, level 3 being the highest performance level. Floor routines and vaulting was included.

Larbert's Gymnasts get ready for the day's events

First of all Larbert High School started off with floor work. Romy Phillips from S2 at LHS was first to start of the competition and performed a great routine for the judges. The 2^nd competitor was Millie McAuslan from S1, she performed an amazing routine that pleased the judge. She told us in her interview that it went really well and she has enjoyed competing. The 3^rd competitor was Eilidh Brown who did a great routine including handstands and walkovers. The 4^th competitor was Erin Shaw; she performed a good routine including a cartwheel that progressed into a head spring.

After the floor competition we moved onto the valut where Larbert were particularly strong. Everyone managed to complete the vault brilliantly.

After we watched all the amazing floor routines and vaults at Level 2, we then watched Level 1 pupils on the floor including 2 Larbert High School pupils. Both Charlotte Kirkwood and Lia Cowie had brilliant routines that pleased the judges. Included in Charlotte’s routine was the splits on her right leg which looked great.

Mr Milar taught Charoltte how to do the splits like that..!!

Whilst the other schools still had to complete their routines, pupils from LHS were killing time by showing off their tricks and skills to the other competitors.

Waiting on the results was a slow process as we were desperate to find out all about how Larbert had done. Primary level 1; both 1^st and 2^nd place was achieved by Madiston Primary School. For secondary level 1 pupils; Braes High School walked away with 1^st and 3^rd place, leaving Larbert High School 2^nd place. Again, secondary pupils’ level 2 placed, Denny High School 1^st, Larbert High 2^nd and Braes High School 3^rd.  As a team, Larbert High School was extremely happy to have walked away with 2, 2^nd place medals.

 

Larbert's super-talented gymnasts show off their medals

 

Well done to all the Larbert High Gymnasts, it was a great event and a great day all round!

 

 

 

 

 

by Fraser and Erin

Erin Kerr Tells Us Why Famous Ballet Choreographer Tchaikovsky Is So Important

Today, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake remain hits for ballet companies around the world. Each has been carefully written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky, pictured here getting ready to bust a move at any moment

 

The Nutcracker is a ballet for a certain time of year. It has charmed Christmas audiences over the years with its range of gorgeous music and historic moves, but the performances and interpretations have changed hugely.

Sadly, Tchaikovsky didn’t live long enough to see his ballet become an international success. He died in 1893 (aged 53.) Years following his death ‘The Nutcracker’ was performed in Russia and the rest of Europe.

It was first performed in the United States in 1940 when the ballet created a shorter version of it in New York City. The first full version of it was performed in the USA in 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet. Over the years this successful ballet has got better over the years becoming more and more popular every year round.

In the years between Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky's musical abilities definitely grew, in this time he wrote another ballet, The Sleeping Beauty, whose score is just as inventive as The Nutcracker. He used the unique colours of the woodwind instruments that he continues using in The Nutcracker. To compare Swan Lake to The Sleeping Beauty, Sleeping Beauty is more musical in space making greater use of the full orchestra.

Swan lake is one of the most influential and important ballets of all time

 

‘Swan Lake’ in particular has caught the eyes of many.  It has been enjoyed by over 500,000 people and has enlightened audiences worldwide.

Tchaikovsky remains one of the most influential and important choreographers ever to have lived.





by Erin Kerr