Many Supporters have heard of, or indeed recall, the infamous incident back in the early 1950s when Rangers and Scotland centre-half Willie Woodburn was suspended for life after being sent off in a match against Stirling Albion.
ANNFIELD NEWS felt the incident was worthy of more investigation, and it was found that the incident for which Woodburn was finally suspended was the culmination of a series of events involving the two clubs.
When Rangers came to Annfield for a league match in September 1953, they were red hot favourites to win the game. They were undefeated in their last 8 games so far that season, which Albion had but two wins in their first nine games. A crowd of 19,500 saw these teams take to the field:
ALBION : Jenkins, Ferguson, Forsyth, Bain, Milligan, Whitehead, Chalmers, Smith, Williamson, Swanson, Anderson.
RANGERS : Niven, Young, Little, McColl, Woodburn, Cox, Waddell, Grierson, Paton, Prentice, Hubbard.
The "Stirling Journal" of the time summed up the match thus - "Rangers have lost many friends by their display of temper - unaggravated and unwarranted. The conduct of some players just before and immediately after the quite proper sending-off of centre half Woodburn was grievous to a host of people who have always held the Rangers regard for sportsmanship in high esteem."
The match had gone very much against form. Albion had a goal inexplicably chalked off after only two minutes, but it only delayed our opener. In the 32nd minute, Rangers were awarded a free kick in a threatening position. The shot was blocked by Ian Bain and the ball spun upfield. Jimmy Chalmers was on his own, and raced forwards towards the Rangers goal. Keeper Niven advanced but Chalmers rounded him, only to slip on the greasy turf. He recovered but Woodburn was now blocking his way. Chalmers muffed his shot but Woodburn managed to get his toe to it, and diverted it into the corner of the net. 1-0 to the lads!
Shortly afterwards Woodburn was sent-off for "attacking" Ian Bain off the ball. George Young was particularly luck not to join him in the bath for a display of petulance which was quite unwarranted. Albion dominated the game and sealed the points in the 75th minute. Dick Whitehead fired in a shot from 25 yards which struck the cross bar. Goalkeeper Niven had hardly moved, and still hadn't when the ball rebounded, struck him on the back, rolled into the empty net. 2-0 to the lads! This remains the only time that we have beaten the Ibrox team to date. Woodburn was suspended for 6 weeks for his misconduct.
At the start of the following season Albion and Rangers were paired in the League Cup section. Rangers had beaten us 5-0 at Annfield, and in the return at Ibrox few gave us much chance.
Once again we confounded the pundits and gave a gritty, defensive performance. All the action was concentrated in the last 5 minute. Rangers scored through Paton in the 85th minute and Hubbard with a penalty in the 87th minute after Simpson had been fouled by Whitehead in the box.
Woodburn was sent off with 30 seconds to go after "Paterson and he went down in tackle and the players legs were locked as they lay on the ground. The Rangers centre half took exception to something and on rising he became so involved that he received marching orders for the second time against Stirling Albion". This was the 4th sending-off of his career, and the Abion player involved, Alec Paterson was making his debut.
The teams that day were:
Rangers: Niven, Young, Little, McColl, Woodburn, Rae, McCulloch, Paton, Simpson, Prentice, Hubbard.
Albion: Jenkins, Gibson, Whitehead, Bain, Milligan, Smith, Chalmers, Rattray, Kelly, Paterson and Brander
In the aftermath, 34 year old Willie Woodburn was suspended "Sine Die" (for life) on September 14th 1954. This effectively ended the career of a player who won 24 full caps, 4 League Champions medals, 4 Scottish Cup medals, 2 league Cup Winners medals and 7 league caps. The ban was lifted in April 1957 but by this time Wooburn was past his best. He concentrated on his business interests in Edinburgh and on journalism.