A point reported inconsistently is the number of goals scored by ex QoS wonder player Hughie Gallacher. On 23rd February 1929 Scotland played Northern Ireland in Belfast. Gallacher and Alex Jackson put on a wondrous show for the Scots in winning 7-3. Jackson scored two and made the five others. There is no debate Gallacher scored at least four in that match. He said though after the game, "Several newspapers mistakenly credited Alex James with one of my scoring efforts." Gallacher’s SFA profile credits him with four goals in that game and a senior international total of 23 strikes. However elsewhere on their website the SFA state, "He also holds the record for most goals scored by a single player in a match, scoring five in a 7-3 victory over Northern Ireland in 1929."

 

Having pointed out this inconsistency to the SFA the following reply was received from Bruce Gilmour at the Scottish Football Museum:-

 

"We agree that the information relating to Hughie on the Scottish FA website is incomplete and we have been advised by our colleagues there that it is their intention that the website will soon be updated to rectify this."

 

"In relation to the number of goals Hughie scored in the Northern Ireland game, it is the general consensus that Hughie scored five goals in the game which is backed by newspaper reports and several statistical books. There was some controversy over Scotland’s 6^th goal which was Hughie’s 5^th in that both he and Alex James went for the ball at the same time but apart from a couple of reports, the majority of newspapers credited Hughie with the goal as well as the record books. Hughie himself was insistent that the goal was his, claiming that as he and Alex James (who was a good friend of his) were of a similar build (and of course in 1929 there were no numbers on the jerseys), it was easy for pressmen to make a mistake."