While some of the tour matches (involving players under consideration for the national team, some having already been capped at full level) could be seen as similar in status to those played by the Scotland B team, they have not been recorded officially as such.
The selection of the Scottish XI were players drawn from living and working in and around London area. Some of the players' Scottish links were tenuous and in some cases non-existent.[6]
In 1880, a Scottish tour of Canada and The United States was suggested. Several preparatory matches were played, mostly against club sides and including a mini-tour of northern England, with the potential traveling squad referred to as the 'Scotch Canadians'. However, the tour itself never went ahead after the death of its main organiser, SFA secretary William Dick.[7][8] Four matches are detailed below:
A match was scheduled with Morton on May 22, [9] but was cancelled because the Greenock Academy
directors refused them permission to use Academy Park.[10]
Stadium: Ibrox Park Attendance: 4,000 Referee: J. Reid
^Part of a tour of the United Kingdom, organised by the Western Football Association in Canada but also involving several players from the United States.[32][33][6]
A exhibition match with Germany was scheduled for 28 September 1901 as part of the Glasgow International Exhibition,[35] but was cancelled due to a disagreement over funds; the visiting German team lost 12–0 to England's amateur team a few days earlier.[36]
Stadium: Ibrox Park Attendance: 68,114 Referee: J. Torrans
^This was scheduled as a full international and was the title decider in the 1901–02 British Home Championship. A capacity crowd was in attendance. During the first half, a new wooden stand collapsed, killing 25 and injuring 500. The match was played to a conclusion to mitigate any further crowd panic, but was not recorded as a full international fixture. The official match was replayed in England a month later.[37][38]
A testimonial match for Liverpool's Scottish player William Goldie in November 1902 was played between an 'England Select XI ' and a 'Scotland Select XI' drawn from players at Merseyside clubs; the Scots won 4–0.[41]
A testimonial match for Partick Thistle and Scotland player Alex Raisbeck was played in January 1914 between Partick and an 'International XI' team, but this included England international Jack Parkinson and several other players who had never played for Scotland.[43]
By the end of the first year of fighting during World War I, most official football tournaments were suspended (a notable exception was the Scottish Football League Division One). International matches took place very occasionally during the duration of the war itself (July 1914 to November 1918) with Scotland only playing two, both military benefit matches against England. Following the Allied victory, regular sports events began to return, and Scotland played in two Victory International matches against Ireland followed by two against England in Spring 1919. Established competitions and fully recognised international matches resumed in the 1919–20 season.
Stadium: Ibrox Park Attendance: 10,000 Referee: A. A. Jackson
^Benefit match for Rangers and Scotland player Jimmy Gordon.[50] Match went ahead as scheduled despite the death of the club's manager William Wilton a day earlier.[51]
Stadium: Alexander Park Attendance: 6,000 Referee: B. Dean
1923
Third Lanark undertook another summer tour in 1923, this time to South America (eight matches),[56] and again guest players from other clubs were invited, the most high-profile being Hughie Ferguson,[57] but although apparently some attempt was made to portray this as a 'Scotland team',[57] this was much less prevalent than for the 1921 tour and only one of the players had been capped at full level (Robert Orrock who played in one match ten years earlier).
^This match was played two days after another in Bergen, a 7–3 win for Scotland[61] which is considered official by the SFA but not by the Norwegian Football Federation.[62] Neither body considers the 4–0 match to be official.[63]
A friendly match between Scotland and the Netherlands in June 1929 was retrospectively considered not to be official by the Royal Dutch Football Association due to their disapproval of professionalism in the sport–all the Scotland players were professionals.[64][65] The SFA regards it as official.[66]
^Selection of 'Anglo-Scots' playing for English Football League clubs–the Scottish touring squad bound for North America sailed from Southampton on the same day.
1939 Tour of USA and Canada
A Scotland XI tour of North America was organised by the SFA in 1939.[5][80][81][82]
Official football tournaments were suspended soon after the outbreak of World War II in Autumn 1939. International matches took place occasionally during the duration of the war itself, with Scotland playing against England 15 times, a team representing the Republic of Ireland once, and various branches of the British armed forces who could call on strong squads of professional players called into service.[84] In addition, there were six 'Army Internationals' nominally between Scotland and England, but with the players selected from members of the military stationed in each country regardless of their heritage (the 'Army in England' team won five of these, with one draw).[84][48]
Stadium: St James' Park Attendance: 15,000 Referee: H. Nattrass
^After two English players were injured in a traffic accident on their way to the match, two players from the local club Newcastle United who had been in the crowd as spectators appeared for England, including Tommy Pearson, a Scot who later also appeared for his native country.[46][83]
Stadium: Dalymount Park Attendance: 21,630 Referee: P. Snape
^'Representative XI' match organised between the Football Association of Ireland and the Glasgow FA, drawing Scotland's players from clubs in the city. Had some characteristics of an inter-league fixture (a contemporary highlights video[96] makes reference to Scotland's 'revenge' for defeat the previous year, which was a win for the League of Ireland XI over the Scottish Football League XI in 1939)[97] but documentation shows it was not organised as such.[98][99]
On 10 May 1947, a Great Britain XI played a Europe XI at Hampden Park to commemorate the Home Nations rejoining FIFA. The GB team, which won the match 6–1 in front of over 130,000, wore the dark blue of Scotland to acknowledge the venue location, but only three Scottish players were involved.[119][120][121]
Stadium: Easter Road Attendance: 7,000 Referee: I. C. Inglis
^This was a trial preceding a scheduled 'B international' between Scotland and England due to be played in Glasgow a few weeks later, however that match was cancelled due to weather conditions.[140]
^This was an 'Anglo-African' team of players from South Africa who were based at clubs in the United Kingdom, including two Rangers players, Johnny Hubbard and Don Kitchenbrand. As Scotland did not select any Rangers players, many of the crowd at Ibrox opted to cheer for South Africa on the night. It was a warm-up for Scotland's 1955–56 British Home Championship decider against England a few weeks later; reports indicated the most impressive player was South Africa's defender John Hewie,[142] who was eligible for Scotland and made his debut in the England match,[143] along with Scottish goalscorer Graham Leggat who had also played at Ibrox.
Stadium: Easter Road Attendance: 6,500 Referee: J. Bissett
^Benefit match for Hibernian and Scotland player Lawrie Reilly.[154] As he had retired through injury and was no longer registered as a player, Reilly was not permitted to feature for Hibs or the Scotland team.[155]
^This was an 'International Select' XI featuring ten Scottish internationals (136 caps between them) and Celtic player Bertie Peacock of Northern Ireland.[156]
Scotland's friendly against Austria in 1963 was abandoned by the referee on 79 minutes due to violent play, particularly by the Austrians;[165] however caps were awarded and it is recognised as a full international by FIFA.[166]
^Posthumous benefit for John White, the Tottenham and Scotland player killed by lightning. Postponed from original date the previous day due to fog.[168]Alan Gilzean's performance induced Tottenham to sign him from Dundee a short time later.[169][162]
A Scotland XI tour of Israel, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Canada was organised by the SFA in 1967.[5][171][172] In October 2021, the SFA announced that some of the tour matches (against Australia, Canada and Israel) would be reclassified as full internationals.[173] This meant that some players who had not otherwise played for Scotland were belatedly awarded international caps, including Alex Ferguson.[173]
There was a match with a Chinese XI on 22 May, which was cancelled because of rioting in Hong Kong.[174]
Nine matches were played during the tour, all of which were won. Following a reassessment by the SFA, five of the games are now classified as full internationals. Details of the other four matches are given below:
Stadium: Ibrox Park Attendance: 65,000 Referee: I. Foote
^Benefit match for Rangers and Scotland player John Greig, also serving as a warm-up game for the upcoming 1978 FIFA World Cup; Scotland's squad was the World Cup pool.[184][180][185]
A benefit match for former Scotland captain George Young was played in May 1986 between 'Young's XI' which contained several current internationals and wore the Scotland kit, and 'Don Revie's XI' which wore the England kit.[194]
No caps were awarded to Scottish players who were on the field for the scheduled match against Estonia during 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification on 9 October 1996, when a scheduling dispute over floodlights led to Scotland turning up at an earlier time and kicking off against no opposition, while Estonia insisted on adhering to the original later time.[198][199] All records for this fixture relate to the rearranged match played in Monaco on 11 February 1997.[200][201][202]
A friendly match on 3 September 2004 against Spain in Valencia was abandoned on 59 minutes due to floodlight failure;[206] however caps were awarded and FIFA recognise it as a full international.[204]
