In 1872, Queen's Park, as Scotland's leading club, took it upon themselves to organise what has entered the history books as the first "official" international, despite the fact there was as yet no Scottish Football Association to sanction it.

Appropriately enough, the match was arranged for St Andrew's Day, and the West of Scotland Cricket Club's ground at Hamilton Crescent in Partick was selected as the venue.

The Scottish eleven was selected by captain and goalkeeper Robert Gardner and was drawn entirely from Queen's Park members, although some played with other clubs as well.

The return fixture the following March marked the first official meeting of the sides in England, and again took place at a cricket ground, The Oval, with the English adopting Scotland's 2-2-6 formation.

The severely limited funds available to the fledgling SFA meant they were only able to finance rail fares to London for eight players, so the team was augmented with three Anglo-Scots who had appeared in the earlier unofficial series, Lord Kinnaird, John Blackburn and Henry Renny-Tailyour.