What's the actual world war story?
Surely they don't believe they were the only club with players who went and fought?
Genuinely don't know this story btw, just that's how they put it across every time I hear about it.
It is their celebration/commemoration of the McCrae's Battalion (16th Royal Scots) who were actually generally known as The Sportsmans' Battalion who fought at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The battalion was a typical "Pals' Battalion" and was made up of locals from the Edinburgh area but predominantly sports persons of the time (from a range of sports). At that time the British army was really toiling for recruits and there was a concerted campaign to get young men to sign up (you will have seen relics from that era "your country needs you" etc) with a lot of it being very difficult for people to ignore or refuse. Men of fighting age who did not join up were stigmatised in the community if they did not have a satisfactory reason for not signing up.
At that time, sportsmen were getting a hard time for not enlisting and, so the story goes, one day on their daily training run round Haymarket, 11 members of the first team at HMFC, ran to the recruiting office and signed up en masse. They joined the Sportsmans' Battalion.
On July 1st 2016, the "Big Push" on the Somme took place - the British army looking to push back the German lines in a number of places on the Western Front along the Somme river. McCrae's Battalion were at a village called Contalmaison not far from Albert, Newfoundland Park and the Thiepval Memorial (the most visited sites left from WWI). On that day, the battalion suffered horrendous casualties - just as the British Army did as a whole, it was the worst single day in British Army history and still is. In short, they were massacred.
A group marking the history of the Sportsmens' Battalion led by a historian called Jack Alexander, who wrote a book about it, have more recently looked to mark the battlefield at Contalmaison with a cairn made from stones exported from Scotland. It makes reference to the players and fans of other clubs (including 150 of our own) who died on July 1st at Contalmaison but it is predominantly used to commemorate Hearts losses. Each year on July 1st they have a remembrance ceremony over there and wreaths are laid - the last time I was out there I saw wreaths from The Scottish Govt (sent by Salmond), Hibs, Falkirk and Raith in addition to an array of maroon ones.
The singer Robin Laing has recorded a song called Geordie McCrae which is to the tune of Hearts, Hearts, Glorious Hearts...here are the lyrics
'Geordie McCrae'
Kaiser Bill he came marching o'er Belgium and France
To challenge the Empire with warlike advance
But the bravest of Hearts volunteered for the fray
And threw in their lot with old Geordie McCrae!
Come pack up your footballs and scarves of maroon,
Leave all your sweethearts in Auld Reekie toon.
Fall in wi' the lads for they're aff and away,
To take on the bold Hun with old Geordie McCrae
Oh, it's sad we are leaving but happy to go,
Now it's up wi' the Colonel and down wi' the foe,
And when victory's ours we'll be able to say,
That we fought by the side of old Geordie McCrae.
Come pack up your footballs and scarves of maroon,
Leave all your sweethearts in Auld Reekie toon.
Fall in wi' the lads for they're aff and away,
To take on the bold Hun with old Geordie McCrae
Now five hundred good comrades lie buried in France,
And we who are left have to carry the scars,
Though our wounds might be sair, at the end of the day,
We would gang once again with old geordie McCrae.
Come pack up your footballs and scarves of maroon,
Leave all your sweethearts in Auld Reekie toon.
Fall in wi' the lads for they're aff and away,
To take on the bold Hun with old Geordie McCrae
Come pack up your footballs and scarves of maroon,
Leave all your sweethearts in Auld Reekie toon.
Fall in wi' the lads for they're aff and away,
To take on the bold Hun with old Geordie McCrae
We should all decide for ourselves what is romanticised guff and what is fairly certain fact.
