Alex Hastings was our captain for the majority of the 1930s, one of the most successful decades in our history. He led us to the League Championship in 1936 but missed our FA Cup final win through injury. Raich Carter was the man who collected the trophy from the Queen that day in Hastings' place.
Initially a right back as a boy, Hastings moved to centre half and then even forward temporarily before adapting to left half. He excelled in this position and was mature even at a young age. He might just be our youngest ever captain. Hastings made over 300 League and Cup appearances and would’ve made even more, had the war not interrupted his career. The war meant that he was at the club for 15 years, a frankly staggering amount of time.
Hastings became a Scottish International whilst on Wearside but never exactly travelled the world with Scotland as both his appearances came against Ireland. His two appearances were well earned and he probably should have been capped more times.
Whilst his years at the club were successful, Hastings as club captain had to navigate the turbulent weeks after the untimely death of goalkeeper Jimmy Thorpe. Thorpe, just 22, had been a stalwart in goal, making 139 appearances for the Lads and tragically died just four days after playing against Chelsea in a 3-3 draw. In that game, Thorpe was kicked in the head and badly injured. These injuries, in conjunction with diabetes mellitus and heart failure, brought about Thorpe’s tragic death.
Hastings had to spur on his men for the run in. The loss of a friend and teammate must have weighed upon the team’s mind and Hastings and the rest of the team played brilliantly for the rest of the season. We were the undisputed kings of English football, having won the League more than every other side in the country, as well as being the only team never out of the top flight. How things have changed.
He lost key years to the war, which is an awful shame. Once the war was over, Hastings appearances were extremely limited. He went on to be manager of Kilmarnock, his only managerial job before he took over a hotel in Monkton. These were the days where ex footballers, even those who play for the best club in England and win the First Division, went on to have a career as a landlord. He went back to Scotland and became a licensee of a pub in his home town of Falkirk and then went on to manage a bookshop in Edinburgh.
Imagine the CV handed in to the bookshop. It is the equivalent of Vincent Kompany handing in his CV to Waterstones in The Bridges. Kind of over-qualified but also inexperienced at the same time. His CV got even stranger and more diversified when he immigrated to Australia. Whilst his Scotland career took him only as far as the Emerald Isle, Hastings ended up journeying half way across the world. In 1965, he became the president of the South Australian Soccer Federation, which was definitely more of an appropriate position for someone of Hastings’ reputation.
He died in 1988 in South Australia and will be remembered as the man who captained our last First Division title and as one of the finest booksellers in the city of Edinburgh.
