By Alistair Aird
Rangers have faced a Copenhagen Select on three occasions. The first was played on 5 June 1921 – Andy Cunnigham scored twice in a 2-1 win – and there were 1-0 and 3-0 wins a year later too. In the latter match, Carl Hansen, born in Copenhagen, scored twice for Bill Struth’s side. Hansen had impressed the Rangers hierarchy in the June 1921 fixture and was signed a few months later.
He would make a blistering start to his Rangers career too. Hansen made his debut against Queen’s Park in the opening round of the Lord Provost’s Rent Relief Fund Cup and scored a hat trick. He scored again in the 2-0 win over Partick Thistle in the semi-final, and after Alan Morton was fouled, Hansen despatched a penalty kick to open the scoring in the final against Celtic at Hampden. A second goal from Tommy Cairns claimed the trophy for Rangers.
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Hansen also scored on his league debut – a 2-0 win over Dundee at Ibrox on Boxing Day 1921 – and netted eight goals in 11 league games in his debut season. Included in his haul was a hat trick against Airdrie at Ibrox.
Hansen scored against Celtic again in August 1922- Rangers lost 3-1 in a benefit match for Willie McStay – but he was to suffer the first of FOUR leg breaks in the second match of the league campaign. Facing Third Lanark at Ibrox, Hansen had scored twice and was chasing another hat trick when he slipped on the wet surface and careered into the goalpost.
His next first XI appearance was on 1 January 1923 against Celtic at Ibrox, a match that was played in somewhat farcical conditions. The reporter in the Glasgow Herald stated:
[During the first half] no player was visible ten yards from either boundary line, and the ball could not be followed from the moment it was impelled by a player. The light improved after the game restarted and 30 minutes play was visible.
Hansen scored the opening goal shortly after the restart. Picking up a pass from Andy Cunnigham just beyond the halfway line, the Great Little Dane as he was referred to in one match report evaded challenges from a couple of Celtic defenders before despatching the ball beyond the Celtic goalkeeper, Charlie Shaw.
Sandy Archibald added a second goal for Rangers, and the writer in the Glasgow Herald summed proceedings up by saying:
In 29 years’ intercourse between the two clubs difficulties have been encountered, but it is remarkable that none of the engagements, though played in the most uncertain period metrologically, have been interrupted. The position yesterday was well handled by the officials, but it is doubtful if under similar conditions, play would have been permitted at all in any but a New Year’s Day Rangers-Celtic engagement.
Competing with the excellent Geordie Henderson for the number nine jersey, Hansen added a further three goals in the league to take his total for the season to six in 10 appearances. He now had in his possession a league winners medal.
Although Hansen found the net in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool and continued his habit of scoring against Celtic at the start of season 1923/24 – this goal came in a benefit match for Adam McLean – his season was hampered by injury. He made only two league appearances, the last of which came on 19 February 1924. Shortly after that, he suffered a double leg fracture and spent 17 weeks in hospital.
Hansen’s Rangers career was effectively ended by that injury, and his is very much a tale of what might have been.
POSTSCRIPT
Carl would be imprisoned by the Nazis in the Neumunster concentration camp for his commitment to Danish independence during the Second World War.
He would write two books – one on his life in football and the other about his time in the Nazi prison. He was widely known in Denmark as Carl Skomager (or Skoma’r), ie shoemaker.