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When Tennent Caledonian Breweries withdrew their sponsorship after the 1993 event, the Sixes was discontinued. However, by that time the tournament had likely gone by it’s sell-by date. The rules had been changed to remove any real aggression in the game, and goals were so easy to come by that it had begun to resemble basketball more than football. Kind of answers back to those who believe the game would be better if there were more goals in a game. A shame really as it was a great annual family event, and was much looked forward to by all. STV used to show the highlights of the tournament.
The format used was dependent on the number of teams participating: in most cases 10 teams were involved and would be drawn into 2 groups of 5 who would play each other once. From there, the first and second-placed teams from each group would contest the knockout stages, comprised of two semi-finals and a final. The inaugural tournament was contested at Coasters Arena in Falkirk in 1984. The following year it took place at Ingliston Showground near Edinburgh, and all subsequent tournaments were played at the SECC in Glasgow.
No individual team dominated the event over its history with Aberdeen, Heart of Midlothian and Rangers all winning the tournament 2 times each. Motherwell were beaten finalists on 4 occasions.
Celtic won the tournament in 1992. This was the barren years, where after the Scottish Cup win in 1989 we didn’t win another major senior honour until 1995. In the meantime, the Tennent Sixes victory turned into a minor respite for the club. Cringingly, a Celtic director (Michael Kelly) tried to use this trophy victory in one interview as some kind of vindication of success, citing that many other clubs would have been proud to have won it themselves. There was no point kidding ourselves but he was. It didn’t help matters as we struggled to make headway in Europe, the domestic league or either of the two major domestic cups, and really highlights just how low we’d sunk during that period.
Celtic win the Tennent Sixes
- Celtic won the Tennent Sixes in 1992. It was the barren days
