 Over the following decades association football was to become the most popular sport in Scotland.This match is, however, not the origin of the blue Scotland shirt for contemporary reports of the 5 February 1872 rugby international at the Oval clearly show that "the scotch were easily distinguishable by their uniform of blue jerseys... the jerseys having the thistle embroidered" The thistle had been worn previously in the 1871 rugby international

The match itself illustrated the advantage gained by the Queens Park players "through knowing each others' play" as all came from the same club.Contemporary match reports clearly show dribbling play by both the English and the Scottish sides, for example