Western F.C.
| Full name | Western Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1873 | |
| Dissolved | 1878 | |
| Ground | Regent's Park | |
|
| ||
Western Football Clubwas a 19th-century football club based inPartick,inGlasgow.
History
[edit]
The club was formed out of acricketclub[1]and was one of the original 16 teams to participate in the inaugural season of theScottish Cup.It seems to have had some wealthy benefactors, as the club contributed £4 to the cost of the Cup, £1 more than the well-backedAlexandra Athletic F.C.and only behindQueen's ParkandClydesdale,both of whom had large memberships.[2]
The club was also active in the administration of the game, the club's R. M. Liddell acting as theScottish Football Associationtreasurer in its early days.[3]
In the first round of thefirst competition,in the 1873–74 season, the club lost 1–0 to eventual semi-finalistsBlythswood.The club took notice of the defeat and recruited a number of the Blythswood players for 1874–75.[4]The club also experimented withrugby union,playing out a goalless draw withSouthern,an association club which had abandoned the round ball game for the ovalin toto,in late 1873.[5]
The only ties the club won came in1875–76,beatingthe Caledonian club(ofKelvinbridge),Sandyford,andHelensburgh,[6]to reach the quarter-finals, which, that year, was the final seven. The club facedthe 3rd Lanark Rifle Volunteers,and, although Western had been good enough to draw with the Volunteers in 1874,[7]the Cup tie was an easy win for the Volunteers. This was put down in part to the Western club losing several first team players for the tie, despite its high profile, and having to rely on several reserves, who had "an almost total lack of knowledge of the passing game".[8]
Thefollowing season,rather than faceGovan F.C.,the club withdrew from the competition, suggesting that the club was struggling in the face of so many other clubs emerging. In 1877, the club faced a claim of £465 10/ in breach of contract, for the building of a club house on the cricket pitch,[9]and that seems to have hastened the end of the club (both cricket and football), as no more is heard of either, and the club was definitely dissolved by 1878.[10]
Colours
[edit]The club's colours were black and white stripes,[11]which in the context of the time referred to hoops.
Grounds
[edit]The club originally played at Regent's Park in Partick,[12]before moving in 1874 to theCaledoniancricket ground at Holyrood Park,[13]reckoned to be the best in Glasgow.[14]
References
[edit]- ^"Western Cricket Club".North British Daily Mail:4. 15 March 1873.
- ^"Organising the Game in Scotland".The Vale of Leven.Retrieved29 October2022.
- ^"Football".North British Daily Mail:6. 7 September 1874.
- ^"report".Scotsman.17 October 1874.
- ^"Southern v Western".Glasgow Herald:5. 24 November 1873.
- ^The original club, not theHelensburgh F.C.which later played in theScottish League
- ^"3d Lanark v Western".Glasgow Herald:7. 20 January 1874.
- ^"Football in the Glasgow district".Glasgow Herald:7. 20 December 1875.
- ^"A Cricket Club Case".North British Daily Mail:2. 23 March 1877.
- ^"Club Directory".Scottish Football Historical Results Archive.Retrieved27 October2022.
- ^"Western v Caledonian".North British Daily Mail:3. 25 October 1875.
- ^"Western v Rovers".Glasgow Herald.25 November 1873.
- ^"Local football fixtures".North British Daily Mail:7. 15 December 1874.
- ^"report".Scotsman.17 October 1874.