football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
The club was formed in 1883, and played its first competitive match in the
Lanarkshire Cup
The Lanarkshire Cup was an annual competition open to football teams in the Lanarkshire area. The competition is now defunct.
List of winners
1879β80 - Stonelaw
1880β81 - Thistle
1881β82 - Hamilton Academical
1882β83 - West Benhar
1883β ...
in 1884. The club was part of the
Temperance Movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
and its members were teetotallers. The media occasionally referred to the club as Rutherglen Clydesdale to distinguish them from the other club of that name based further west closer to the centre of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
.
Clydesdale started to enter the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1885β86, losing 4β2 at home to Tollcross in its first entry. The club entered every season until 1891β92 and never won a tie.
The club's peak (such as it was) came in the 1888β89 season. It reached the second round of the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rutherglen; under the rules of the competition at the time, both teams progressed after two draws. In the second round, Clydesdale visited
Uddingston
Uddingston ( sco, Uddinstoun, gd, Baile Udain) is a small town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the north side of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre, and acts as a dormitory suburb for the city.
Geography and boundaries ...
, and was 4β0 down at half-time, both sides scoring once in the second half. The club also reached the semi-final of the Lanarkshire Cup, albeit only thanks to a bye and a default, after the club had initially lost to Rutherglen in the quarter-final. In the semi-final, at Royal Albert of Larkhall, the young Clydesdale side took a shock lead with a shot from Rowan, but the Royalists equalized early in the second half after a long scrimmage, and took the lead with a goal which was "very much offside", and with Clydesdale effectively down to nine men through injuries, eventually went out 3β1.
The club finished the season with its one cup success, in a Lanarkshire Football Association invitational tournament which was meant to be played as a series of double-header ties in three separate geographical divisions, the aim to raise funds to buy a trophy for a second XI tournament; however most of the clubs withdrew, with the result that there were only two tournaments, with two entrants in each. The Motherwell branch final was then threatened by
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na MΓ thar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...
withdrawing late on, but Clydesdale agreed to step in, to face Carfin Shamrock. "Contrary to all expectations" Clydesdale won 1β0.
Clydesdale had long struggled for crowds, with Rutherglen locals preferring the rival town side or the clubs in nearby
Cambuslang
Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...
. By the end of the 1890β91 season, the club was around Β£20 in debt, and the Rutherglen club proposed a merger. The Clydesdale committee agreed to form a new club (to be called Ruglonians) and to play at Southcroft; however the Clydesdale members voted the proposal down on the basis that Clydesdale was at least solvent, unlike the recently evicted Rutherglen side, and a merger would simply add to the debt for which the Clydesdale would be responsible. The proposal that the Rutherglen members simply join the Clydesdale club was met with dismay, especially given that Rutherglen claimed to have reduced its debts from Β£60 to Β£23, while Clydesdale's had been increasing.
However, before the start of the 1891β92 season the club was forced to hold a raffle in order to pay off its debts. Although the club managed a 2β2 draw at home to Whitefield in the first preliminary round of the Scottish Cup, the
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
side won the replay at home by either 6β0 or 7β0, easing off after scoring 5 in the first half, Clydesdale being handicapped by four of its players not turning up, and the four substitutes being "by no means shining lights".
Clydesdale's last recorded match in the Lanarkshire Cup was a 10β0 defeat at Wishaw Thistle in the second round, eight goals coming in the first half and goalkeeper Gibson being singled out for special praise. The club's last competitive match was a 12β0 defeat to Northern F.C. in the North-Eastern Cup in January 1892, a competition for clubs in the north and east of Glasgow, which the club had entered five times without ever winning a match.
The last record of the club is being drawn to play Hamilton Harp in the Coatbridge Express Cup (which functioned as the Lanarkshire Consolation Cup). The match was scheduled to take place on 26 March 1892, but was postponed, and never in fact took place, with Harp going through to the second round.
Colours
The club originally played in navy shirts, white shorts, and red socks. From 1887 to 1891 it wore cream shirts and white shorts; for its final season, the club adopted all navy.
Ground
The club played on the South Croft (also given as Southcroft) at
Shawfield
Shawfield is an industrial/commercial area of the Royal Burgh of Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located to the north of the town centre. It is bordered to the east by the River Clyde, to the north by the Glasgow neighbourhood of Oatl ...
. By 1889 the ground had a pavilion with bathing facilities. The highest crowd at the ground was against
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
in the North Eastern Cup on 29 December 1888, a match Celtic won 5β1. Southcroft was later the home of
Rutherglen Glencairn
Rutherglen Glencairn Football Club is a Scottish football (soccer), football club based in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, near Glasgow. Nicknamed ''The Glens'' and formed in 1896, they play at The Hamish B Allan Stadium (New Southcroft Park).
G ...