The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockoutfootball tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cup Committee (GCCC) at their discretion, but no criteria were ever published.
Like many domestic competitions in
Scottish football
Association football ( sco, fitbaa, gd, ball-coise) is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Sco ...
, it was dominated by the
Old Firm
The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...
of
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
and
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 Foo ...
, with 31 and 28 victories each respectively. In the latter years of the tournament, it ceased being a knockout tournament and became a one-off contest between a Glasgow Select and a team invited from the English League.
Clubs
The early years of the tournament featured teams from outside Glasgow. The committee often invited teams based on name and popularity.THE GLASGOW CHARITY CUP '' Dundee Courier'' 25 March 1888. Retrieved 9 September 2021. (via)
British Newspaper Archive
The British Newspaper Archive web site provides access to searchable digitized archives of British and Irish newspapers. It was launched in November 2011.
History
The British Library Newspapers section was based in Colindale in north London, u ...
.
Half of the eight-team draw for the 1887–88 tournament included Hibernian,
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 1 ...
Vale of Leven
The Vale of Leven (Scottish Gaelic: ''Magh Leamhna'') is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning ' ...
. All four clubs were former
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,
Charity
After Renton were presented with the trophy by the Lord Provost of Glasgow in 1886, it was revealed a total of £5620 had been raised for local charities since the tournament had been instituted (equivalent to almost £750,000 in 2021 rates). An academic study in 2008 calculated that during its 90-year existence the competition raised funds to the value of £11 million.'Remembering us year after year’: the Glasgow Charity Cup 1876-1966 Wray Vamplew, University of Stirling, 2008
A portion of the proceeds from 1887–88 went Edinburgh and
Dumbartonshire
Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Pe ...
charities, as teams from these areas competed for the cup too.