Hibernian Park was the home ground of the Scottish

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 ...

club Hibernian from 1880 until the club's dissolution in 1891. When the club was reformed in 1892, the club took out on a lease on a site which became known as

Easter Road Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-larges ...

. Hibernian Park was also located in the Easter Road area; in fact, it was closer to Easter Road itself than the present stadium because it was on the site of what is now Bothwell Street.

History

Hibernian FC Hibernian Football Club (), commonly known as Hibs, is a professional association football, football club based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The club plays in the Scottish Premiership, the top tier of the Scottish Professional Fo ...

(Hibs) had played at a variety of grounds from their formation in 1875 until moving to Hibernian Park. Initially they played on the Meadows, along with all the other nascent Edinburgh clubs. They subsequently moved to grounds in Newington and

Powderhall Powderhall is an area lying between Broughton Road and Warriston Road in the north of Edinburgh, the Scotland, Scottish capital. Until recently it was best known for Powderhall Stadium, a greyhound racing track, which has now closed. The stadiu ...

, but neither of these were used for more than a year at a time. Having lost the lease on the Newington ground in 1879, the opportunity to acquire a site off Easter Road was too good to miss because it was equidistant between Hibs' two main sources of supporters - the ''Little Ireland'' community of the

Cowgate The Cowgate (Scots language, Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, Edinburgh, ...

, and the Roman Catholic population of the port of

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

(Hibernian Park was situated a short distance inside the Edinburgh city boundary when Leith was a separate

burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...

, whereas Easter Road Stadium is located just inside Leith). Hibernian Park was known by the Hibs supporters as ''The Holy Ground'', in reference to the fact that the club was operated by St. Patrick's Church in the Cowgate. Hibs were essentially a sporting arm of the Catholic Church in Edinburgh from their formation until 1891. Hibs supporters still use this moniker for the present

stadium. Perhaps the most famous game played at Hibernian Park was when Hibs beat '' The Invincibles'' of Preston North End 2–1 in a 1887 match described as being the '' Association Football Championship of the World''. The ground also hosted one

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international, a 5–1 win against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in the 1888 British Home Championship, which was the first ever football international played in Edinburgh. Hibs players

Willie Groves Patrick William Groves (20 August 1868 – 13 February 1908)
Spartacus Educational was a James McLaren James "Jim / Fritz / Jock" Gerard McLaren (born 28 June 1972) is a Scottish dual-code international rugby league and rugby union footballer. He played representative level rugby league (RL) for the Scotland national rugby league team, and at cl ...

both played in the match, with Groves scoring Scotland's fourth goal. The ground also hosted the first ever recorded instance of a women's football match, 'Scotland' beating 'England' 3–0 on 7 May 1881. After the high points of winning the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,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 ...

, who attracted many of Hibs' star players by offering financial inducements in a time when Scottish football was still amateur. As Hibs were operated on a charitable basis, they were essentially broke despite being one of the most popular clubs in Scotland. At the same time, Hibs were riven by internal politics relating to the

Irish Home Rule bills The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the e ...

; a former secretary absconded with a significant amount of funds; and the club inexplicably failed to enter the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

when it was formed in

1890 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony, in the Horn of Africa. ** In Michigan, the wooden steamer ''Mackinaw'' burns in a fire on the Black River. * January 2 ** The steamship ...

. The last first team match played at Hibernian Park was a 9–1 defeat against

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

in the Scottish Cup on 27 September 1890. Hibs had failed to secure the ground lease and building work had already started, which restricted the attendance the ground could hold. Later that season, the building work covered the rest of the park. This was during a period of intense construction work in the area. After the club failed to pay their subscriptions to the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

in 1891, Hibs were deleted from the membership rolls. Philip Farmer, an ancestor of Sir

Tom Farmer Sir Thomas Farmer, (born 10 July 1940) is a Scottish entrepreneur. Early life One of seven siblings in a devoutly Catholic family, in 1964 Farmer founded his own tyre retailing business which he sold in 1969 for £450,000. Farmer retired to ...

, played a major role in resurrecting the club and securing the site that is now known as Easter Road.

History

See also