Parkgrove F.C. were a nineteenth-century Glasgow-based senior football club. They were based in Govan, Glasgow.

History

Originally the team played in red & blue colours (1874–79); but for the 1879–80 season they changed to a white shirt with thin black hoops. The club is notable for having two of the earliest known black footballers; Andrew Watson and Robert Walker. While at Parkgrove, Watson became the club's match secretary - making him also the first black administrator in association football. It was noted that Parkgrove played with a cosmopolitan team.

Thomas Britten Thomas Johnson Britten (6 March 1858 – 24 October 1910) was an international footballer. Though born and raised in rural Herefordshire in England, his birth was registered in the nearest town Presteigne across the Welsh border and he was deeme ...

, a

Welsh international The Welsh International is an international badminton championship held in Wales since 1928 and is thereby one of the oldest badminton tournaments in the world. The tournament was halted during World War II and until 1956, between 1960 and 1966 ...

football player, played for the club in 1878. Another of its players, goalkeeper Tommy Marten, was noted as being from Japan although it was later established that he was half Chinese. The club made the fifth round of the Scottish Cup in 1879-80. They drew with South Western; but were beaten in the replay. South Western progressed to the Quarter-Finals but were beaten by

Pollokshields Athletic Pollokshields Athletic F.C. was a Scottish football team, based in the Pollokshields district of Glasgow (at the time a separate burgh). History The club was founded in 1875, originally as a rugby union club, and was playing association footba ...

Decline

The club couldn't make a game with Dunfermline F.C. on New Year's Day 1880. Many of the club's players moved to the new Pilgrims side for the 1880–81 season. It was noted that Parkgrove moved out of their Trinidad Park ground in 1880. A notice of the ground at the Broomloan estate states that Parkgrove recently moved - and that the ground was now for let. Kinning Park, home 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 ...

at the time Parkgrove played at Trinidad Park, was fairly near; The '' Gers'' moved to the first Ibrox Park, directly adjacent to the Trinidad site, in 1887. The ''Scottish Referee'' noted on 8 October 1894 that they were asked to contradict a rumour that the Parkgrove club were about to collapse. It noted that the secretary advised that the club was in healthy condition and was likely to survive for many days. The club was still extant late that same year, playing Rangers on 15 December 1894 in the Kirkwood Shield competition. They were still playing in 1896 as they were in a

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

-sponsored tournament in season 1896–97; however, by August 1897, Parkgrove was listed by the ''Scottish Referee'' as one of the many defunct clubs of Glasgow.

Notable former players

* Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856), Scottish international football player; and the first black association football player. * Robert Walker (Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers footballer), another black player to play association football alongside Watson at Parkgrove. *

, Welsh international player - who was noted as Parkgrove's leading striker.

References

Defunct football clubs in Scotland Football clubs in Glasgow Association football clubs established in 1874 Association football clubs disestablished in 1897 1874 establishments in Scotland 1897 disestablishments in Scotland Govan {{Scotland-footyclub-stub