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 based in
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 ...
, now in
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 ...
, active in the 19th century.
History
The club was founded in March 1880 with 40 members; in what remained of the 1879–80 season, the club played two matches, with a scoring record of 7–2. It was a resolutely amateur side, in common with neighbouring sides Queen's Park, Battlefield, and
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 ...
; occasionally players from all four teams would form an exhibition side under the name Glasgow Wanderers.
The club was also boosted in 1880 by the admission of many of the members of the
Parkgrove
Parkgrove is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Approximately 4 miles north-west of Edinburgh city centre. The suburb is located between the neighbouring areas of Clermiston, Barnton and Davidson's Mains
Davidson's Mains is a ...
club, which was also faced with having to give up its Trinidad Park ground.
The Pilgrims entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1880–81 until 1885–86. Its best run came in its first entry. The club beat
Lancefield
Lancefield is a town in the Shire of Macedon Ranges local government area in Victoria, Australia north of the state capital, Melbourne and had a population of 2,743 at the 2021 census.
History
The area was used by the indigenous aborigin ...
at Middleton Park in the first round, S. Lyall scoring all 4 goals in a 4–2 win, despite the "great credit" of visiting goalkeeper Boyd, who "used both hands and feet cleverly, and saved his charge repeatedly". In the second round the club gained its biggest Cup win - 7–0 over
City
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
- but in the third round it was brought down to earth by its record defeat, 8–1 against fellow travellers Queen's Park.
Despite this promising start, the club only won one more Cup tie - in the first round in the
1882–83 Scottish Cup
The 1882–83 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the tenth season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Dumbarton won the cup for the first, and so far only, time when they ...
, beating
Possilpark
Possilpark is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow, situated north of the River Clyde and centred around Saracen Street. The area developed around Saracen Foundry of Walter MacFarlane & Co., which was the main employer. In the wake of th ...
6–0. In 1883, the club took over South Western, which was also using Copeland Park, the Pilgrims name evidently carrying more of a cachet as South Western had over 80 members compared to the Pilgrims' 46.
The club was still prominent enough in the 1884–85 season to be invited to open Beresford Park, the new ground of
Ayr
Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...
, the home side winning the inaugural match 3–1. Towards the end of the season, Walter Lamont, a left-winger, became the only Pilgrims player to earn an international cap; Lamont had a dream debut, scoring the first goal in Scotland's 8–2 win over Ireland, but was not capped again.
With the rise of professionalism in England, and south Glasgow being saturated with amateur clubs, the Pilgrims fell away; the club failed to pay its subscription for the 1886–87 season and was therefore struck off the Scottish Football Association member roll.
Colours
The club's initial colours were 1" white and ½" black hooped jerseys with blue knickers, and stockings of any colour. In 1881 the club changed to a more regular 1" black and white hooped jersey, and in 1883 to white knickers.
In 1884, perhaps in honour of the takeover of South Western, the club changed its jerseys to South Western's orange and black, albeit in stripes.
Ground
The club's first home ground was Middleton Park. After a season the club moved to Copeland Park. On the club's dissolution, Copeland Park was hired out to the new St Peter's club.
Notable players
* Walter Lamont, the club's only international player