football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, Scotland. It was the home ground of
Third Lanark
Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...
from their foundation in 1872 until they moved to New Cathkin Park in 1903. It also hosted
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scotland national team.
History
Third Lanark
Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...
were founded in 1872 by members of the Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers and began playing on a piece of land that formed part of a drilling field for the regiment. As the stadium developed, a grandstand was built on the western side of the pitch, a pavilion in the north-west corner, open seating on the northern and eastern sides of the pitch, and embankments at the southern end.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p152 An early experiment in
floodlight
A floodlight is a broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial light. It can provide functional area lighting for travel-ways, parking, entrances, work areas, and sporting venues to enable visibility adequate for safe task performance, ornament ...
ing was conducted there in October 1878. The ground was considered good enough to host the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
in 1881–82, as well as its replay, with 14,000 turning up to watch Queen's Park beat
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') 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. ...
4–1. It was also selected as the venue of the 1883–84 final, although the match did not happen as
Vale of Leven
The Vale of Leven () is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning ''fie ...
did not have enough players available, and was used again for the 1885–86 final. In 1884 it hosted two
British Home Championship
The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...
international matches, with
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
beating
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
1–0 in front of 10,000 spectators on 15 March (the first ever all-ticket match) and
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
4–1 in front of 5,000 on 29 March.
Third Lanark were founder members of the
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct 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&nbs ...
in 1890, and the first league match was played at Cathkin Park on 23 August 1890, with Dumbarton winning 3–1. At the end of the 1890–91 season it hosted a championship play-off between Dumbarton and
Rangers
A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...
, who had finished level on points. Following a 2–2 draw in front of 10,000 spectators, the clubs were jointly awarded the championship. The ground was used for play-offs again on 20 May 1896 when a match took place to decide which club would finish third and fourth in Division Two; Renton beating
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
2–1.
The ground's highest league attendance of 16,000 was set on 19 August 1899 when Rangers visited, with the visitors winning 5–1. This was equalled for another game against Rangers on 28 September 1901, this time the game ending 2–2. In June 1902 the final of the first major Anglo-Scottish club competition, the
British League Cup
The British League Cup was a football competition that was set up in April 1902 to raise money for the disaster at Ibrox Stadium, in which 25 people were killed and 517 injured at an international match between Scotland and England at the start o ...
, took place at Cathkin (att: 10,000), won by Celtic against Rangers 3–2 after extra time.
At the end of the 1902–03 season the club left the original Cathkin Park to move to a new ground. Queen's Park had built a new stadium to replace their leased Hampden Park ground – which was about south of Cathkin – but had also named the new stadium
Hampden Park
Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...
. Third Lanark took over the older Hampden, renaming it New Cathkin Park, although it later became known as simply Cathkin Park. Third Lanark's final league game at the old Cathkin Park was played on 4 April 1903, with the club losing 1–0 to
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
. However, the final league match played at the ground was played on 17 October 1903, when Queen's Park used it as a home ground for their game against
Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...
(a 1–1 draw) as the new Hampden Park was not yet ready. After the new Hampden opened, Third Lanark used it for much of the 1903–04 season (which ended with them winning the league title) whilst building work was carried out at New Cathkin Park.Smith & Smith, p186
The site of the original Cathkin Park was subsequently used for housing.