Govan Athletic
Full nameGovan Athletic Football Club
Nickname(s)the Govanites, the Athletic
Founded1885
Dissolved1889
GroundMoore Park
SecretaryW. Hanna

Govan Athletic Football Club, often given in the form Govan Athletics, was a Scottish association football club based in Govan, now part of Glasgow.

History

The club was founded in 1885,[1] with its first recorded football matches coming from the 1885–86 season.[2]

The Athletics entered the Scottish Cup for the first time in 1886–87. The club was drawn away to Rangers, and the notably young team was heavily defeated, 9–1, the only Govanite goal being scored just before half time - when already five goals down - by Barclay following a run down the wing.[3]

The club was evidently ambitious; it had a reserve XI up and running from the 1886–87 season[4] and even played a friendly against Glentoran in Belfast, the Govanites losing a four-goal lead to draw 5–5.[5]

However the ambition soon ran dry. The second XI was struck from the Second Eleven Association roll after just one season for non-payment of subscriptions,[6] and it suffered another heavy defeat in the first round of the 1887–88 Scottish Cup, this time 5–1 at Northern.[7] The club also lost one of its players, David McGhee, a plumber from Burndyke Street, "playing a gentlemanly game",[8] when he suffered a broken leg in a tackle against Vale of Bannock.[9] The Vale held a benefit concert for McGhee, which raised £7 for him.[10]

Before the start of the 1888–89 season, one of the best Athletic players, Archibald, was enticed away by Sunderland Albion.[11] The Athletics nevertheless beat Union of Dumbarton 5–2 in its opening match of the season at Moore Park,[12] but, one week later, the club was humiliated in the first round of the 1888–89 Scottish Cup when losing 16–0 at Kelvinside Athletic. The Govanites were 6–0 down at half-time, and after Stewart ran the length of the pitch from the start of the second half to make it seven, two of the Govan players walked off the pitch.[13]

The club's failures on the national scale were mirrored in local competition. The only competitive match the club is ever know to have won was in the Govan Charity Cup in 1886–87, beating Blairvaddick[14] 3–1 in the first round; it then lost 5–1 to Linthouse after protesting a 6–0 defeat in the original tie.[15] The Athletic lost 11–0 at home to Renfrew in the 1887–88 Jubilee Cup,[16] and scratched from the 1888–89 edition just before its first round match with Whitefield started, as the club had several players missing. The match was played as a friendly instead, which Whitefield won 13–0.[17] The club did play one tie in the Glasgow Cup, in 1888–89, an 8–2 defeat at Pollokshaws Harp.[18]

Govan did continue to the end of the season, but was struck from the membership rolls before the 1889–90 season.[19] The final match known was a 4–1 defeat at Linthouse in the Govan & Ibrox Cup on 8 May 1889.[20]

Colours

The club's colours were black and white horizontal stripes with blue knickers.[21]

Ground

The club played at Moore Park,[22] on Broomloan Road, which had previously been the ground of Govan F.C., which was dissolved in around 1881.[23]

References

  1. ↑ "Glentoran v Govan Athletics (Glasgow)". Belfast News-Letter: 3. 7 February 1887.
  2. ↑ "Govan Athletics v Hawthorn". Glasgow Herald: 10. 12 October 1885.
  3. ↑ "Rangers v Govan Athletic". North British Daily Mail: 6. 13 September 1886.
  4. ↑ "2d Eleven Association". North British Daily Mail: 6. 20 October 1886.
  5. ↑ "Glentoran v Govan Athletics (Glasgow)". Belfast News-Letter: 3. 7 February 1887.
  6. ↑ "Scottish 2d XI Football Association". North British Daily Mail: 6. 3 September 1887.
  7. ↑ "Northern v Govern Athletics". Glasgow Herald: 9. 5 September 1887.
  8. ↑ "Sports & pastimes". Bridge of Allan Gazette: 3. 15 October 1887.
  9. ↑ "Football accident". Stirling Observer: 4. 6 October 1887.
  10. ↑ "Bannockburn". Stirling Observer: 6. 10 November 1887.; c. £730 in 2023 prices.
  11. ↑ "Sports & pastimes". Stirling Observer. 30 August 1888.
  12. ↑ "Govan Athletic v Union (Dumbarton)". Lennox Herald: 6. 1 September 1888.
  13. ↑ "Kelvinside Athletics v Govan Athletics". Glasgow Herald: 10. 3 September 1888.
  14. ↑ For context, Blairvaddick's one Scottish Cup tie, in the same season, was a 13–0 defeat at Glasgow Thistle.
  15. ↑ "Govan Competitions". Scottish Football Historical Archive. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  16. ↑ "Govan Athletic v Renfrew". Glasgow Herald: 10. 16 January 1888.
  17. ↑ "Whitefield v Govan Athletics - Senior Jubilee Cup Tie (First Round)". Glasgow Herald: 10. 17 December 1888.
  18. ↑ "Notes on football and other sports". Glasgow Herald: 9. 17 September 1888.
  19. ↑ "Glasgow Football Association". Airdrie Advertiser: 5. 17 August 1889.
  20. ↑ "Football". Glasgow Herald: 8. 9 May 1889.
  21. ↑ M'Dowall, John (1888). Scottish Football Annual 1888–89. Glasgow: Hay Nisbet. p. 74.
  22. ↑ "Govan Athletics v Wanderers". Glasgow Herald: 10. 6 December 1886t.
  23. ↑ Alcock, Charles (1877). Football Annual. p. 129.
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