Olympic Football Club, occasionally called Paisley Olympic, was a Scottish football team located in the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire.

Olympic
Full nameOlympic F.C.
Founded1880
Dissolved1886
GroundThistle Park
PresidentJ. R. Taylor
Hon. SecretaryJohn M'Callum M.A., Neil M'Callum
SecretaryJames Gemmell

History

1884–85 Renfrewshire Cup semi-final, Olympic 2–2 Port Glasgow Athletic, Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette, 21 February 1885

The club was founded in 1880, holding its first meeting in October.[1] It first played competitive football in 1882–83, losing in a replay to Pollok in the first round of the Renfrewshire Cup, and joined the Scottish Football Association in 1883,[2] by which time the town already had senior clubs in the shape of Abercorn, Paisley Athletic, and St Mirren.

By 1884, the Olympic could boast of 70 members, less than half the size of the Athletic, a third of the size of Abercorn, and less than a quarter of the size of the Saints.[3] It was however comparatively successful on a local level, reaching the semi-final of the Renfrewshire Cup in 1883–84 and 1884–85. In the latter year, the club surprised Abercorn with a 2–1 win in a quarter-final replay, the Abbies protesting in vain about crowd encroachment;[4] in the semi-final, Olympic drew 2–2 with Port Glasgow Athletic, but lost 5–0 in the replay in a game which was tighter than the score suggested, Olympic not taking any of numerous chances in the first half, and still being in the game at 2–0 when reduced to 10 men through injury.[5] The club's success, despite its size, was attributed to a tactical shift, having adopted the 2–3–5 system with Spruill at centre-midfield, instead of the 2–2–6 used by its opponents.[6]

Olympic first entered the Scottish Cup in 1883–84, reaching the third round on its debut, with wins at Yoker[7] and Clippens.[8] The run came to an end with a 5–0 home defeat to Ayrshire side Mauchline.[9] The club was unlucky in its second entry in 1884–85, being drawn away at the much bigger Arthurlie, but only lost 2–0, and suffered from "some very hard lines".[10]

The club's end seems to have come out of the blue. As late as June 1885 it was beating Abercorn in a friendly[11] and was drawn to play at Arthurlie in the first round of the 1885–86 Scottish Cup.[12] However the club "collapsed" at the end of August, its players finding berths with St Mirren and (in the case of Gorman and Heiton[13]) Abercorn.[14] The club was effectively replaced by the Dykebar club, which played its first match at Thistle Park in October 1885,[15] and who took on centre-midfielder Robert Spruill from the Olympic.[16]

Colours

The club's colours were ½" crimson and white hooped jerseys and hose, and blue knickers.[17]

Ground

The club played at Thistle Park, Greenhill, Paisley, a 5-minute walk from the railway station.[18] The ground was the ground of the Paisley Thistle cricket club, and formerly the ground of St Mirren.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "Olympic Football Club". Paisley Daily Express: 2. 11 October 1880.
  2. ↑ Scottish FA Minutes 1881–84. Glasgow: Scottish Football Association. 21 August 1883. p. 142.
  3. ↑ M'Dowall, John (1884). Scottish Football Association Annual 1884-85. Glasgow: H. Nisbet. p. 67.
  4. ↑ "Paisley Olympic v Abercorn (Renfrewshire Cup tie)". Paisley & Refrewshire Gazette: 3. 24 January 1885.
  5. ↑ "Port Glasgow Athletic v Paisley Olympic". Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette: 4. 24 February 1885.
  6. ↑ "Port Glasgow Athletic v Olympic". Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette: 4. 16 February 1885.
  7. ↑ "Scottish Football Association Cup". Bell's Life: 10. 15 September 1883.
  8. ↑ "Scotch football notes". Athletic News: 5. 3 October 1883.
  9. ↑ "Olympic v Mauchline (S.C.T.)". Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette - Saturday: 7. 27 October 1883.
  10. ↑ "Football. -Olympic (Paisley) v Ayr". Ayrshire Post: 4. 23 September 1884.
  11. ↑ "Football notes". Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette: 4. 13 June 1885.
  12. ↑ "Scottish Football Association". Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette: 3. 29 August 1885.
  13. ↑ "Football gossip". Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette: 3. 3 September 1885.
  14. ↑ "Football Notes - Opening of the football season". Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette: 4. 22 August 1885.
  15. ↑ "Dykebar v Paisley Hibernians". Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette: 6. 10 October 1885.
  16. ↑ "Robert Spruell". Glasgow Evening News. 12 September 1891.
  17. ↑ Fleming, J. S. (1880). Scottish Association Football Annual 1880–81. Gillespie Brothers. p. 56.
  18. ↑ Fleming, J. S. (1880). Scottish Association Football Annual 1880–81. Gillespie Brothers. p. 56.
  19. ↑ "St Mirren Football Club Sports". Paisley Daily Express: 3. 29 July 1881.
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