Queen's Park
When the The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup was first contested in the 1873-74 season it came as no great surprise that Queen's Park should win it.
The first Association club in Scotland, The Queen's Park Football Club was founded on 9 July 1867. They dominated the early Scottish game- best illustrated by the fact that in the first eight years of their existence they didn't concede a single goal. They won the Challenge Cup ten times during it's first twenty years, and also reached the English FA cup final twice. Queen's Park also provided the entire XI for Scotland's first recognised international in 1872.
Their style of play was different from that of their English contemporaries, as noted by The Field magazine in 1885: They dribble little and usually convey the ball by a series of long kicks, combined with a judicious plan of passing on.
16 clubs embarked on the quest for the first Scottish Cup in October 1873: Alexandra Athletic, Blythswood, Callander, Clydesdale, Dumbarton, Dumbreck,Eastern,Granville, Kilmarnock, Queen's Park, Renton, Rovers, Southern, 3rd Lanark RV,Vale of Leven, and Western.
Queen's Park won the Cup without conceding a single goal, with victories over Dumbreck, Eastern and Renton preceding a 2-0 win against Clydesdale in the final, which was played at Hampden Park in front of a crowd of 2,500. Hampden Park* was Queen's Park's home ground, and they had contributed significantly to the cost of the trophy that they won.
Queen's Park were noted for keen preparation, training and experimenting with tactics, but they maintained a strictly amateur ethos, in keeping with their motto Ludere Causa Ludendi – to play for the sake of playing, so that as the Scottish game became more professionalised ( the Scottish League founded 1890, professionalism allowed in 1893) they faded from prominence.
