1873

 We have previously alluded to the position of the Queen's Park club as a de facto governing body within Scottish football.

It comes as no surprise, then, to find that when steps were taken to actually form a Scottish Football Association that Queen's Park were the originators of the scheme. 

It all began with a proposal for a knock out competition along the lines of the FA Cup. On February 8th 1873 the committee of Queen's Park instructed the secretary, Archibald Rae to write to all Scottish clubs proposing a cup competition.

The resulting meeting on 13th March, 1873, was attended by representatives of  the following clubs (along, of course, with Queen's Park themselves):

 Clydesdale

Founded 1872, dissolved 1881, based in Kinning Park in south Glasgow (later home to Rangers).

Vale of Leven

Founded 1872, dissolved 1929, from Alexandria in West Dunbartonshire (to the west of Glasgow).In 1876 they became the first club to defeat Queen's Park ever! One of the first teams to seriously challenge the dominance of Queen's Park. Won the cup in 1877, 1878 and 1879.

Rovers FC

1873-78. Played at The Queen's Park , a public park in which Queen's Park had originally played. Rovers expressed an interest in the venture, but are not listed as founding members of the SFA.

Dumbreck

1871-79, based at Glasgow's Ibroxhill.

3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers

Founded in 1872, the Cathkin Park club survived until 1967. Their military connections were by then a distant memory. Cup winners in 1889 and 1905.

Eastern
Active from 1873-85 Eastern were another 'public park' team based in Glasgow.

Granville 
1872-78. This was Granville's only entry into The Scottish Cup. 3 of the players in Scotland's first international XI were members of the club (as well as being members of Queen's Park).

The resolution passed on March 13th was:

The clubs here represented form themselves into an association for the promotion of football according to the rules of The Football Association and that the clubs connected with this association subscribe for a challenge cup to be played for annually, the committee to propose the laws of the competition.

The first elected officials were: 

President: Archibald Campbell (Clydesdale) 

Hon. treasurer: Mr. William Ker (Queen's Park)

Hon.secretary: Archibald Rae (Queen's Park) 

Committee:James Turnbull (Dumbreck), Don. McFarlane (Vale of Leven), Eben Hendry (Clydesdale), W. E. Dick (Third Lanark), John Mackay (Granville), James McIntyre (Eastern), Robert Gardner (Queen's Park), and William Gibb (Clydesdale).

 A special mention is due to :

Kilmarnock

One of the oldest clubs in Scotland, founded in 1869, Kilmarnock were technically not founder members. They did, however, send a letter to the meeting giving their support to the proposals . They had to wait a while for their cup successes, which came in 1920, 1929, and 1997.

These 9 clubs were joined by the following 7 for the first round of the the first edition of the Scottish FA Cup in October 1873.

Alexandra  Athletic
1873-84- based in the East End of Glasgow.

Callander
1872-74- a short lived Glasgow club who were Rangers' first ever opponents.

Dumbarton
1872- present. Currently in the second tier of Scottish football. Appeared in 6 Cup Finals in the 19th century , winning in 1883.

Renton
1872-1922.  The Dunbartonshire club were one of the big names in 19th century game.  Played in 5 Cup Finals in the 19th Century, winning in 1885 and 1888. They were World Champions in 1888.

Blythswood
1872-79. From Kelvinside in Glasgow.

Southern
1872-75. Scratched from their only ever Scottish FA Cup match.

Western
1873-78. Another Glasgow suburban team.

Reddie Lang

J. J. Lang.

Originally a member of the 3rd L.R.V., Lang left that club and joined the Clydesdale in 1874. He played in the final, I think, as centre forward, and backed up Mr. J. R. Wilson. Possessing splendid dribbling powers, he was a very "showy" player, but his short steps did not make anything like the progress with the ball one imagined at the time. He was a somewhat heavy charger when he got the chance, and frequently preferred to take his man before the ball.

Scottish Football Reminiscences and Sketches by D. D. Bone 1890

James J 'Reddie' Lang was a Scottish forward who played in the 1870s and 1880s. He probably provides us with the earliest evidence of professionalism in association football.
Here are some milestones in Lang's career:

1874: Joined Clydesdale from Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers.

 1874: On March 21st Lang played in the first Scottish Cup final. He was in the Clydesdale team that lost  2-0 to  Queen's Park. 


1876: Lang played in the Glasgow representative XI in their fixture against Sheffield on  February 19th. Glasgow won 2-0 and the Sheffield representatives were impressed with his display to the extent that they invited him to join The Wednesday.


1876: On March 25th Lang, still a Clydesdale player, made his international debut. He scored Scotland's 2nd goal in the 4-0 win over Wales.

1876: Lang joined The Wednesday and was given a job in the office of a blade manufacturer. He had no actual duties and stated that he used to just read the newspapers in the office. This effectively makes Lang the first paid professional in football history, although it would be another 9 years before professionalism was accepted in England and 17 in Scotland. 


1877: Lang returned to Scotland, joining Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers.

1878: In his 2nd and last international Lang scored Scotland's final goal in a 9-0 rout of Wales (March 23rd).  

1878: The Scottish Cup Final-  Vale of Leven  1-Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers 0. (March 30th).

1879: Lang rejoined The Wednesday. In the meantime he had lost the sight of an eye whilst working in the shipyards. He hid this minor detail from his new employers. 

1885: Professionalism legalized in England.

1886: The Wednesday remained (officially) an amateur side so, ironically, Lang left the club who had paid for his services ten years before to pursue an openly professional career with Burnley. 

Scottish Teams in the FA Cup

Queen's Park of Glasgow held a position of unassailable preeminence in the early Scottish game. They were responsible for bringing the Football Association's rules to Scotland, and, unsurprisingly, affiliated themselves to the (English) FA. This fraternization extended, naturally, to entering the first organized Association football competition.

So, in 1872 Queen's Park entered the FA Cup, and for the first decade of it's existence they would represent the only Scottish involvement in the competition. But, as we will see, their participation was not exclusive.

In the first round Queen's Park were drawn at home to Donington School (Lincolnshire) the tie was not fulfilled, but due to teams scratching both sides were carried over into round 2. Donington scratched and Queen's Park advanced into the Quarter Finals, where they were given a bye. So, having reached the semi-finals without kicking a ball, Queen's park met Wanderers in a goalless draw at the Oval. The replay was scheduled for the same ground, and Queen's park scratched because of the expense and inconvenience of having to return to London for the replay. 

In the 1872-73 season, Queen's Park entered the FA Cup again, and  were given byes until the semi-finals in order to reduce the amount of travelling necessary. Having thus progressed to the last four without playing a game Queen's Park withdrew anyway when they were drawn away at Oxford University.

1873–74 saw the introduction of the Scottish Cup, which was won by Queen's Park.

The 1875-76 season saw Clydesdale entered for the Cup, but their opponents, South Norwood, had a walk over in the first round, presumably because Clydesdale decided not to travel south. this was Clydesdale's only foray into the FA Cup.

The 1876-77 season saw Queen's Park again presented with two byes and then withdrawing from the competition when faced with an away tie at  Oxford University.

In 1877-78 a bye in the first round for was followed by an away tie with Druids (North Wales), which Queen's Park withdrew from. 

This pattern of Queen's Park entering and withdrawing when drawn away from home continued in the 1879-80 1880-81, 1881-82 and 1882-83  seasons ( Sheffield , Sheffield Wednesday, Accrington and Grimsby Town  respectively being awarded  first round walk overs). Incidentally a team called rangers featured in the FA Cup in 1880-81, but this was not the famous Glasgow Club, but a team based in London.


1883–84 saw Queen's Park make it all the way to the final. In the year in which they also won the Scottish Cup for the 7th time they illustrated the gulf in class between the leading sides and the emerging English provincial teams with a dazzling cup run. In the first round the Glasgow side traveled to Crewe Alexandra and won 10-0. They followed this with a 15-0 home win against Manchester (no connection with either United or City). In the third round Oswestry Town were beaten 7-1 (away). The fourth Round saw the biggest scalp- Aston Villa beaten 6-1 in Hampden (Caithkin). Old Westminsters were beaten 1-0 in London.

In the semi final Blackburn Olympic, the holders, were well beaten, 4-0 in Nottingham.
In the final at Kennington Oval Queen's Park were beaten 2-1 by Blackburn Rovers. It was a controversial result in Scottish eyes. Queen's Park had two goals disallowed before Blackburn had scored, one historian recording referee Major Francis Marindin's views on off-side as being ''peculiar and vain'.
In this cup-run Queens Park had the impressive record of played 7, won 6, lost 1, for 44 against 4.

In 1884-85 Queen's Park reached their second successive FA Cup Final. They were presented with a walkover by Stoke in the first round before beating Crewe Alexandra 2-1 at home in the second. The third round saw them travel to Leek and win 3-2. In the fourth round Old Wykehamists were beaten 7-0 at . In the 5th round they received a bye and then beat Notts County 2-1 in Derby following a 2-2 draw at Nottingham. 

Nottingham forest and Queens Park drew 1-1 at Derby and Queen's park took the replay (played at Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh) 3-0 to set up a second cup final meeting with Blackburn Rovers.
This time Blackburn triumphed by 2-0.

1885-86 saw 5 Scottish teams enter the FA Cup, namely Queen's Park, Glasgow Rangers, Partick Thistle, Third Lanark and Heart of Midlothian.
A record number of Scottish Clubs entered the 1886-87 tournament- 7- Queen's Park, Glasgow Rangers, Partick Thistle, Third Lanark and Heart of Midlothian being joined by Cowlairs and Renton. 


October 31st 1885 gave us the unprecedented spectacle of an FA Cup match being played between 2 Scottish teams in Glasgow- Queen's Park beating Partick Thistle 5-1.
Rangers did not contest their first round match at Rawtenstall, nor did Heart of Midlothian, drawn away at Padiham. Third Lanark beat Blackburn Park Road 4-2 at home in their first round match. Both drawn away to Lancashire clubs (South Shore and Church) in the second round, Queen's Park and Third Lanark withdrew from the competition.

Queen's Park were beaten 3-0 at home by Preston North End, whilst visits to Darwen saw Cowlairs beat  Darwen Old Wanderers 4-1 but  Heart of Midlothian thrashed 7-1 by Darwen. Partick Thistle enjoyed a 3-1 win away at Blackburn Olympic. Third Lanark entertained High Walton to a 5-0 beating and Everton pulled out of their away match to Rangers.
 in the second round for all the Caledonians fared as follows:- Rossendale 2-  Cowlairs 10, third Lanark 2- Bolton Wanderers 3, Rangers 2- Church 1, Partick Thistle 7-Fleetwood Rangers 0, Blackburn Rovers 0- Renton 2 (following a 2-2 draw at Renton).
In the third round Rangers and Cowlairs were drawn together, Rangers winning 3-2, Renton were beaten 2-0 at home by Preston North End and Partick Thistle were rewarded for their trip to Ireland with an 11-0 win over Cliftonville.
Rangers and  Partick Thistle received byes in the fourth round.
The fifth round saw Partick Thistle travel to London for a 1-0 loss to Old Westminsters. Rangers beat Lincoln City 3-0 at Ibrox.
 Old Westminsters visited Ibrox for the sixth round, where Rangers won 5-0.
Rangers faced Aston Villa in the semi final at Crewe and lost 3-1.

In May 1887 the Scottish Football Association forbade Scottish clubs from membership of any other national association,which put a stop to further participation in the FA Cup by  Scottish clubs.

The 93rd Highland Regiment took part in the 1890-91 FA Cup, losing 2-0 to Sunderland Albion, but they came under the wing of the Football Association, being a part of the British Army FA, formed in 1888.