Granville F.C.

Former association football club in Scotland

Football club

Granville

Full name

Granville Football Club

Founded

1872

Dissolved

1874

Ground

Myrtle Park

Secretary

John C. Mackay

Captain

R. C. Kinloch^[1]

Home colours

Granville Football Club was a short-lived 19th-century football club based at Myrtle Park, in Crosshill, Glasgow.^[2]

History

The club was officially founded in 1872 as a football playing division of the Granville Cricket Club.^[3] However the club's first match had already taken place, with Queen's Park beating a Granville side 1–0 in November 1871; six Queen's Park men made up the numbers for Granville.^[4]

By 1873 the club had 80 members, which made it nearly as big as Queen's Park,^[5] and in April 1872 the club was the first Scottish side to avoid defeat to Queen's Park, with a 0–0 draw.^[6] Along with Queen's Park, Granville was one of the founder members of the Scottish Football Association. Club secretary John Mackay became the first secretary of the Scottish FA.^[7]

The club entered the first Scottish Cup in 1873–74 season. The club had an unlucky draw, away to the eventual finalists Clydesdale, and lost 6–0, being "completely overmatched by the splendid and powerful combined play of the younger club"; at 5–0 down the Granville swapped the "deficient" Barr out of goal for the forward Hetherington.^[8] That seemed to dilute the club's enthusiasm for the association game, as by 1874 its membership had nearly halved,^[9] and the team did not enter the Cup again.^[10] The final match recorded for the club is a 1–0 defeat at Dumbreck in March 1874.^[11]

John Mackay did stay on as Scottish FA secretary in 1874–75, but in 1875 he became a Football Association committee member as a nominee of Queen's Park,^[12] and by 1878 his loyalties had switched to Govanhill.^[13]

Notable players

William Ker, who played in the first ever official international football match in 1872, in a 0–0 draw at Hamilton Crescent, and who was credited as a member of the Granville^[14]
Thomas Highet, future Scotland international, a "powerful" forward criticized for playing "too independently", a member of the club in 1874^[15]

Colours

The club's colours were red, black, and white striped jerseys and stockings.^[16]

References

^ "Association Cup tie - Clydesdale v Granville". North British Daily Mail: 6. 27 October 1873.
^ 1873 Charles Alcock Football Annual
^ "Queen's Park Football Club Sports". North British Daily Mail: 3. 15 August 1872.
^ McCrossan, Frank. "1871-72". Queen's Park Football Club - An Early History. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
^ Alcock, Charles (1873). Football Yearbook. p. 100.
^ "Football". North British Daily Mail: 3. 8 April 1872.
^ Alcock, Charles (1874). Football Yearbook. London: Virtue. p. 123.
^ "Association Cup tie - Clydesdale v Granville". North British Daily Mail: 6. 27 October 1873.
^ Alcock, Charles (1874). Football Yearbook. p. 127.
^ Potter, David; Jones, Phil H. (2016). The History of the Scottish Cup: The Story of Every Season 1873–2016. Worthing: Pitch Publishing. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-1-78531-214-4.
^ "Football". Glasgow Herald: 6. 17 March 1874.
^ Alcock, Charles (1875). Football Annual. Virtue. p. 43.
^ Alcock, Charles (1878). Football Yearbook. Cricket Press. p. 125.
^ "Football". Glasgow Herald: 5. 2 December 1872.
^ Alcock, Charles (1874). Football Yearbook. London: Virtue. p. 125.
^ Alcock, Charles (1874). Football Yearbook. p. 127.