The first football match in Scotland under Association rules was played in Glasgow on 1 August 1868 between Queen's Park and Thistle. But while the foundation and history of Queen's Park is well known, it takes two sides to play a match, so who exactly were their opponents, Thistle? And was this really the starting point for football in the city?
   The answers lie in the hidden history of football in Glasgow before Queen's Park came on the scene, with a man called John B Connell claiming to have brought the first football to the city several years earlier.
   The traditional version of events was written by Richard Robinson in the Queen's Park jubilee history, where he asserted that there was no serious football in the city before the club was founded on 9 July 1867: 'Football was played in a more or less happy-go-lucky fashion in the Queen's Park and Glasgow Green. Play with the round ball was then comparatively new, and had not yet been systematised in Scotland.'
   Robinson described how Queen's Park was founded after a few young men from the north of Scotland were engaged in athletic pursuits near to a group of YMCA members who were playing football. Sometimes the game spilled over into the athletics area, so the northerners challenged the YMCA boys. They enjoyed football enough to start playing regularly 'to amuse themselves, among themselves, in their own way,' and then decided to form a proper club. The rest is history as Queen's Park blazed a trail for association football in Scotland.
   However, it is clear that football was already a popular recreation in Glasgow long before 1867, although frustratingly for historians there are only tantalising glimpses of football in the press and written records.
   For example, in the summer of 1862 the Glasgow Abstainers' Union took over Gilmorehill Recreation Grounds to promote outdoor activities, and top of their list was football. Although it was initially described as 'the ancient and praiseworthy pastime of football', the activity was soon disparaged by an English observer in a letter to the Glasgow Morning Journal: 'Football as we play it in England, with two sides, and a goal to be kept by one of them, is a noble game. Here there was no game. By the English eye a mob of people kicking a ball about quite aimlessly and at random could only be regarded as a pitiful congregation of blockheads working off their superfluous physical energies in a particularly insane and stupid manner.' (7 May 1862)
   This drew an angry riposte from 'A Scotchman' who wrote: 'Failing to discover the drunkenness over which he would have gloated with delight, he gives vent to his bile in a scurrilous attack on the play at foot-ball, which was not managed, he says in the English style. It may be right, perhaps, to let this conceited Englishman know that the game of football is as well understood in all parts of Scotland as England.' (9 May 1862) 
   It appears the Abstainers' Union were scared off by the bad publicity and they abruptly ended the short-lived experiment with the stark announcement: 'Foot-Balling has been discontinued in consequence of interfering with the comfort of visitors'. The game was simply too popular.

The only other meaningful announcement about football is a solitary advert for members of the St Andrew Football Club, placed in the Glasgow Herald in November 1865. Unfortunately, apart from the location of their ground on Great Western Road - which was also the home of cricket clubs including Caledonian, Bellegrove and Blythswood - nothing more is revealed about the club, not even whether they played with a round or oval ball.
   Although the city's first rugby clubs were founded at West of Scotland (1865) and Glasgow Academicals (1866), there are precious few mentions of football in the press until Queen's Park advertised the start of their first summer season in March 1868, shortly followed by their annual meeting on 4 April.

The club was quickly growing in a stature, as a letter to the Glasgow Evening Citizen on 6 June confirmed. The writer stated the need for dressing rooms for sportsmen at the Queen's Park Recreation Ground and described the football club as 'the most influential in numbers, well organised and respectable, and with their flags, goal posts, putting stones, hammers and balls.' This was quite an accolade for a club which was less than a year old.
   That summer they decided to broaden their horizons beyond their own membership and, according to Robinson: 'It was found that there were in existence other clubs in exactly the same position as the Queen's Park, on the lookout for opponents.'
   Two challenges were received: one from Ayr FC, the other from the Thistle FC, whose headquarters were on Glasgow Green. A trip to Ayr was deemed impractical on financial grounds, so the game with Thistle was arranged and a letter from Robert Gardner, accepting the challenge, is in the Scottish Football Museum. It was addressed to Andrew Holmes, secretary of the Thistle Football Club, which indicates a properly organised club.
   A few days later, the teams met at the Queen's Park Recreation Ground, with Queen's Park winning by two goals to nil. Association football had arrived in Glasgow.
   What of their opponents? To establish the story of the Thistle Football Club one has to depend on later reminiscences, some of which contradict what Robinson wrote in the Queen's Park history.
   I was first alerted to an anecdote published in a 1934 book, The Mighty Kick. The authors wrote that 'John Connal [sic] brought the first football to Glasgow in 1862, having been brought up on the traditions of Hansel Monday in Callander, and helped to found the Thistle Football Club at Glasgow Green. Callander boys came to Glasgow and played football at Monteith Row, Glasgow Green, where the People's Palace now stands, paying a penny a week to take part. They wore the colours of Drummond Castle, which was owned by Baron Willoughby d'Eresby. This included tartan caps.'
   I found more of Connell's story in a couple of newspaper articles which described how he made the transition from the rural football of Perthshire to the organised game in Glasgow.

The Scottish Referee (29 June 1914) had an article titled 'A Football Pioneer' which was based on a conversation with John B Connell. It told how he came to Glasgow from Port of Menteith in 1863, and brought his football with him, one that had been used in the annual game at Callander on Hansel Monday (the first day of the traditional new year).
   'He was the only individual in the city who possessed a public ball, and the charge for the use of it was a penny a week. The games were played on Glasgow Green, the boundaries being from Geordie Geddes's house [ie the Glasgow Humane Society] to Monteith Row, and the objective was to kick over the boundary on either side. Both hands and feet were used. There was no limit to the number of players who joined each side, once the penny was paid. These games ultimately culminated in the formation of the Thistle, in which Connell took a prominent part, though prior to that there was the Drummond Club, composed of Callander men.'

However, the accounts do reveal something of the nature of early association football in Glasgow. They also provide a documented direct link between Scottish rural football and association football, as first described by Dr Neil Tranter who told the story of Callander’s Hansel Monday football game over twenty years ago (click on link and scroll to page 143) and it was then reported in The Herald. ​The traditional new year match continued in the town until 1885, and overlapped with the formation in 1877 of Callander's first association football club, Rob Roy.

Connell was no mean player and was rated in the first Scottish Football Annual: 'Powerful back; kicks well, although rather nervous when pressed.' In 1875, while with Eastern, he played for Glasgow v Sheffield and a year later featured in an international trial.
   His full name was John Burns Connell and he was born in Doune in 1846, then brought up on a farm near Port of Menteith, a few miles south of Callander. He clearly took part in the annual football match there and after coming to Glasgow to work in the early 1860s he continued to enjoy the game and appears to have been the captain of both the Thistle and the Drummond teams.
   Later he played for Callander (a Glasgow club) in the first ever Scottish Cup tournament in 1873, after the club subscribed £1 for the purchase of the trophy. He then joined Eastern, a club which produced many prominent players, notably the Scotland internationalists Peter Andrews, JJ Lang, Alex Kennedy and WS Somers. Ultimately Eastern became one of the forerunners of Clyde FC.
   He remained in Glasgow for the rest of his life and worked for over 50 years as a draper and warehouseman with J&W Campbell. He died in Scotstoun in 1930, aged 84, and although he and his wife Louisa had two children, there are not thought to be any living descendants.
   There are no known photos of Connell, which is unfortunate as he is a key figure in the early development of football. Similarly, there is no documentary evidence of the Thistle or Drummond clubs.
   As research into the story of early Scottish football continues, I hope that, in time, the contributions of John B Connell and his fellow players from Callander will become better known and appreciated.

**Update - following the digitisation of the Daily Record by the British Newspaper Archive, a lengthy article by Connell has come to light. Published three years after his death, it is a detailed and fascinating account of the pre-history of football in Glasgow.

As a collector of football programmes, I have a fascination for the earliest known Scottish editions, going back over 100 years. But where did it all begin? The answer lies with a pioneer editor in Perth.
   His name was JG Cruickshank, and he was much praised in the local press for his publishing efforts with the Perthshire FA around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when he was honorary secretary of the association. Unfortunately, he met a tragic end.
   Football programmes - as opposed to team match cards - originated with a few English clubs during the 1890s. But in Scotland, the trend did not really get going until the 1920s, so it is quite a surprise to find the above drawing in the Dundee Courier in November 1899, above a lengthy appreciation of his work: 'Than Mr JG Cruickshank, the energetic secretary of the Perthshire Football Association, there are few gentlemen better known in the realms of sport in Scotland or more highly esteemed.' The article went on to say that Cruickshank had been on the PFA committee for three years and was also secretary of the Perthshire 2nd XI Association, the Perth City and County League and the newly founded Dewar Shield.
   It comments that he had taken the initiative to launch the Perthshire Football Annual, and the following year the Northern Football Annual, then adds: 'Mention ought to be made of the official guides which he prepares for every important event which falls to be decided. He handed over the proceeds of three of his programmes to the war fund (ie Boer War) - something like £4 after clearing all expenses.'
   Clearly programme publishing had already become a regular occurrence at major matches in Perthshire.
   Further mention of his editing skills came in the Dundee Evening Post in February 1900: 'We have just received the official programme of the inter-county match between Forfarshire and Perthshire which takes place on the Recreation Grounds, Perth, on Saturday. The programme is tastefully got up and contains, besides other information of interest to footballers, portraits of the rival captains, Mr James Eadie, Dunblane and Mr G Bowman, Montrose. It may be added that the official programmes are to be sold, and the proceeds are to be handed over to the local fund in aid of the wives and families of reservists. The programmes may be had for the humble 'brown' (ie a penny).'
   Described as 'Perthshire's Scribe', Cruickshank continued producing annuals and programmes until 1905, when he stepped down from his duties, again with much positive comment in the press. He was presented with a silver salver and a purse of sovereigns by the President of the Scottish FA, as well as a gold brooch for his wife. In fact, he was then prevailed upon to continue for another season before finally retiring.
   So, who was he? Born in Edinburgh in 1869, James Cruickshank moved to Perth and worked as a salesman for Macnaughtons of Pitlochry, a prominent woollen manufacturer, running their shop in St John's Place. His home was in Craigie, Perth, but his connections to his employers were so strong that he actually represented Vale of Atholl, the Pitlochry club, despite not living there.
   After stepping down from his Perthshire FA posts, he moved to Dundee and set up a drapery shop in Hawkhill. However, his life ended in tragedy and the Dundee Courier reported his suicide in November 1924, aged 55. He was found in his back shop, having poisoned himself with a pipe running from the gas oven. He left a wife and a son.

By a wonderful coincidence, just a couple of weeks after writing this blog I was visiting the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park and spotted this programme in a display case:

Yes, it is an original Cruickshank! Issued for the Perthshire Cup Final of 1903, in which St Johnstone beat Vale of Teith 3-2, it has four pages and was distributed free. I am indebted to St Johnstone historian Brian Doyle, who has provided me with the Perthshire Consitutional report on the game, which includes this info about the programme: 'A feature in connection with the match was the issuing of a nicely got up special souvenir ... the souvenir was largely taken up, and in fact was a huge success, for 'Davie' was finished handing out the copies long before the end of the game. The manner in which the souvenir was folded up and pocketed showed that it was indeed appreciated and no doubt is being duly preserved for the information it contains. On Saturday evening the souvenir was quite 'out of print' so far as the demand was concerned. Many persons desired to get copies with the object of sending them to Perth people abroad, and even on Monday there was a case where a person desired to purchase copies to send as far away as India.'