Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
-based senior football club. They were based in
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
.
History
Originally the team played in red & blue colours (1874–79); but for the 1879–80 season they changed to a white shirt with thin black hoops.
The club is notable for having two of the earliest known black footballers; Andrew Watson and Robert Walker. While at Parkgrove, Watson became the club's match secretary - making him also the first black administrator in association football.
It was noted that Parkgrove played with a cosmopolitan team. Thomas Britten, a
Welsh international
The Welsh International is an international badminton championship held in Wales since 1928 and is thereby one of the oldest badminton tournaments in the world. The tournament was halted during World War II and until 1956, between 1960 and 1966, ...
football player, played for the club in 1878. Another of its players, goalkeeper Tommy Marten, was noted as being from Japan although it was later established that he was half Chinese.
The club made the fifth round of the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1879-80. They drew with South Western; but were beaten in the replay. South Western progressed to the Quarter-Finals but were beaten by Pollokshields Athletic.
Decline
The club couldn't make a game with Dunfermline F.C. on New Year's Day 1880. Many of the club's players moved to the new Pilgrims side for the 1880–81 season.
It was noted that Parkgrove moved out of their Trinidad Park ground in 1880. A notice of the ground at the Broomloan estate states that Parkgrove recently moved - and that the ground was now for let.
Kinning Park
Kinning Park is a southern suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. It was formerly a separate police burgh between 1871 and 1905 before being absorbed by the city. In 1897, it had a population of 14,326.Govan Parish School Board, ''The Members' Year Book ...
, home of
Rangers
A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...
at the time Parkgrove played at Trinidad Park, was fairly near; The '' Gers'' moved to the
first Ibrox Park
First most commonly refers to:
* First, the ordinal form of the number 1
First or 1st may also refer to:
Acronyms
* Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array
* Far Infrared a ...
, directly adjacent to the Trinidad site, in 1887.
The ''Scottish Referee'' noted on 8 October 1894 that they were asked to contradict a rumour that the Parkgrove club were about to collapse. It noted that the secretary advised that the club was in healthy condition and was likely to survive for many days.
The club was still extant late that same year, playing Rangers on 15 December 1894 in the Kirkwood Shield competition. They were still playing in 1896 as they were in a
Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...
-sponsored tournament in season 1896–97; however, by August 1897, Parkgrove was listed by the ''Scottish Referee'' as one of the many defunct clubs of Glasgow.
Notable former players
* Andrew Watson, Scottish international football player; and the first black association football player.
* Robert Walker, another black player to play association football alongside Watson at Parkgrove.
* Thomas Britten, Welsh international player - who was noted as Parkgrove's leading striker.