Alpha Football Club was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club from

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scot ...

, that was the ancestor club of

Motherwell Football Club Motherwell Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Motherwell have not dropped out of the top-flight of Scottish football since 1985, and have lifte ...

History

The club was formed in 1881 as the works side of the Alpha Steam Crane and Engine Works. The media sometimes referred to the club as Motherwell Alpha. Alpha's first competitive football came in the 1883–84 Lanarkshire Cup, and, thanks to two wins and a bye, reached the semi-final. Alpha lost 4–0 at the more experienced

Cambuslang Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...

, who scored 3 goals in the final 10 minutes, and who beat

Dykehead Dykehead is a rural locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Dykehead had a population of 8 people. Geography The Auburn River forms most of the eastern and southern boundaries, while the Burnett River forms a smal ...

in the final by the same score. The club entered the Lanarkshire again in the following season, "unexpectedly" beating

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scottis ...

5–2, but losing to Dykehead in the quarter-final. In August 1885, Alpha turned senior by joining the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility fo ...

, and entered the

1885–86 Scottish Cup The 1885–86 Scottish Cup was the 13th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Queen's Park won the competition for the eighth time after they beat defending champions Renton 3–1 in the final. Arbroath set a world ...

. It played Cambuslang Hibernians at home in the first round, and the match was a 14-goal thriller, the visitors winning through 8–6. There was a chance for Alpha to gain revenge on the town in the Lanarkshire Cup, as Cambuslang was drawn to visit Motherwell, but again the visitors scored 8 - this time however Alpha only scoring 1, against the side that would go on to reach the Scottish Cup final two years later. On 17 May 1886, the club held a meeting in Mrs Baillie's pub in Merry Street, and decided to break up the Alpha and form a new club, to be called

. The resulting club, which included members of the Glencairn works side, retained James Ferguson as secretary and Roman Road as its ground, and was considered more a continuation of Alpha. The Alpha still had to play out the season, which included the latter stages of the first Motherwell Charity Cup; there was not much charity shown in the semi-final with Wishaw Swifts, which included a protested match and one match abandoned because of fighting. Wishaw Swifts scratched, and Alpha's very last match was a 5–1 defeat to Royal Albert in the final.

Colours

The club wore navy blue jerseys and hose, and white knickers.

Ground

The club first played on a field behind Baillie's Square on Merry Street, but in March 1885 moved into Roman Road Park, 400 yards from Motherwell railway station, which ultimately offered "the finest piece of turf in the shire". The move allowed the club to rent out its former ground for grazing purposes. The first game at the new ground was a 2–2 draw with Hamilton Academical on 7 March, some spectators taking issue with the timekeeping, as the referee insisted that the Acas' equalizer came when the game "wanted a few seconds of being finished". The rent was £18 per year, and one problem the club had was the ease with which trespassers could sneak into the ground without paying, by climbing over the meagre fencing.

Notable players

* James "Skinner" Cassidy, who played for Alpha on its foundation, and later for Everton

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs Defunct football clubs in Scotland Football in North Lanarkshire Association football clubs established in 1881 Association football clubs disestablished in 1886 1881 establishments in Scotland 1886 disestablishments in Scotland Motherwell Motherwell F.C.