Bellshill Football Club was a 19th-century football club based in
Bellshill
Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton to the southwest, Viewpark to the w ...
,
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 ...
Forfar
Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a po ...
of having played 4
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1879–80: 1–2 at
Excelsior
Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry
* "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
* ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...
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 ...
; six goals came in the first half, when Cambuslang was kicking against the wind and the sun.
Four months into its first season, in November 1879, Bellshill was one of the 16 clubs which founded the Lanarkshire Football Association. Bellshill duly entered the first Lanarkshire Cup, but lost in the first round at
Shettleston
Shettleston ( sco, Shuttlestoun, gd, Baile Nighean Sheadna) is a district in the east end of Glasgow in Scotland.
Toponymy
The origin of the name 'Shettleston' is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a mult ...
, a Bellshill protest being dismissed.
In its first season, Bellshill had 30 members, which put it on a par with clubs like Excelsior and Cambuslang. However, it did not take part in the 1881–82 season, its players (including captain William Moody) and committee members having mostly been part of the junior Bellshill Daisy club, and 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 ...
recording the club as "dissolved", although on Bellshill's return in 1882 it still claimed a foundation date of 1879.
That seems to have stalled the club, as, by 1883, Bellshill had not grown at all, but Cambuslang had 70 members and Excelsior (now called Airdrieonians) had 40. The size of the gap was shown by a 10–0 friendly defeat at Royal Albert in February 1883; four years earlier the clubs had been similar sizes, but the Royalists now had double the membership. The club did not pay its subscription to 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 ...
for 1884–85, being struck from the membership before the season started.
Colours
Bellshill originally played in cardinal and white, with white trousers. In 1882 it changed to -inch black-and-white hooped jerseys and white knickers.
Grounds
The club originally played at Bellshill Park, 15 minutes' walk from
Bellshill railway station
Bellshill railway station is a railway station in the town of Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The station is managed by ScotRail and served by Argyle Line and Shotts Line services. The station is adjacent to Bellshill Main Street, on Hamil ...
, gaining its own place in 1880 at Viewhill Park, Muirmadkin Road.