Blackfriars Football Club was a 19th-century Scottish
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
club based in
Parkhead
Parkhead () is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet (place), hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necro ...
, in
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
The club was founded in 1876 and had 25 members in its first season, which made it one of the smallest clubs in the city. The club took its name from Blackfriars Parish Church, which was being built in
Dennistoun
Dennistoun () is a mostly residential district in Glasgow, Scotland, located north of the River Clyde and in the city's Glasgow#East End, east end, about east of the city centre. Since 2017 it has formed the core of a Dennistoun (ward), Dennist ...
at the time of formation, its parent church on the High Street having just been demolished. It became a member of the
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...
in September 1877.
Blackfriars entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1877–78, was the only one with any profit, as the club walked over the now-defunct Hyde Park Loco Works in the first round, and got past the second round by drawing twice with Rovers. Both matches were at Belvidere Park, the first ending 2–2, and the latter 0–0; the Rovers dominated the replay all match, its goalkeeper only touching the ball twice. Under the rules of the competition at the time, both clubs went through to the third round of drawings.
By a strange happenstance, the clubs were then drawn together again, and, in the third tie at Belvidere, the game again ended in a draw, this time 1–1. At the fourth time of asking, and for the first time at Rovers' home, the Rovers won through 2–0; Lindsay (goalkeeper), McGowan, and Colin of the Blackfriars receiving particular praise.
The club's second entry in 1878–79 ended much more quickly, with a 7–0 home defeat to the John Elder works side. The final match recorded for the club was a 4–1 defeat at
Caledonia
Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the forested region in the central and western Scottish Highlands, particularly stretching through parts of what are now Lochaber, Badenoch, Strathspey, and possibly as ...
of
Thornliebank
Thornliebank ( Scots: ''Thonliebank'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach nan Dealgan'') is a suburban area in East Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, it is located on the Auldhouse Burn about ...
in March 1879; although the club had entered the
1879–80 Scottish Cup
The 1879–80 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the seventh season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. With 142 entrants, this season saw the largest number of teams to c ...
and been drawn at home to Rosslyn, the club had broken up before the tie could take place.
Colours
The club's colours were navy jerseys and white knickerbockers.