Bowling F.C. 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 the village of

Bowling, West Dunbartonshire Bowling ( sco, Bowlin,
gd, Bolan) is a village in

, active in the 19th century.

History

The first record for the club is its playing in the Dumbartonshire Junior Cup in 1886–87. Its first appearance of note was entering the

Dumbartonshire Cup The Dumbartonshire Cup was the championship trophy of the Dumbartonshire FA from its inception in 1884 until the organization disbanded in 1938. There was however an 'extra' playing of the competition in 1939, immediately after the outbreak of the ...

in 1887–88, but Bowling scratched when paired with Dumbarton Athletic in the first round. The club took the bold step of 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 ...

in August 1888, despite

Dumbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Pe ...

being the home of some of the strongest teams in the world at the time. The futility of such a step was demonstrated by its appearance in the

1888–89 Scottish Cup The 1888–89 Scottish Cup was the 16th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. 3rd Lanark RV beat Glasgow rivals Celtic (making their Cup début) 2–1 in a replayed final. The original match was won 3–0 by 3rd L ...

, losing 8–0 to Renton, which had recently demonstrated a claim to be the very strongest. The two clubs were drawn together again the following season, this time Bowling at home, but still conceding 8. Bowling did at least score a consolation goal. Two months later, Bowling played for the first time in the Dumbartonshire, at

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, and getting off to the best possible start, by scoring within a minute; even with 20 minutes to go, the score was still 1–1, but Union scored three late unanswered goals. The club put in arguably its best performance in a friendly at the start of the season, drawing 2–2 with

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

, albeit a scratch Dumbarton side. The Scottish FA introduced qualifying rounds from the 1891–92 season onwards, and Bowling withdrew from the association. It continued to enter the county cup until 1892–93, its best attempt at avoiding defeat coming in a farcical tie against Kirkintilloch Athletic. The first attempt at the match had to be played as a 70-minute friendly as the referee had not turned up at Kirkintilloch, ending with 1 goal to Bowling, and 1 disputed goal to the home side. The second was postponed, and the third won by Kirkintilloch, but Bowling successfully protested that the match finished in darkness due to Athletic not turning up in time. The fourth did not take place, as Bowling did not turn up, and Athletic was awarded the tie, amid local muttering that "the Bowling seem able to play best at the association meetings in Dumbarton". The final recorded match for the club was a 7–2 defeat at Dumbarton Rangers in February 1893.

Colours

The club wore black and white hoops with white knickers.

Ground

The club played at Dunglass Park, a field behind

Dunglass Castle Dunglass Castle, situated in West Dunbartonshire on a rocky cliff overlooking the River Clyde, is a 14th-century ruinous castle. It was designated as a Category B listed building in 1971. It has been graded at high risk by the Buildings at Ris ...

provided by Captain Buchanan, notable for its "neat pavilion and beautiful pitch".

Notable players

* Neilly Kerr, who went on to play for

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Union (Dumbarton) Association football clubs established in 1886 Association football clubs disestablished in 1893 Football in West Dunbartonshire 1886 establishments in Scotland 1893 establishments in Scotland