Bridge of Weir 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 the same name in

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...

, active in senior football in the late 19th century.

History

The first Bridge of Weir F.C. was active from 1878 to 1881, its highlight being runner-up in the Johnstone and District Cup to

Johnstone F.C. Johnstone Football Club was a football club based at Newfield Park in Johnstone, Renfrewshire in Scotland. The club was a member of the Scottish Football League in two spells between 1912 and 1926. History The club was formed in 1878 and init ...

in 1879. It played in the first four editions of the

Renfrewshire Cup The Renfrewshire Cup was an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final was generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest teams ...

but lost each of its ties. Apart from a one-off match in 1886, involving a team of 10 from a coffee factory against a team of 7 said to represent the Bridge of Weir "club", there was no representative side in the village between 1881 and 1887. On 5 November 1887, a scratch team from Glasgow played a pick-up side from the village at Shillingworth Park, and that stimulated a debate as to why there was no football club in Bridge of Weir. Two weeks later the village scratch side beat Kilmalcolm F.C. 2–1, and by the end of the 1887–88 season the Bridge of Weir was playing quite regularly. It made a low-key return to competitive football in 1888–89, losing in the second round of the Johnstone Cup to Johnstone Union, a protest about rough play being dismissed. In 1889–90 it started to enter the

, and, in 1893–94, having joined 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 ...

, the preliminary rounds of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Qualifying Cup The Scottish Qualifying Cup was a football competition played in Scotland between 1895 and 2007. During that time, apart from a brief spell in the 1950s, it was the only way for non-league teams to qualify for the Scottish Cup. The Qualifying Cup ...

. It scratched twice in four years, losing the other two ties it played, 5–2 at home to

Lochwinnoch Lochwinnoch (; sco, Lochineuch, gd, Loch Uinneach) is a village in the council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying on the banks of Castle Semple Loch and the River Calder, Lochwinnoch is c ...

in 1896–97 and 6–1 at Johnstone in 1898–99, hampered by an injury reducing the Bridge to ten men for part of the game. It won only one tie in the Renfrewshire; 6–3 against Paisley Academicals in 1892–93. The second round saw the club's heaviest competitive defeat of 13–2 at home to

Abercorn Abercorn ( Gaelic: ''Obar Chùirnidh'', Old English: ''Æbbercurnig'') is a village and civil parish in West Lothian, Scotland. Close to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, the village is around west of South Queensferry. The parish had a ...

. Its final two entries to the competition, in 1897–98 and 1898–99, saw it scratch before playing. The club's record of repeated scratchings saw it thrown out of the Scottish FA in April 1900, and the last records of the club playing date from the end of the 1901–02 season.

Colours

The club originally played in royal blue and scarlet shirts, with blue knickers. In 1896 it changed to blue shirts and black knickers.

Ground

The first ground in the village used for football was Shillingworth Park. On its revival the club played at Gryfe Park, and on turning senior moved to Horsewood. From 1894, it played at Crofthead Park.

References

External links

Renfrewshire Cup results
{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Football in Renfrewshire Association football clubs established in 1887 Association football clubs disestablished in 1902 1887 establishments in Scotland 1902 disestablishments in Scotland