The Cameronians 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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club, formed out of the

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Army, the only regiment of rifles amongst the Scottish regiments of infantry. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 26th Cameronian Reg ...

regiment of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

History

The regiment's side emerged from the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Scottish Rifles, and was formally called as the 4th V.B.S.R. as a result, the Cameronians name being official from 1897. The club was founded in 1893 and, with the regiment being based in north-east Glasgow, entered the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

and

Glasgow North Eastern Cup The Glasgow North Eastern Cup was a senior competition organised by the North Eastern FA in Glasgow, and open to clubs in the East and North areas of the city. 1881–82 season Matches Semi-final Final 1881-92 season 1882-83 season 1 ...

(the last edition of the latter) in the 1893–94 season. The club beat Shettleston Swifts 7–1 in the first preliminary round of the national competition (the tie being drawn to be played at Shettleston, but actually played at Maxwell Park), but lost in the second to

Cowlairs Cowlairs () is an area in the Scottish city of Glasgow, part of the wider Springburn district of the city. It is situated north of the River Clyde, between central Springburn to the east and Possilpark to the west. Administratively, in the 21 ...

. The club continued to enter the

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

and the Scottish Cup - from 1895 to 1896, the

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 Cu ...

- until 1902–03. It lost every single competitive cup fixture it played, other than a win over Glengowan in the first round of the Qualifying Cup in 1898–99, and a 3–2 replay win over the fallen giants of Renton in the same competition in 1900–01, with goals from Hill, McKnight, and Denholm. The score slightly flattered Renton, which scored its second on the whistle. Despite the poor cup record, the club applied to join the

Scottish Football Alliance The Scottish Football Alliance was a league football structure set up in Scotland in competition with the Scottish Football League. Its success in the early years of professional football in both England and Scotland made the Alliance the basis for ...

in 1896, and was accepted, ahead of Mossend Swifts and

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; albeit this was a sign of the Alliance's decline, as many of its clubs had been recruited into the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 k ...

, and it was only by a margin of 6 votes to 3 that the Alliance was not disbanded. Cameronians finished bottom of the 5 clubs, with only one win, 4–1 at home to

Blantyre Blantyre is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with a population of 800,264 . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe. It is ...

, and the Alliance did not continue afterwards. From 1904 to 1912, the regiment was stationed outside the United Kingdom, and it had considerable success in competitions; from 1906 to 1909, it won four trophies in India (including the

Durand Cup The Durand Cup (also called the IndianOil Durand Cup Powered by Coal India Limited for sponsorship reasons) is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Annadale, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Hosted by the ...

twice), and, having been re-deployed to South Africa in 1910, it won the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

Cup, the Orange Free State 2nd division, and the Dewar Trophy. In 1912, the regiment returned to Scotland, and re-entered the Qualifying Cup, but again with the same lack of success; its one win in the competition was 3–2 at

Babcock & Wilcox Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. is an American energy technology and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Historically, the company is best known for their stea ...

in 1913–14. However, the club did achieve its greatest success in Scottish football that season, by winning the

Scottish Amateur Cup The Scottish Amateur Cup is a nationwide knockout tournament supported and organised by the Scottish Amateur Football Association. The Scottish Amateur Cup is contested by hundreds of football clubs every year. The first and second rounds are re ...

, beating the Albert Road Former Pupils at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

. The outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

meant this was the club's last competitive match; it had to withdraw from the 1914–15 Qualifying Cup and never returned to senior football.

Colours

The club's original colours were red and white jerseys with blue knickers. From 1900 to 1904, the club wore maroon, and while stationed in India reverted to red and white stripes, but with white shorts. From 1912 to 1915, a combination of black, green, and blue, the colours of the regimental tartan.

Ground

The club's ground in Scotland was Maxwell Park off Alexandra Parade.

References

External links

Scottish Cup seasons
{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Cameronians Association football clubs established in 1893 Association football clubs disestablished in 1913 1893 establishments in Scotland 1913 disestablishments in Scotland Football clubs in Glasgow Military football clubs in Scotland Association football in the British Army