Eastern Football Club was a 19th-century

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based 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 ...

, Scotland. It was one of the founder members 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 ...

(SFA) and one of the sixteen teams to participate in the inaugural season of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp spikes on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. T ...

club. The club's first game, at Fleshers' Haughs, took place on 25 January 1873, against a Celtic football club, and ended in a 4–0 win to Eastern, although the Celtic goalkeeper claimed the score was merely 3–0. Eastern were one of the eight clubs that agreed to form the SFA in March that year. Eastern participated in Scottish Cup tournaments between 1873–74 and 1876–77, reaching the quarter-finals on the first two occasions; its run in 1874–75 included a 3–0 win over

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, despite thoughts that the Eastern "hardly played with its usual fettle". A member of Eastern, James McIntyre, was selected to referee the first

Scottish Cup final The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish Cup, is a knockout cup competition in Scottish football. Organised by the Scottish Football Association, it is the third oldest existing football competition in the wo ...

between Queen's Park and Clydesdale on 21 March 1874. The same year the Eastern in effect took over the smaller

Callander Callander (; ) is a small town in the council area of Stirling (district), Stirling in Scotland, situated on the River Teith. The town is located in the historic county of Perthshire and is a popular tourist stop to and from the Highlands. De ...

club, fielding a number of Callander players in matches from early in 1874. The club's final Cup tie was against Alexandra Athletic in 1876. The clubs drew the first game, and Eastern won the second 2–0, but the Athletes protested on the basis that the referee who took charge of the match had not been agreed beforehand; ironically, this was down to Eastern objecting to the Alexandra nominee, but Eastern called the protest "a mean subterfuge to attempt to wrest the honours which have already been fairly won". Perhaps as a result of the Scottish FA acceding to the protest, and the Athletes winning the third match, Eastern does not seem to have played football again, with members instead forming the Clyde club, and possibly also joining the Stonefield club which, with Clyde, took over the Eastern ground.

Colours

The club played in royal blue and scarlet shirts, originally with blue serge knickerbockers, which were white for the club's final season.

Stadium

The club's first ground was Fleshers' Haugh on

Glasgow Green Glasgow Green is a park in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde. Established in the 15th century, it is the oldest park in the city. It connects to the south via the St Andrew's Suspension Bridge. History In ...

. In 1875, the club moved to

Barrowfield Park Barrowfield Park was a football ground in the Bridgeton / Dalmarnock area of Glasgow, Scotland. It was the home ground of Eastern during the 1870s and Clyde between 1877 and 1898. History Clyde moved to Barrowfield Park in 1877, initially g ...

, which was also known informally as Glengarry Park, after the open space next to the roped-off area. It was immediately to the east of the Barrowfield print works and considered short at 130 yards.

Notable players

During its relatively short time, Eastern provided

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

with some of its early international players, with

John Hunter John Hunter may refer to: Politics *John Hunter (British politician) (1724–1802), British Member of Parliament for Leominster * John Hunter (Canadian politician) (1909–1993), Canadian Liberal MP for Parkdale, 1949–1957 *Sir John Hunter ( ...

, Peter Andrews and

Sandy Kennedy Alexander "Sandy" Kennedy (born in Dalquhurn) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Eastern, Third Lanark and Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly o ...

representing Scotland on a number of occasions.

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs Defunct football clubs in Scotland Football clubs in Glasgow Association football clubs established in 1873 Association football clubs disestablished in 1877 1873 establishments in Scotland 1877 disestablishments in Scotland Scottish Football Association founder members Bridgeton–Calton–Dalmarnock