The Gaelic Football Club was a short-lived

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

Coatbridge Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known a ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scot ...

, active briefly in the 1890s.

History

The club was founded in August 1894 to be an Irish diaspora club in Coatdyke. The club's promoter, John Flood, had previously been a match secretary for Hibernian. There was confusion as a Mr Flood represented Airdrieonians on the Lanarkshire Association, but that was John's brother. The club made its debut in the preliminary round of the 1894–95 Scottish Cup, having recruited Michael Dolan from

Uddingston Uddingston ( sco, Uddinstoun, gd, Baile Udain) is a small town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the north side of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre, and acts as a dormitory suburb for the city. Geography and boundarie ...

, and Foy and Trayner from

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scot ...

, and lost 3–2 at Airdriehill, the match notable for referee McClelland being injured by running into an Airdriehill player. In October, Gaelic made its Lanarkshire Cup debut, and caused a shock by beating the Cup holders Royal Albert, considered "such a surprise as has not taken place for years". However the Royalists protested on the basis that the goals were too wide; the protest was upheld, and a second Gaelic win did not count as the match referee did not turn up, so the game was played out as a 50-minute friendly. Only at the third time of asking could Gaelic make a win stick - by which time the aggregate score over the three games was 13–6. The effort however in eliminating the bigger club seems to have taken its toll on the Gaelic, as in the next round at

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

the club was slaughtered 12–1, home advantage being considered the determining factor, and nine of the Motherwell goals coming in the second half; although the club was facing increasing issues with players being unable to get away from work, plus its ground being unavailable because of building operations. Gaelic protested about the size of the goals, but it was reckoned not to be a serious protest, made solely to needle the Lanarkshire FA with regard to the Royal Albert tie. As a result of the difficulties in finding players and a playing surface, the club barely operated for most of the season. Despite this it was being touted as a likely member of the

Scottish Football Alliance The Scottish Football Alliance was a football 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 Alliance the bas ...

for the following season "provided they improve their playing pitch somewhat". The difficulties of operating against a backdrop of the Scottish League however were evident in the club's finances - a gate against Northern in February was a mere 19s and in March the club brought a claim against

Dykehead Dykehead is a rural locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Dykehead had a population of 8 people. Geography The Auburn River forms most of the eastern and southern boundaries, while the Burnett River forms a smal ...

before 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 ...

for not receiving a £2 guarantee for a match with "no drawings ate. In May, Gaelic was ordered to pay expenses to

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scottis ...

for failing to find a team for a Lanarkshire Consolation Cup tie, and, although the club entered 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 Cup ...

in 1895–96, this seems to have been something of a "flyer", given that a number of players had left for

. Drawn at home to Kilmarnock Athletic, Flood telegraphed the Ayrshire side offering to scratch from the tie for a consideration, and the Reds offered £2 10/, which he accepted; as membership of the Scottish FA was 5 shillings at the time, and Gaelic never played again, Flood had gained something of a last laugh.

Colours

The club wore red and green striped jerseys and white knickers; in the context of the time, stripes usually referred to hoops.

Ground

The club played at a ground called Cliftonhill, said to have been one of the former grounds of the original Airdrie and thus one of the oldest in Scotland. The ground appears to have been to the west of Cliftonhill House, so directly to the north of the current Cliftonhill ground. One reason behind the club's demise was that, at the start of the 1895–96 season, it was described as "unplayable".

Notable players

Peter Boyle Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. Known as a character actor, he played Frank Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'' and the comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof ''Youn ...

, defender, who was being touted as ready to move to an English club (which turned out to be

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

) in February 1895 * Frank Dolan, former Celtic centre-half * Michael Dolan, Celtic's first goalkeeper

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1894 1894 establishments in Scotland Association football clubs disestablished in 1895 1895 disestablishments in Scotland Coatbridge Football in North Lanarkshire Irish diaspora sports clubs in Scotland