Glasgow Wanderers Football Club was a 19th-century football club from

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 ...

, which played for a season in the

Scottish Football Federation The Scottish Football Federation was an association football competition formed in 1891 which ran for just two seasons. The proposal for a competition came from seven clubs (Falkirk, King's Park, Royal Albert, Glasgow Wanderers, Pollokshaws, ...

History

Victoria

The club was founded in 1889 under the name Victoria Athletic Club, and admitted to 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 ...

and Glasgow Football Association that August, despite there being no record of it playing any matches beforehand. The Victoria optimistically secured a ground at Eglinton Park in

Govanhill Govanhill () is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, situated south of the River Clyde between Pollokshields, the Gorbals, Strathbungo, Crosshill, Polmadie and Queen's Park. Historically part of Renfrewshire, Govanhill had the status of a police ...

and started to put up a barricade, but, in the

1889–90 Scottish Cup The 1889–90 Scottish Cup was the 17th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Queen's Park defeated rivals Vale of Leven 2–1 in a replayed final. Calendar Teams All 158 teams entered the competition in the ...

, the club visited

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 ...

, and was "slaughtered" 21–1. The Cowlairs back James MacPherson found matters so easy that smoked a pipe during the match. Given that Victoria had been drawn to visit

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

in 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 ...

, an even heavier defeat was likely, but the tie never took place. The club had started hosting matches by November 1889, when it lost 1–0 at home to Carlton, and it picked up a 5–3 win at home to the

Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...

reserves in December.

Name change to Glasgow Wanderers

Following this improvement in form, the club held a meeting in February 1890, at which it changed its name to Glasgow Wanderers, a name which had been occasionally used for select XIs until 1887. In the

1890–91 Scottish Cup The 1890–91 Scottish Cup was the 18th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Heart of Midlothian defeated Dumbarton 1–0 to win the trophy. Teams First round Glasgow and Lanarkshire district Glengowan receive ...

first round, the club was drawn away to

Cambuslang Cambuslang (, from ) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th-largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a town hall, it may also be cons ...

, and after equalizing an early Cambuslang goal, the Wanderers conceded two more before half time, and a dull second half saw the home team win 3–1. Thanks to a win over

Cathcart Cathcart (; , )
is an area of

Champfleurie in a friendly the Wanderers "say they fancy themselves to beat the Cambuslang in the Glasgow ties". The original tie at Eglinton Park ended 1–1; Cambuslang won the replay 4–1, but the Wanderers protested on several grounds, including that Cambuslang, rather than wearing their registered dark blue, changed into a white shirt, which was not distinguishable from the Wanderers' light blue change kit as the light fell. Most grounds were dismissed, but, as the referee conceded that he had ended the game nine minutes early because of darkness, the replay was re-played, again going Cambuslang's way, albeit only 2–1 this time.

Scottish Football Federation

The club was evidently ambitious, with a full programme for 1890–91, including a New Year tour of the north, and a match at

Thistle F.C. Thistle Football Club (also known as Glasgow Thistle and Bridgeton Thistle) was a 19th-century football club based in Glasgow. The club was briefly a member of the Scottish Football League Division Two, and has been described as the most insig ...

which saw captain William Dewar sent off for using bad language. For 1891–92, despite the club's youth, it looked to join a football league, and club secretary John Dewar was one of the motive forces behind forming the Scottish Football Federation. The Federation was a competition for clubs overlooked by the new

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

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 ...

, forming a de facto third-tier competition. However Dewar left the club for Sunderland Albion before the season was properly under way and the club struggled, losing its first two matches 6–0 (to Royal Albert) and 7–2 (to

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They play in the , the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. Founded in October 1882, the club joined the Scottish Foot ...

) before gaining its first win at Burnbank Swifts. The club struggled for the rest of the season, being bottom of the table after 18 matches, although a late run of wins saw the club climb above

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

and Burnbank (whose game against

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

never took place). Its Cup runs were also short-lived, losing in the first preliminary round of the Scottish Cup to

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

, and in the second round of the Glasgow Cup (after a bye in the first) to Clyde. The Clyde match was particularly ill-tempered, being described as a "rabble affair" which ended with the Wanderers well behind after players "exchanged blows" and the Wanderers - despite being the home side - were "mobbed off the field". The club's protest was dismissed, although Clyde's M'Reedie was cautioned for "blacken ngthe eyes of M'Innes, of the Wanderers".

Decline

The Wanderers withdrew from the Federation at the end of the season and its brief period as a competitive force was already over. That Clyde received the cheers in the Glasgow Cup tie at Eglinton Park suggests that the Wanderers had not found support in the crowded Glasgow football environment. The club continued to enter the Scottish Cup (and then 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 1894–95, and never won a tie. The only time the club made it past the first qualifying round of the Scottish Cup was in walking over the United Abstainers in the first preliminary round in 1892. Wanderers then lost 9–2 at

Pollokshaws Pollokshaws () is an area on the South side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is bordered by the residential neighbourhoods of Auldhouse, Glasgow, Auldhouse to the east, Eastwood, Glasgow, Eastwood and Hillpark, Glasgow, Hillpark to the south ...

in the second preliminary round. The club had a similar lack of success in the Glasgow Cup. The club entered until 1893–94, and its only win had been its first tie against Cathcart. The club's final entry to the competition saw it lose 11–0 at

- arriving "very late and a few men short" - and it scratched from its final Scottish Qualifying Cup entry after being drawn to play Motherwell. The club does not appear to have played during the 1894–95 season and was formally struck from the

Colours

The club played navy blue. For the 1890 Glasgow Cup replay with Cambuslang, whose colours were dark blue, the Wanderers, as visiting club, had the choice of colours, and decided to play in a change strip of light blue.

Ground

The club played at Eglinton Park. The clubhouse was subject to a burglary in September 1892, thieves escaping with club kits, four pairs of boots, and three footballs.

Notable players

*William Dewar, who was chosen for an international trial match in 1891

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs Defunct football clubs in Scotland Football clubs in Glasgow Association football clubs established in 1889 Association football clubs disestablished in 1895 1889 establishments in Scotland 1895 disestablishments in Scotland Govanhill and Crosshill