Rangers Football Club was a Scottish

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 ...

team located in the town of

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

History

The club was founded in 1881. Despite the existence of the already-famous

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

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 ...

, the Greenock club's official name was also simply Rangers, although 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 ...

recorded it as Rangers (Greenock), and the media usually referred to the club as Greenock Rangers. It replaced

Wellington Park Wellington Park is a protected area which encompasses kunanyi / Mount Wellington and surrounds near Hobart, Tasmania. There are numerous hiking and mountain bike tracks within the park of varying difficulty. Protection Although it carries th ...

at the ground of the same name. The club turned senior in 1884 by joining the

. It entered the

1884–85 Scottish Cup The 1884–85 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the 12th season of Scotland's most prestigious Association football, football knockout competition. Renton F.C., Renton won the competition for the ...

, but was hammered 12–1 by Cartvale in the first round; its first entry into 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 team ...

was almost as disastrous, with an 11–1 home defeat to

Neilston Neilston (, , ) is a village and List of civil parishes in Scotland, parish in East Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the River Levern, Levern Valley, southwest of Barrhead, the last remaining town in greater Glas ...

. It did however win a tie in the Greenock & District Charity Cup, 5–3 at 1st R.R.V.; it was the club's only competitive victory. At the time Rangers turned senior, Greenock had a number of clubs, including senior clubs Southern, Greenock Rovers, Lyle Athletic, Northern (Greenock), Morton, and the 1st R.R.V.; between them, they had 320 members, but St Mirren in nearby Paisley had 300 members alone. With 30 members, Rangers was the joint-smallest of them. However, in 1885, it claimed a 189 members, which would have made it the biggest of the clubs in the town. Nevertheless, it still lost in the first round of the

1885–86 Scottish Cup The 1885–86 Scottish Cup was the 13th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Queen's Park won the competition for the eighth time after they beat defending champions Renton 3–1 in the final. Arbroath set a wor ...

, 5–1 at

Johnstone Johnstone (,
) is a town in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1886–87, when it successfully protested the 1st R.R.V. for fielding two unregistered players. In the second round Rangers lost 8–2 at

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 ...

. The club had one minor recognition when secretary John B. Walker was elected President of the Renfrewshire F.A. in 1887. It did not help the club - it suffered another double-digit defeat in the national cup and withdrew from the county after arriving late for the tie at

Renfrew Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...

. The club was considered defunct by 1888–89, with doubts about the club being able to take part in its Scottish Cup tie that season with Pollokshaws Harp justified when the team withdrew; it did however manage to get together a scratch side for the Renfrewshire Cup tie at Port Glasgow Athletic, which ended in another double-digit defeat. the club finally gave up the unequal struggle, not renewing its Scottish FA subscription for the 1889–90 season. The club continued at a new ground as a

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side, under former secretary M'Vicar, until 1890 and a second side of the same name was formed in 1892.

Colours

The club wore navy blue and white 1" hooped jerseys, white knickers, and red stockings.

Ground

The club firstly played at Wellington Park, at the foot of Whinhill, 5 minutes' walk from Lynedoch railway station. In 1886 it moved to Ladyburn Park.

External links

Scottish Cup results
(NB misses 1888–89 entry)

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Football in Renfrewshire Association football clubs established in 1881 Association football clubs disestablished in 1889 1881 establishments in Scotland 1889 disestablishments in Scotland Football in Inverclyde Greenock