Lennox Football Club was a 19th-century football club based in
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
, in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
.
History
The club was founded in 1873, and by 1876 had 57 members, 20 more than the local rivals
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
had at the same stage; however, unlike Dumbarton, Lennox was not backed by a local industrial concern, club secretary Joseph Jenkins being a lawyer's clerk. The clubs met in Lennox' first
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,the next season was its most successful, and the club reached the quarter-finals, which, given the uneven nature of the regional early rounds, was made up of 6 clubs. The club gained revenge over Dumbarton in the third round, despite the Sons disputing the Lennox winner, and, by the time it went to Edinburgh Swifts in the fourth, had only conceded 2 goals all season. Despite having to play the second half with ten men through injury, Lennox won 4–0, with two goals per half; full-back Kennedy - whose corner led to the first goal - was particularly praised for his play. The run came to an end at home to
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
, Lennox going down by 3 goals, plus one disallowed, to nil, all the goals coming in the second half and being put down to Rangers being a younger side.
In 1877–78 the club gained its record win (9–0 over
Milngavie
Milngavie ( ; gd, Muileann-Ghaidh) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and a suburb of Glasgow. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about from Glasgow city centre. It neighbours Bearsden. Milnga ...
) in the second round, but it was the club's final win in the competition. In the third round, it lost 3–0 at eventual winners
Vale of Leven
The Vale of Leven (Scottish Gaelic: ''Magh Leamhna'') is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning '' ...
, in front of 2,000 spectators. At the time, the club was the second-biggest in the shire, with 96 members, compared to Jamestown's 80, Dumbarton's 68, and Renton's 50; however Vale of Leven had 264.
Lennox was the beneficiary of an unusual reprieve in the
1879–80 Scottish Cup
The 1879–80 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the seventh season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. With 142 entrants, this season saw the largest number of teams to com ...
. Jamestown beat Lennox in the third round with the help of
Vale of Leven
The Vale of Leven (Scottish Gaelic: ''Magh Leamhna'') is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning '' ...
player Robert Paton, who was not Cup-tied, and, as the Vale was out of the Cup, was free to represent another side. This however meant that Lennox protested on the basis that the Paton, and three other players Jamestown had "borrowed" from the Vale players were not bona members of the Jamestown club, and, after the Scottish FA committee heard the evidence, it decided that Paton had been a member of Jamestown before the first round - but that meant that he was ineligible to referee Jamestown's first-round tie with the Star of Leven club, which had already been the subject of a dismissed protest. With this new evidence, the Scottish FA annulled Jamestown's first round victory over Star of Leven, and re-instated Star to play in the second round against Jamestown's victims Kirkintilloch Athletic, and Lennox was to play the winner in the third round. The reprieve was short-lived as Kirkintilloch (who beat Star in the second round) beat Lennox 6–2.
Lennox' final match in the competition came in 1880–81. It lost 2–1 to the original Helensburgh club in the first round, but the Scottish FA ordered a replay because of "an irregularity in the appointment of referees". Helensburgh won the replayed tie 8–1. Lennox did not play in the competition again. It entered in 1881–82 but when drawn to play Vale of Leven the club scratched rather than face an inevitable defeat. In January 1882 a storm destroyed the Lennox clubhouse and that seems to have been a fatal blow for the club.
Colours
The club's colours were originally black and white hoops. From 1878 the club's colours were navy and white one-inch hooped jerseys and stockings, with blue knickers.
Grounds
The club played at Levengrove Park, whose surface the club maintained in better condition than any other in the region.
External links
Scottish Cup results misses a 3–1 defeat to Jamestown in 1878–79 and the ties with Helensburgh in 1880–81