Neilston Football Club was a Scottish football team, based in

Neilston Neilston ( sco, Neilstoun, gd, Baile Nèill, ) is a village and parish in East Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the Levern Valley, southwest of Barrhead, south of Paisley, and south-southwest of Renfrew, at t ...

, in

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...

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 1883. Its earliest reported match (at home to Grafton on 5 January 1884) was in front of 1,000 spectators.

Scottish Cup

Neilston was not a successful club. Although it entered the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1884–85 until 1901–02, it only ever won two ties in the main competition. After the introduction of preliminary rounds in 1891–92 and 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, Neilston never played in the first round proper again - indeed Neilston only won three further ties. Neilston's best performance in the competition came in 1885–86. Neilston won 10–1 away at

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...

side

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

, before holding

Port Glasgow Athletic Port-Glasgow Athletic was a football club based in Port Glasgow, Scotland. The club was formed in 1878 and originally named Broadfield before changing their name in 1881. They played in the Scottish Football League between 1893 and 1911, and were ...

to a 1–1 draw away, losing 2–0 in the replay.

Renfrewshire Cup

Even though the regional nature of the national competition's early rounds meant that Neilston never won its way out of the Renfrewshire division, it did have success in 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 teams ...

. Neilston reached the semi-finals in 1885–86, 1886–87, 1888–89, 1891–92, and 1894–95. Neilston was also runner-up in the Victoria Cup, a consolation tournament for clubs eliminated from the main competition, in 1897–98, losing 3–1 to

Thornliebank Thornliebank (Scots: ''Thonliebank'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach nan Dealgan'') is a suburban area in East Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, it is located on the Auldhouse Burn about so ...

. Its Renfrewshire Cup run in 1885–86 featured three remarkable wins - 13–0 over Mearns Athletic, 24–0 over Clippens Thistle (13 coming in the first half, after Neilston had to start the game with 9 men), and 10–1 away at Kilnside - before losing almost as heavily (7–0) to Port Glasgow Athletic in the semi. The club's best semi-final performance was in 1886–87; at home to

Arthurlie Arthurlie is an area of the town of Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. History of Arthurlie The lands of Arthurlie were held in medieval times by the Stewart family, a branch of the noble Stewarts of Darnley. Later the lands became the prop ...

, with a crowd of 2,000, the visitors beat Neilston 3–2. The club also came close to the final in 1888–89, playing at home against

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 ...

before another crowd of 2,000, Neilston taking the lead before going down 3–1.

Friendlies in Ireland

In 1887, thanks to the club's comparative success in the Renfrewshire, it was invited to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to play a New Year's Eve friendly against Linfield, the first match Linfield had ever played against a team from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

; the match ended 3–3. In August 1888 the club was invited back to play

Distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...

, the home side winning 4–0.

League competition

In 1892, the club took the step of embarking on league football, by joining 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, ...

, which had been founded in 1891. The club only played in the 1892–93 season before the competition wound up. The Federation had proved to be a financial drain, given the distances involved and the £5 guarantee for visiting sides, and the clubs agreed to dissolve the Federation to start a new, smaller, competition, for ten clubs, to be called the Scottish Football Combination; Neilston was one of the seven clubs accepted. However the Combination never started, as, after the Scottish League absorbed many 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 ...

members in its new Second Division, four of the six Combination clubs (

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 ...

, Wishaw Thistle,

, and Royal Albert) joined the Alliance instead. A fifth club -

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 ...

- joined the League itself. Neilston was left on the sidelines, even though its one Federation season had been successful, the club finishing 3rd overall with 10 wins in 18, the biggest win being 7–1 over

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

; Neilston had been lucky that the original game was abandoned due to darkness with the club 3–2 down. The club tried league football again in 1895–96, finally joining the Alliance, 6 of whose 10 members would play (or had played) Scottish League football. In this higher standard, Neilston struggled, and finished 8th - this was the bottom-but-one spot at

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

did not complete the season. Having lost money over the season, Neilston did not seek re-election.

End of the club

Neilston's last attempt at league competition was in a re-formed Federation in 1898–99, which now included some reserve sides; but it was disastrous for the club, Neilston losing all six of its matches and not finishing out the season. The club was moribund in the aftermath, not entering the Renfrewshire until 1901 and then scratching from its first tie, and losing 4–1 at

Johnstone Johnstone ( sco, Johnstoun,
gd, Baile Iain) is a town ...

in the first round of the Qualifying Cup in 1901. 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 ...

gave the club one last chance in April 1902, when voting against striking the club from the roll, but the club never seems to have played again.

Colours

The club wore dark blue jerseys and knickers, with red hose.

Grounds

The club originally played at Nether Kirton Park, 15 minutes' walk from the station. In 1891 the club moved to Holehouse Park.

External links

Scottish Cup results

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed

Association football clubs established in 1883 Association football clubs disestablished in 1902 1883 establishments in Scotland 1902 disestablishments in Scotland Football in Renfrewshire Neilston