association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
Dunbartonshire
Dunbartonshire () or the County of Dumbarton is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbar ...
.
History
The club was founded in 1873, in the wake of other clubs in the West Dunbartonshire area such as
Vale of Leven
The Vale of Leven () is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning ''fie ...
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...
. Its earliest recorded match is a draw with Star of Leven in November 1873.
The club entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1875–76, and gained a walkover in the first round after opponents Queen's Park Juniors scratched. In the second round the Thistle lost 2–1 at Dumbarton.
With other clubs in the region having greater backing, the club remained firmly in their shadows, and only ever won one Scottish Cup tie; against Alclutha in the first round in 1877–78. A bye took the club into the third round for the only time in its history, where it lost to Renton 2–0.
The club also progressed to the second round on two other occasions, under the rule that both clubs proceeded after two draws, against Vale of Leven Rovers of Alexandria in 1876–77 and against
Alexandria
Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
in 1878–79. In the former year the club lost 5–1 at the Lennox club of Dumbarton in the second round; in the latter, the club was hammered 11–0 at Vale of Leven, although a generous Leven secretary praised the "young team" as having "the stuff for making a capital team".
However, the Vale of Leven defeat was the last Cup tie for the club. By 1878 the club only had 28 members and was the smallest senior side in Dumbartonshire. While the revived Renton club was increasing its membership, Thistle remained static. It entered 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 c ...
tournament and was drawn against Lennox, but was described as "dissolved" before the match took place; this was not quite the case, as Thistle played out a draw with
Bonhill
Bonhill (; ) is a town in the Vale of Leven area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It is sited on the Eastern bank of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven, on the opposite bank from the larger town of Alexandria, Scotland, Alexandria.
...
in October 1879, but there is nothing further on the club afterwards.
Two further games are recorded for a Renton Thistle at the end of the 1880–81 season, against Dumbarton Albion and
Holytown
Holytown is a village situated to the east of Bellshill and north of Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Most local amenities are shared with the adjacent villages of Carfin, Newarthill and New Stevenston which have a combined population ...
, but this may have been a different entity. The name was revived by
Junior
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Aircraft
* Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft
* PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft
* SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider
Arts and entertainment Characters
* Bowser Jr., ...
club in 1885.
Colours
The club's colours were blue shirts, white knickers, and red hose.
Ground
The club played on the Public Park at the south end of Renton, a three-minute walk from Renton railway station.