Rutherglen Glencairn Football Club is 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 ...

club based in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...

, near

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 ...

. Nicknamed ''The Glens'' and formed in 1896, they play at The Hamish B Allan Stadium (New Southcroft Park). Glencairn currently play in the . Trophy successes include the SJFA West Region Championship in 2018–19, the Stagecoach Central District League Division One championship in the 2008–09 season and the West Region Super League Division One title in 2018–19 and 2009–10. The latter gave the club the right to compete in the West Region Super Premier League for the first time in the 2010–11 season. The club is currently managed by Co-Managers Joe Pryce and Billy Ogilvie, while Willie Harvey is now General Manager.

History

Rutherglen Glencairn F.C. were formed in 1895 at the 'Old Jail' office in Rutherglen. The Glens played their first-ever game on 15 August 1896 against the Ibrox XI (

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 ...

' junior string in those days) and the Glens won 1–0. The Southcroft team joined the

Glasgow Junior League The Glasgow Junior Football League (GJL) was a football league competition operated under the Scottish Junior Football Association between 1895 and 1927.

and won it in 1899–1900 to take possession of the "Evening Times Trophy". The Glens' big moment did not arrive until season 1901–02 when they won the

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA). The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA on the 2nd October 1886 and, as of the 2023–24 ed ...

, the Glasgow League Championship, and the Glasgow Exhibition Championship. The team that proudly brought the Scottish Junior Cup to Rutherglen for the first time by beating

Maryhill Maryhill () is an area in the north-west of Glasgow in Scotland. A former independent burgh and the heart of an eponymous local authority ward, its territory is bisected by Maryhill Road, part of the A81 road which runs for a distance of ro ...

1–0 at

Meadowside Meadowside was a association football, football ground in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland. It was the home ground of Partick Thistle F.C., Partick Thistle from 1897 until 1908. History Partick Thistle moved to Meadowside from Inchview Park ...

is considered one of the greatest ever, including future Scotland senior international forwards

Jimmy McMenemy James McMenamin (11 October 1880 – 23 June 1965), was a Scottish footballer who most notably played for Celtic from 1902 to 1920 and later served as assistant manager in the 1930s. He has been described by the club as ''"a true Celtic legend"' ...

and

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, both natives of the town. It was not until 1918–19 that the Glens won the Scottish Junior Cup again, beating St Anthony's 1–0. Glencairn's third Scottish Junior Cup win was in season 1926–27 and the satisfaction was all the greater because it was Cambuslang Rangers, their great local rivals, who were defeated 2–1. The Glens won the Scottish Junior Cup again for the last time in season 1938–39 when

Shawfield Shawfield is an industrial/commercial area of the Royal Burgh of Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located to the north of the town centre. It is bordered to the east by the River Clyde, to the north by the Glasgow neighbourhood of Oat ...

(the other local rivals, from Oatlands) went down 2–1. Glencairn's recent success has been in their rise through the junior leagues in which they were crowned champions of both the

West of Scotland League Central District First Division The Central District League First Division was the third-tier division of the West Region of the Scottish Junior Football Association. The two highest-placed teams at the end of the season were promoted to the Super League, First Division. The ...

in 2009 and the

West of Scotland Super League First Division The SJFA West Region Championship (known as the McBookie.com West Region Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a Scottish semi-professional football competition run by the West Region of the Scottish Junior Football Association and was the ...

in 2010. In 2020, the club confirmed their intention to leave the separate Junior setup and join a proposed feeder division for the

Lowland Football League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) and the Park’s Motor Group Scottish Lowland League for sponsorship reasons is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits a ...

, part of the pyramid system below the professional level of the Scottish game.

Crest

The current Glencairn crest is heavily influenced from the town of Rutherglen's official blazon and consists of the club's initials with a football centrepiece watched over by guardian angels at each side. Rutherglen's motto '' 'Ex Fumo Fama' '', which translates as 'Fame From Smoke', is incorporated.

Stadium

The club plays its home games at Hamish B. Allan Stadium in the Burnhill district of Rutherglen, after the original Southcroft Park on Glasgow Road in the town's Shawfield district was demolished in 2007 to make way for the M74 motorway extension into central Glasgow.Rutherglen Glencairn Football Club
Glasgow Architecture, 16 October 2008 The original ground had survived for 110 years and was the oldest Junior football ground in Scotland when it closed; the final game was a 1–0 victory over

Dunipace Dunipace () is a village in the west of the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The village is south of Stirling and north-west of Falkirk. The village is situated on the north bank of the River Carron and adjoins the town of Denny, to the sout ...

in October 2006. Its banked terracing areas also contained toxic Chromium VI, a byproduct from the nearby chemical factory; this was also found to be the case at other stadiums in the local area:

Lesser Hampden Lesser Hampden is a football stadium in Mount Florida, Glasgow, Scotland, owned by Queen's Park F.C. and located immediately beside the western end of the national stadium, Hampden Park. Since 2023 its sponsored name has been The City Stadium ...

and

Rosebery Park Rosebery Park was a association football, football ground in the Oatlands, Glasgow, Oatlands area of Glasgow, Scotland. It was the home of Shawfield F.C. from 1918 to 1960, before being acquired by Glasgow Corporation as a venue for schools' footb ...

. The new ground (on the opposite side of the motorway from the original site) was officially opened in July 2008 with a friendly match between Glencairn and Clyde, whose previous home

Shawfield Stadium Shawfield Stadium is a venue in the Shawfield district of the town of Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located close to the boundary with Glasgow. Originally a football ground, Shawfield was home to Clyde F.C. from 1898 to 1986. Greyho ...

had been just yards from the original Southcroft Park. In August 2009, the club signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with local urban regeneration company Clyde Gateway to sponsor New Southcroft Park for two years, and it was renamed the ''Clyde Gateway Stadium''. This arrangement was extended for another two seasons in 2012. In 2014 the sponsor became Celsius Cooling Ltd and the ground was duly renamed as ''The Celsius Stadium''. In August 2020 the stadium was renamed 'The Hamish B Allan Stadium' in honour of a lifelong supporter and committee member. Rutherglen Glencairn entered discussions with Clyde in 2012 about the possibility of sharing the stadium. Although the changing facilities are modern, other things would need improvement to meet

Scottish Football 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&nbs ...

regulations. The proposal was eventually dropped by Clyde in favour of a proposed move to

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

, which was also never realised.

Current squad

:''Updated 19 July 2023''

Club Officials

Management

The management staff of Rutherglen Glencairn as of season 2023-24 are:

Managerial history

Honours

* Winners: 1901–02, 1918–19, 1926–27, 1938–39 * Runners-up: 1966–67, 1974–75,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Scottish Junior Cup: Cumnock lift trophy after dramatic finish against Rutherglen Glencairn
, Clive Lindsay,

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, 2 June 2023

*Winners: 2009–10, 2018–19

Other honours

winners: 2008–09 *

Glasgow Junior League The Glasgow Junior Football League (GJL) was a football league competition operated under the Scottish Junior Football Association between 1895 and 1927.

winners: 1898–99, 1901–02, 1918–19, 1921–22 *

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

champions: 1933–34, 1942–43, 1966–67 * Central League B Division winners: 1974–75 *Glasgow Junior Cup winners: 1899–1900, 1923–24, 1934–35, 1937–38, 1942–43 *Glasgow Dryburgh Cup winners: 1939–40 *Central Junior League Cup winners: 1998–99 *Central Sectional League Cup 1991–92, 2007–08

Final league positions

Rutherglen Glencairn's recent final league positions are shown in the table below:

Youth Development

Willie Harvey became the new manager before the start of the 2010–11 Super Premier League Season and established under-21 and under-19 teams under youth team manager Alex McArthur. The under-21 team competes in West of Scotland Under 21 League Division One, and the under-19 team in the Cumbernauld & Kilsyth District League. To emphasise the importance of youth development, Harvey said, "Every now and again you find a real gem. Somewhere down the line you will find someone who can have a good, strong career. We want to be the side that clubs are trying to poach players from but at the same time we will have first dibs on the best players coming through." The 2012–13 season was one to remember for the young Glens. Managers Andy McFadyen and Alex McArthur, as well as coach George Fortheringham, led the 21s to winning the treble, a historic moment for the club. An unforgettable night at Glencairn's home pitch saw a Rutherglen last minute equaliser against Knightswood in the final game of the season clinch the West of Scotland Premier League for the first time in the club's history. The Glens also went on to win the League Cup in style after defeating Goldenhill in a 4–1 encounter played at

Shettleston Shettleston (, ) is an area in the Glasgow#East End, east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Toponymy The origin of the name "Shettleston" is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multitude of spellings. A papal bu ...

. Finally the boys wrapped up an emphatic season with a penalty shoot out victory against Knightswood in the West of Scotland Cup final.

Notable former players

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–

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– Clyde,

, Hibernian,

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–

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, Rangers,

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, Scotland *

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–

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, Scotland * Alex Craig – Rangers, Morton,

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* Joe Donnachie – Everton,

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, Scotland * Rob McKinnon –

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, Hearts, Scotland *

– Celtic, Partick Thistle, Scotland * Archie McWhinnie -

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, Wales * Archie Robertson – Clyde, Morton, Scotland *

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– Albion Rovers,

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–

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* Bobby Ward – Newport County

References

External links

*
Official club websiteVideo clip of match at (old) Southcroft Park in 1998Glencairn team from 'Portfolio of Photos', 1897
hosted by

Scottish Junior Football Association The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football (soccer), football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the ...

website {{Areas of Rutherglen and Cambuslang Football clubs in Scotland Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Football in South Lanarkshire Association football clubs established in 1896 1896 establishments in Scotland Rutherglen West of Scotland Football League teams