St Andrew's Football Club was a short-lived Scottish football club from the city of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
The club was formed in 1874, based on the St Andrew's boys' club, whose members often played football on the Meadows. The first recorded matches for the club are from the 1875–76 season.
St Andrew's entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1876–77. Heart of Midlothian had also entered the Cup, but, having in effect disbanded, withdrew; a number of its players therefore joined St Andrew's in time to play in the competition.
In the first round, the club beat
Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago.
Grasshop ...
from
Bonnybridge
Bonnybridge ( gd, Drochaid a'Bhuinne; sco, Bonniebrig) is a village in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. It is west of Falkirk, north-east of Cumbernauld and south-southwest of Stirling. The village is situated near the Bonny Water which ...
thanks to a second-half goal from
Tom Purdie
Thomas Haig Purdie (1854 – 27 December 1929) was a Scottish football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of ...
, who had been the Hearts' first captain.
Two weeks after the Cup tie, the club played in the
Edinburgh Cup
The Dewar Cup Edinburgh was an indoor men's and women's tennis event held from 1968 to 1972, and played in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of the second leg of Dewar Cup Circuit of indoor tournaments held throughout the United Kingdom.
History
Th ...
for the only time, and lost 1–0 to
the Swifts
''Swifts'' (also known as ''The Swifts'') is a heritage-listed late-Victorian architecture, Victorian Battlement, castellated Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival mansion located in the suburb of Darling Point, New South Wales, Darling Po ...
, in a match in which St Andrew's did not test Simpson in the Swifts goal once. One week after losing in the Edinburgh Cup, the club played in second round of the Scottish Cup, against St Clement's of Dundee, the match taking place on neutral ground at
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...
. St Andrew's took the lead following an own goal in a "melée", and St Clement's claimed an equalizer from Sharp, to which St Andrew's objected; St Clement's scored again soon afterwards, to win the tie 2–1, the St Andrew's protest being dismissed.
The last game played under the St Andrew's name was a 0–0 draw with
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
on 4 November 1876.
At a club meeting towards the end of the year, the former Hearts players proposed that St Andrew's should change its name to Heart of Midlothian, to avoid confusion with the city of
St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's four ...
, and on the basis that the Hearts name carried some value and distinction. The members agreed and Heart of Midlothian in essence took over the St Andrew's club, the next match the members played, in January 1877 (the return match with the Hanover), being under the Heart of Midlothian name.
Colours
The club played originally in navy blue and by 1876 had changed to white and blue.
Ground
In common with other early clubs in the city, the club played at the East Meadows.
Notable players
In its two Scottish Cup ties, the sides included the following Hearts players:
*Tom Purdie
*John Cochrane
*George Mitchell
*Bob Winton
*John Alexander
*John Sweeney
*Andrew Lees
*George Barbour