United Abstainers Football Club was a

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 from Crosshill in

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 ...

History

The club, sometimes referred to as the United Abstainers Athletic Club, was formed by William Shanks, agent and collector for the Scottish Temperance League. Although the club was nicknamed the Teetotallers, the players were not complete abstainers; their refreshment of choice at at least one game was noted as being

stout Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale. The first known use of the word "stout" for beer is in a document dated 1677 in the E ...

. The Abstainers joined the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

and the

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for the 1887–88 season. The club's first competitive fixture, in the first round of the

1887–88 Scottish Cup The 1887–88 Scottish Cup was the 15th season of Scotland's most prestigious Association football, football knockout competition. Renton F.C., Renton won the competition for the second time after they beat Cambuslang F.C., Cambuslang 6–1 in th ...

, was a 4–1 defeat at Pollokshields Athletic. In 1888–89 however the team caused "a bit of a surprise" by getting revenge against a "strong" Pollokshields in the first round, beating the Athletics 2–1 at Victoria Park, the winning goal coming about ten minutes from time. In the second round however Battlefield F.C. swept the Abstainers aside, scoring 5 in the first half and 6 in the second, without reply. The club lost in the first round of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a professional football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. The club is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers, though this has never been i ...

in 1889–90 (managing to hold the home side to 3–2 in the first half) and 11–0 at Burnbank Swifts F.C. in 1890–91. After qualifying rounds were introduced, the Abstainers entered for the next three seasons, but, drawn once against Glasgow University F.C. and twice against Battlefield in the first stage, withdrew every time before playing. The club could not even muster one win in the

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

. Its first match in the competition in 1887 was a 10–0 defeat at home to Shettleston F.C., being 1–0 down after four minutes and 4–0 down after a quarter of an hour. After first round defeats by both Rangers and

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

in the next two seasons, the club scratched from its last four entries. The last references to the club in the media relate to its being drawn against Pollokshaws F.C. in the Glasgow Cup in 1893.

Colours

The club played in blue and gold vertical stripes, with white shorts.

Ground

The club's home ground was Victoria Park in Crosshill.

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state = collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1887 Association football clubs disestablished in 1893 Football clubs in Glasgow 1887 establishments in Scotland 1893 disestablishments in Scotland Govanhill and Crosshill Temperance movement in the United Kingdom

History

Colours

Ground

See also

References