Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
club based in
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
, now part of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
.
History
The club was founded on 3 November 1877. It first entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1878–79. Its first match in the competition - a 10–0 win over
Telegraphists
Telegraphists Football Club was a 19th-century association football club based at Govan, now in Glasgow.
History
The club was founded in 1874 for workers at the Telegraph Department of the Glasgow General Post Office, as a winter activity fo ...
- would prove to be its biggest win in the competition.
Whitefield entered the Cup every season until 1892–93, although it scratched in 1888 before playing a tie; in 1888–89, it played its scheduled first round opponent, the
3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers
Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottis ...
, in a friendly instead.
The club survived in the shadow of
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
longer than other clubs in Govan; indeed in 1885 it was strengthened by taking over another Govanite club,
Dean Park Dean Park may refer to:
*Dean Park, New South Wales
Dean Park is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dean Park is located 43 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Austral ...
. Whitefield however was never a successful side, only once reaching the third round of the Scottish Cup, in 1887–88. The club beat
Linthouse
Linthouse is a neighbourhood in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated directly south of the River Clyde and lies immediately west of Govan, with other adjacent areas including Shieldhall and the Southern General Hospital to the west, ...
in the first round and
Pollokshields
Pollokshields ( gd, Buthan Phollaig, Scots: ''Powkshiels'') is an area in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. Its modern boundaries are largely man-made, being formed by the M77 motorway to the west and northwest with the open land of Pollok C ...
at home in the second, but lost 2–0 at
Thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...
, in front of a crowd of 3,000, in the third.
Local competitions and rivalry with Linthouse
The club had the same lack of success 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 rul ...
, the strongest of the local competitions. In six entries the club only won one tie. Its best run - to the quarter-final in 1892–93 - was thanks to a walkover and a bye.
On a district level the club was more successful. The club's highest profile honour was winning the Jubilee Cup in 1887–88. Whitefield beat neighbours Linthouse 2–1 away from home en route to the final, in a match which attracted a crowd of 2,000, and in the final (in front of 1,500, at Argyll Park) the club beat Kelvinside Athletic 4–0. The club's first match in defence of its Jubilee cup in December 1888 should have been the club's biggest competitive win, as Whitefield beat Govan Athletic 13–1; however the Athletics scratched from the competition before the match started, so it was played as a friendly instead.
The Govan Charity Cup was played in two seasons, in 1885–86 and 1886–87, and Whitefield won on both occasions. The triumph in 1887 was controversial, as the final tie with Linthouse was acrimonious. After a draw, it seemed that Whitefield had won the trophy by beating Linthouse 2–0 in a replay at Victoria Park (the home of Summerton Athletic). However Linthouse protested and in a further game at Victoria Park, in front of 2,000 fans, the Linties won 3–1. Whitefield put in a counter-protest and was awarded the trophy, possibly on the basis that the Linthouse protest had been invalid.
The clubs were drawn against each other in the first round of the 1887–88 Scottish Cup. The tie at Craigton Park was witnessed by 1,000 spectators and ended 3–3. Whitefield won the replay 2–1 at home, with Linthouse having players cautioned for violent play almost from the start, and "feelings ran high among the spectators" due to the "highly questionable tactics of the Linthouse".
The rivalry however swung in Linthouse's favour soon afterwards; in the Govan & Ibrox Cup of 1888–89, before another large crowd of 2,000, the Linties beat Whitefield 9–0, with all nine goals coming in the second half. When 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 ...
was formed in 1891–92, Linthouse was a founder member, and Whitefield was left behind without a league competition.
Final matches
Whitefield's final Scottish Cup ties came in the 1891–92 preliminary rounds. In the first preliminary round, the club beat Clydesdale of Rutherglen 7–0 in a replay, but lost 9–0 - the club's heaviest Scottish Cup defeat - at
Battlefield
A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troops ...
in the second.
In the Glasgow Cup, the club's quarter-final tie with Linthouse was switched from Whitefield Park to Linthouse's Langlands Park, "owing to the big attraction", but at kick-off time Whitefield had not turned up; Linthouse therefore kicked a goal and claimed the tie. The two sides did play the tie properly the following week, with Linthouse winning 5–2.
The club had disbanded by the time the 1892–93 season started, so it could not take part in its first qualifying round match in the Scottish Cup. However, because opponents Summertown Athletic had also been wound up, some club members re-started the Whitefield to play a second round tie with
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 ...
. On arrival at Motherwell, Whitefield scratched from the competition, and the clubs played out a friendly instead, Motherwell winning 3–0; this seems to have been Whitefield's final match. As was common with defunct clubs hoping for a revival or one final payday, the club entered both the Scottish Cup and Glasgow Cup in 1893–94, but scratched from both competitions before playing a match.
Colours
The club's colours were originally blue jerseys and white knickers, the jerseys from 1879 being described as navy blue, with navy hose. In 1888 the club changed to a navy and white jersey, probably in hoops, and blue knickers.
Ground
The club played at Whitefield Park, from which the club took its name, with an entrance on Copeland Road. This was a ground in Govan and not related to the home ground of
Cambuslang
Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...
. After 1892 the ground was used by the South Western Juniors side.
The clubhouse was a victim of burglary in 1886, two boys breaking in to steal three jerseys plus a pair of boots, a football, and a comb.
Notable players
*Charlie Gorevin, one of the players in the first
Celtic F.C.
The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigra ...
1880–81 Scottish Cup
The 1880–81 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the eighth season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Defending champions Queen's Park retained the cup and won the compet ...
tie with
Athole
Atholl or Athole ( gd, Athall; Old Gaelic ''Athfhotla'') is a large historical division in the Scottish Highlands, bordering (in anti-clockwise order, from Northeast) Marr, Badenoch, Lochaber, Breadalbane, Strathearn, Perth, and Gowrie ...
, which ended 1–1 at Athole, and the replay 2–1 to Athole after extra time)