1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball OTD 1891 Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club founded. English name, Scottish Game. Football, that is. You will have noted all the countries where English sportsmen founded cricket clubs. No success at all. The Scots in these clubs pushed football.

#OTD 1954, PTFC are champions of Glasgow once more and goal hero Davie McParland (2nd left) has his first taste of silverware. The hunger for more success, and the belief that anything was possible, stayed with him for the next 20 years at Thistle! 👉 thethistlearchive.net/match-1954-0...

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball OTD 1877 St. Mirren held a trial match to pick the players for their first ever game 6th Oct. www.stmirren.info/formation What grabbed me was the link to the McNeil brothers of QPFC and Rangers fame. A cracking story - which I hope is true.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball There ONE reference to proper Football in the Australian Rules Annual ‘The Footballer’ of 1875. Subtitled ‘An Annual Record of Football in Victoria’. It was compiled by Thomas T. Power of the Carlton Club (f. 1864). Proper Football is mentioned just the once.

New by @malikalnasir.bsky.social - whose own impressive lifestory is summarised here www.theguardian.com/music/2011/j...

Looking forward to chatting to @malikalnasir.bsky.social about our books #Heiresses and Searching for My Slave Roots in #Glasgow next Tuesday!

Get tickets for this enlightening event - www.waterstones.com/events/miran...

On this day 1887, the Thistle knock the Rangers out of the Scottish Cup by two goals to one in front of a record crowd at Inchview. Phenomenal reporting in the Scottish Athletic Journal... 👀 👉 thethistlearchive.net/match-1887-0...

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball So, (New) Cathkin Park (the Second Hampden) has been registered by Heritage Environment Scotland, as an important historical site. As the person who put the application in, I am pleased. I am not getting carried away, though. Storm clouds gather over the South Side.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball OTD 1880 Sunderland and District Teachers’ Association meets. James Allan and pals announce the foundation of Sunderland. [Various dates/years abound depending on your definition of ‘founded’.] Another reason to look beyond stats for the core truths.

A nice boost today, for those of us who value our Footballing Heritage. Historic Environment Scotland registered (New) Cathkin Park - the site of the Second Hampden, as a Scheduled Monument. tinyurl.com/59nccjea

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball An example of how you can keep the #scotchprofessor hidden. 15 Nov 1879, Martin Dawes says Nottinghamshire teams like County were tactically flexible. They played a 3-2-5 against QPFC 15 Nov 1879. Forest also used it against Edinburgh Uni.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball OTD 1897 Archie Hunter b. Ayr (Joppa). First Villa captain to lift the EFA Cup. Collapsed with heart attack against Everton. Retired - died 1894 aged 35. He ended up at Villa through the influence of George Ramsay, to whom we will return, in due course.

I wake up, on a lovely Melbourne morning to this notification that the Jimmy Johnstone Academy, has withdrawn its application to privatise a public space by putting a fence around the Third Lanark pitch at (New) Cathkin Park. publicaccess.glasgow.gov.uk/online-appli...

1 of 5 The Australia theme continues with an Ian Syson gobbet of excellence from the Melbourne Herald 11th Oct 1912. The significance lies in its ordinariness. We are informed of the upcoming game between Williamstown and Wonthaggi: places outside the City of Melbourne. Wonthaggi considerably so.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball OTD 1879 Peter McWilliam was born in Inverness. He was manager of Spurs and taught them the Combination Game which was called the ‘Spurs Way’. Yes - really. However the story only starts with his colleague Robert Smyth (RS) McColl when they played together at Newcastle.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball OTD 1881 Alex Bennett born Rutherglen. Celtic, Rangers, Scotland. 2, Lizzieville Place. The small run of houses on the south side of Farme Cross at Rutherglen at Carlyle and Miller Terraces (roughly). He was some boy. 11 caps between 1904 and 1911.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball Some years ago @petereedy.bsky.social alerted me to a wonderful quote from Jonathan Wilson’s ‘Inverting the Pyramid’ which I cannot find in my eBook version. Wilson was quoting ‘Looker-On' from 1910. ‘...first-class football in Scotland is more calculated...

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball I have a comment on the Celtic Continental Tour of 1904. I think it is Willie Maley writing. The games were reasonably easily won: 4-2 v Vienna AC, 6-1 a Vienna Select, 3-0 Deutscher FC of Vienna and 4-1 v the Slavonian Club (Sparta Prague). Only to have been expected?

Forgotten in Australia. Honoured in Canada. Con Jones was inducted into the British Columbia Soccer Hall of Fame in 2023. Now, his wild, true story is finally told in Big Con—out now. From Melbourne Cup scandal to a #football visionary.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball A very good day was had with Ian Syson yesterday. Lots of intelligent conversation, a walking tour and I have been loaned a few books with interesting sections I need to analyse. But first some Syson footballing catnip from ‘The Game That Never Happened’ p.32/33

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball Off to meet Ian Syson. Much will be learnt. My knowledge of Australia relies on experts. Sometimes though, I see something in Australia that IS my topic. ‘Another Look at Marn Grook’ by Ruth Gooch. Did the indigenous people influence AFL? The subject is not my area.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball 1875 OTD Jimmy Jackson born Cambuslang. Woolwich Arsenal 1899-05. Brought up in Australia from the age of 2. Played for Hamilton Athletic & Adamstown Rosebud. This post is in deference to the immense amount of work done by our Australian friends on our shared history.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball I was checking wiktionary the other day. Great place for factual documents. I was childishly pleased to see John Hope’s rules sitting atop the mountain as the only known rules in the subheading Laws of Football 1830s. tinyurl.com/2vvumnx9

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball OTD 1891 St. Andrews beat Old Caledonians 3-1 in the Play-Off for the medals in the first Argentine League. Yet another pivotal moment in the history of modern world football. Pedantically, it was not to separate the clubs: it was who got what medals. Scots v Scots.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball Roy Hay and Ian Syson produced a cracking article on Football in Victoria almost 20 years ago. As ever, I home in on the quotes they have unearthed, so see what the media thought of this import. Popular Australian Rules Origin stories are treated with scepticism.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball Almost a week in Melbourne and I am still settling in. However, the country has me in its grip. I love it because it has much to teach us about how to look at Football. I will never have to justify myself in Scotland. Our friends in Oz have an endless Football battle.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball Again @petereedy.bsky.social comes to my aid with a link he gave me. Don S. Gemmell of Gray St, New Farm wrote to the Brisbane Courier-Mail 16th July 1937, to claim the title of one of the last two players still alive from the 1880s. His letter is pretty damn fine.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball Did you know that the Scottish Football Association was founded in 1883? No - not that one. The one in Australia. Founded by Brisbane clubs: Queen's Park, St. Andrew’s FC and Rangers. From this, we know that the #scotchprofessor was in Brisbane with their Combination.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball Here I am recovering from jet lag and reviewing the help given me. @petereedy.bsky.social is a star - with info I would take years finding. Remember: all I am doing is noting well-known truths, from people who don’t have a dog in my fight.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball People new to me on Bluesky might not yet appreciate that I rely extremely heavily on the research others do. I have arrived in Australia, with the thoughts of people like Ian Syson, in my mind. Years of research saved and facts gleaned to add to Scottish ones.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball A thought has come to me, about why Football games last 90 minutes. Rugby Union, League, Australian rules 80 mins. Gaelic football 70 mins for Senior inter-county games. This is important, when general history books talk about pre-Association games going on for hours.

Alec Latta, one of Everton's many Sons of the Rock (Dumbarton lads) in the 1890s, was born 158 years ago, yesterday. The Scottish international winger, who was also a boat builder, won the league as a Toffeeman in 1891 and went on to have a brief spell with LFC.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball In 1861 The world’s oldest professional club of any football code was founded in Melbourne. It is now an Australian Rules Football club. There was an attempt to play for a challenge cup during the games of the Royal Caledonian Society of Melbourne 28th December, 1861

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball Sometimes there are general assertions in non-UK books which diminish the role of Scotland. ‘The Scots in Australia’ publ. 1983 by Malcolm Prentis. No blame attaches. From where would they have got any true information? Never forget how woefully ignorant I was.

Remembering former CFC player Bobby Evans who passed away OTD in 2001. Bobby was cremated at Linn Park Crematorium. There is no known memorial. buff.ly/VfxdUhJ

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball James Biggar Weir born 23rd Nov 1851 in the Gorbals. The Australian link is because that is where he lies. @andymitchellmedia.bsky.social says he died of ‘Typhoid Fever and congestion’ in 1887. He was one of the 1872 Founders of Football. QPFC Cup winner 1874, 75, 80.

Finally - publication day for my new book “Searching for my Slave Roots” 28 Aug 2025. I did a presentation at Senate House @senatehouselib.bsky.social in London. Here’s a snippet talking about the barbarities of the British enslavers in the Carribean, boiling Africans alive in molten sugar solution.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball In small things there is often a larger truth. Adamstown Rosebud f. 1889 in Newcastle 560 miles south of Brisbane. I have read suggestions on the origin of Rosebud’s name f. 1889 by a Lanarkshire miner Peter Finlayson. The links are so obvious: commerce and industry.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball 16th July 1937 the Brisbane Courier-Mail publishes a letter from Don Gemmell. His topic? The ‘primitive days of Queensland Soccer’. That is the 1880s for Don. His subject is the clash of 3 codes on what was then called Queen’s Park. This needs a lot of unpicking.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball I think I dislike Frederick Wall more than Charles Alcock. I respect the evil genius who spent three decades writing Scotland out of the creation of world football. Wall is not in the same league. His rewriting history of the Game is not as extensive and is crude.

There have been no posts these past three days because my wife Diane was suddenly admitted to hospital early Monday morning. The trip to Australia has been postponed. I should be somewhere over the Med by now 😢 I shall be back in the saddle tomorrow. Oz is maybe two week's time.

"On a winter's afternoon in August 1875, two teams gathered on the lawn of the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum in Goodna for a game of football. This was the birthplace of Australian soccer." www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensl...

Congratulations to @malikalnasir.bsky.social on his book launch for ‘Searching for My Slave Roots:From Guyana’s Sugar Plantations to Cambridge’ yesterday at @walkerartgallery.bsky.social It’s been an honour to witness Malik win and share his story with the world: harpercollins.co.uk/products/sea...

Welcome to the Bluesky page for the Sport in History journal, the official journal of @bssh.bsky.social that covers all eras & contexts of sports history. If you want to find out more about the journal or submit a piece, please check our website: www.tandfonline.com/journals/rsi...

133 years ago, to the day, marked the official opening ceremony (but not first match) for Goodison Park. Lord Kinnaird, pictured, was guest of honour. Read about it in this @MikeRoyden.bsky.social piece: efcheritagesociety.com/august-1892-... Today, marks the baptism of our gleaming new home.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball London’s Wanderers are famous because English historians have made them so. Their fame is undeserved. Remember that they were battered 5-0 by QPFC at the First Hampden in 1875. Their gk that day was Harry Chambers from Sheffield. Not taking it seriously, lads.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball I have always had an interest in football in education. It was played at Glasgow University in the early 1800s. Richard McBrearty confirms this via an alumnus, writing to the Dunfermline Press in 1860. The Uni wasn’t only for clever types. They also could excel at sport.

Latin American press aren’t great at understand the England / Great Britain / uk thing (La Nación 2nd July 1950)

140 years ago today, George Fleming made his Everton debut. Three years later he was Toffee's first Football League goalscorer. The Arbroath man also served as an EFC director & lies buried at Anfield Cemetery. @mrjamieyates.bsky.social tells his story: efcheritagesociety.com/the-george-f...