Lost Grounds in the West
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The following photographs, press cuttings, advertisements, information and statistics are all available to view and download off the internet. A wee bit of time and patience with your research, together with copious amounts of coffee and John Player Special cigarettes, you too could go on a journey of discovery that gives you an insight to the cricket that has been lost and the current cricket that could be lost in the very near future. My thanks to the following databases for their information. North Lanarkshire Council Archives Over the last 25 years, the cricket that we have grown up with, knew and loved has changed. The Western Union has merged with the Glasgow League, the Scottish Counties championship has folded, the Strathmore Union has merged with the Perthshire league and the East of Scotland Cricket Association has picked up all the waifs and strays. The Scottish National Cricket League arrived and the security of a centenary of tradition changed. For the better? I will leave you to make up your own minds on that question. The Western District Cricket Union currently has 32 clubs that play Saturday cricket (61 teams). Add the 5 evening/Sunday League clubs, the total becomes 37 clubs in all. 1) Active Life 2) Ardrossan 3) Bute County 4) Galloway 1) Ayr 5) GHK 2) Clydesdale 6) Glasgow Accies 3) Drumpellier 7) GU Staff 4) Dumfries 1) BBC Scotland 8) Hamilton 5) East Kilbride 2) Clyde 9) Helensburgh 6) Ferguslie 3) Fire Service 10) Hillhead 7) Greenock 4) GU Biologists 11) Inverclyde 8) Kelburne 5) Queens Park 12) Irvine 9) Poloc 13) Kilmarnock 10) Renfrew 14) Motherwell 11) Uddingston 15) Prestwick 12) Weirs 16) Scot Indians 13) West of Scotland 17) St Michaels 18) Vale of Leven 19) Victoria 25 years ago in the west, we had a strong Western Union with three separate championships therein. The junior sections were flourishing and loads of talented youngsters were emerging into their first teams. The Scottish Cup was dominated by the Western Union. The inter District championship was dominated by the West. The Cockspur Cup was normally won by the West. The Glasgow League was in its full pomp. Clubs were emerging that were giving the Western Union sides a challenge in cup competition. Prestwick were to the fore with Irvine and NKOA right behind them. But it started to go horribly wrong, and in many cases, terminal. Why? Scottish Cup 1981: Drumpellier 1982: Drumpellier 1983: Ferguslie Glasgow & District League 1984: Poloc 1981: Prestwick 1985: Clydesdale 1982: Prestwick 1986: Aberdeenshire 1983: Prestwick 1987: Clydesdale 1984: Irvine W D C U 1988: Clydesdale 1985: NK/OA 1981: Poloc 1989: West of Scotland 1986: Irvine 1982: Greenock 1987: Irvine 1983: Poloc 1988: Irvine 1984: Greenock 1989: Irvine 1985: Poloc 1986: Greenock 1987: Drumpellier 1988: West of Scotland 1989: Greenock Cast your mind back 25 years and remember some of the clubs that you may have played against. Can you name 10 that are no more? How about 15? 20? Surely there cannot be more than 20 that have folded? Anchor, Jerviswood, Old Grammarians, Kilmacolm, Clydebank, Lennox, Eaglesham, Rolls Royce, North Kelvinside, Old Aloysians, Babcocks & Wilcox, Bishopbriggs, Alan Glenns FP, Garrowhill, Milngavie & Bearsden, Kelvinside Academicals, Woodhall, Dunlop, Hillend, Scotts, Greenock Wanderers, Ardeer, Cumbernauld, Lenzie, Thornliebank, Hyndland and that is just some of the teams that played Saturday cricket. When you add all the midweek teams, the number of folded clubs increases again. Why? A B C D E Alan Glenn’s Beith Cambuslang Rugby Club Drumley Eaglesham Anchor Bellahouston Park Carrick (Girvan) Dumbartonshire Eastwood Ardeer Belmont House Bishopbriggs Cartha Dumbarton Eglinton Ardrossan High Bishopton Clydebank Dunlop Erskine Argyll Street G Crookston Dumfries Academy Ayr at Cambusdoon Garrowhill Cumbernauld Dumfries & District Ayr Old Racecourse Garscadden H F Greenock Academy HMS Gannet at Monkton, Dundonald Camp, Dundonald Castle Fenwick Hillend J Hoover Cambuslang I Jerviswood Hutchesons’ Grammar School at Crossmyloof Inchinnan Jordanhill (at the College) Hyndland at Scotstoun N K L M Netherpollok Keil Academy - both squares Lanark (Racecourse) Marr College NKOA at Millerston Kelvinside at Balgray Largs Mearns Castle High School North Kelvinside at Huntershill Kilbirnie Lennox Mearnskirk Kilmacolm O Lenzie Motherwell at Home Park Old Grammarians Kilmarnock at Kirkstyle Lenzie Rugby Club Kilmarnock Academy Lenzie High School S P Lochinch (Glasgow Police Ground) Shawlands Academy Paisley Grammar School R Southern General Hospital Phoenix (Ferguslie Park) Renfrew at Moorcroft , Robertson Park, Springburn Park W Pollok Park(Burrell) Richmond Park St Aloysuis College West Kilbride Pollok Park (Nethercraigs) Rolls Royce Stepps Whitecraigs Rugby Club Strachur T (Hillington Haugh/Bairds Meadow) Whiteinch Strathclyde at Stepps Thornliebank at 6 grounds Rouken Glen Park Williamwood High School Strathclyde Park Woodfarm V Royal Torpedo (Argyll Park) Woodhall Victoria Park Glasgow Herald – Cricket 22 Jun 1991 TODAY International -- Ireland v Scotland (Dublin). Scottish County Championships – Clackmannan County v West Lothian, Stirling County v Aberdeenshire, Strathmore County v Fifeshire, Perthshire v Ayrshire, Arbroath County v Forfarshire. D M Hall Western Union -- Kilmarnock v Drumpellier, Clydesdale v Kelburne, Ayr v West of Scotland, Ferguslie v Greenock, Uddingston v Poloc. Glasgow and District League. Division 1 -- Glasgow Academicals v Irvine, Glasgow High Kelvinside v East Kilbride, Giffnock North v Vale Of Leven, Motherwell v Hillhead, NKOA v Milngavie and Bearsden. Division 2 -- Greenock Wanderers v Victoria Park Taverners, Old Grammarians v Helensburgh, Prestwick v Ardrossan, Strathclyde v Hyndland, Weirs v Renfrew. Division 3 -- Cumbernauld v Bishopbriggs, Inverclyde v Jerviswood, Rolls Royce v Hillend, Woodhall v Garrowhill. The Clydeside industrial heritage clubs such as Albion Motors, Anchor, Barclay Curle, Barr and Stroud, Harland and Wolfe, Rolls-Royce, Royal Torpedo, Chrysler and Scotts of Greenock are all gone. Weirs are the last of that generation of club, and their future is also uncertain. Eleven for All England photographed by Duncan Brown, probably 1880s or 1890s. Brown photographed a cricket match on open ground off Great Western Road. The ground was at Burnbank, which was the home of Glasgow Academicals Football Club and briefly (in 1875) of Glasgow Rangers FC. All-England Elevens were frequent visitors to Scotland in the 1880s and 1890s, to play cricket teams such as West of Scotland and Clydesdale. In 2011, Hillhead are hoping to be able to use Birkmyre Park in Kilmacolm for 12 weeks of the season, but the priority has to be: (a) Will they return to Hughenden? (b) If not, can they permanently re-locate to Birkmyre Park? (c) Are we witnessing yet another death of an established cricket club? In the Luftwaffe aerial photograph above, Hamilton Crescent is circled in white, Hughenden is in yellow and Balgray is in red. In 2011, Hamilton Crescent will be the only ground to have senior cricket played at it. A group of gentlemen suitably attired to represent Glasgow in the annual inter-city cricket match against Edinburgh in 1873. The match, which was played at the West of Scotland Cricket Cub ground at Hamilton Crescent, Partick, was drawn. At one time, the inter-city match (played each year from 1872 until 1894) was regarded as one of the highlights of the Scottish cricket season. A good crowd was assured, which raised revenue to help develop the sport. Over the years, honours were fairly even between the teams, but disputes over the introduction of professionalism finally killed off the fixture. Sounds familiar? Golfhill Cricket Club was in Dennistoun. It was apparently the finest cricket square in Scotland and there was a huge public outcry when the Glasgow Corporation folded the club as they required the land to build Whitehill Secondary School. Horace Wass was probably the most famous player Golfhill had. He had been a professional footballer for Chesterfield. As one of the club's most significant players, Horace was awarded two benefit matches, the first, in 1929-30 against Sheffield Wednesday and the second against Hearts in 1935- 1936. Horace was also a professional cricketer and played for Golf Hill and then West of Scotland during the The club was a cricketing oasis in the desert of the east end 1930s and was capped once by of Glasgow and the void left by the forceable closure of the Scotland against the South club has never been filled. Africans, in 1935. In 1929, The players went on to join other clubs, such as Fred Horace made one appearance Leatherby who went to West of Scotland and Tommy for Derbyshire County Cricket Robertson who went to Poloc. Club, scoring nine runs against Glamorgan. New houses built by Glasgow Corporation at Knightswood, pictured in 1925 as they were nearing completion. The buildings include semi-detached and terraced houses and cottage flats, all limited to two storeys. Knightswood was Glasgow's largest housing scheme, with a total of 6,714 houses built on both sides of Great Western Road from 1923. Four new shopping centres, eight churches and six schools were also provided. Amenities included a nine hole golf course, pitch and putt greens, tennis courts and football and cricket grounds. Richmond Park had a cricket ground within its setting. It was surrounded with bushes and trees and the pitch had a grass square until the mid 1980’s when it was replaced with an all-weather astro-turf wicket. There