Port Glasgow Athletic F.C.

Port Glasgow Athletic was a senior Scottish Football Association club formed in 1880. It was originally named Broadfield before changing its name in 1881.

Originally based at Devol Farm, Port Glasgow, the club moved to a new ground called Clune Park in the town's Glasgow Road. The Port played for one season in the Scottish Football Alliance (1891-92) and spent 1892-93 playing Cup-ties and friendlies. They rejoined the Scottish Alliance for 1893-94, but before the new season, the Alliance was more or less absorbed by the Scottish Football League as its Second Division. During their first season in the Scottish League they had a record 7 points deducted for rule infringements. For a time this left the club at the foot of the Division with -2 points. By winning the Second Division in 1901-02, the Port gained election into the First Division (automatic promotion was not introduced in the Scottish League until 1922). Always struggling at this level (they played as amateurs for most of the time), they were eventually relegated in 1910. They spent one last season in Division Two before leaving the Scottish League altogether. They spent their last season of existence in the Scottish Football Union, one of several regional leagues around at the time. Their ground at Clune Park was "taken over" by Port Glasgow Athletic Juniors (they were already sharing the ground with them as it was common for Scottish Senior sides to also have a foothold in the Junior ranks at this time).

In the Scottish Cup, they reached the semi-finals in 1899 and 1906. On the latter occasion they knocked out Rangers in the quarter-finals. They also competed often in the Glasgow Cup.

Their most well-known player was probably Gladstone Hamilton, the only player to be capped while with the club. He played on the right wing for Scotland in the 1-0 win over Ireland in Dublin in 1906. Two of his brothers were also Scottish internationalists though they played for Queen's Park. Gladstone later moved to England to join Brentford.

The nickname for both the old sides and the current Port Glasgow was/is "The Undertakers" - the reasons for this are somewhat confused. One explanation is the involvement of a local funeral director in the founding (& thus funding) of the initial side or, more likely, they were known as the Undertakers because they played in all black.

External links

* [http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/index.cfm Scottish Football Association]
* [http://www.scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/ Scottish Football Museum]