148 Years Ago This Week. The Birth of the Rangers.

The Moonlighter

Well-Known Member
‘’Thus ended their first match played at the latter end of May 1872 some two months after the inauguration of the club’’.

The words of Rangers player William Dunlop from his article The Rangers FC which he wrote so eloquently for the SFA Annual in 1881 using the pen name ‘True Blue’.

Rangers Football Club played it’s first ever match 148 years ago this week.

Our Club was formed on a spare bit of ground at Fleshers Haugh by a few kids who’d come to Glasgow seeking employment and a better way of life.Their Club ,which they formed for no other reason than the love of football and the pursuit of sporting excellence,would go on to become the world’s most successful.

That first ever match was against Callander and ended 0-0, Willie continued,

“Their first game was a terrible spectacle with the ball suffering an incredible amount of abuse” William McBeath was given man of the match and then spent a week in bed recovering due to his exertions’’

Founder William McBeath was from Callander and we believe it would have been Willie who approached ex-pats from the town who had settled in Glasgow and that’s probably where the opposition came from for our first match.

Willie’s Rangers team-mate Sam Ricketts wrote in 1884 about the boys playing those first few games in their civvies and journalist John Allan wrote about them having to change behind a bush as there were no facilities.

William Dunlop described how genial Peter McNeil would travel on a Saturday morning to a desirable part of the Glasgow Green, set up the noted standards and stand guard until the classic hour came when he would be joined by his friends.We felt this was a very dramatic and moving image and commissioned a painting to be done depicting this scene.We presented the painting by artist Helen Runciman to the Club in 2009 and it now hangs on the marble staircase at Ibrox.

The Rangers would remain at Fleshers Haugh for three years.We then began our journey around Glasgow to Burnbank and Kinning Park before finally settling in the Ibrox area in 1887 where we would grow to become the world’s most successful football club.

The Rangers FC by William Dunlop.

https://www.thefounderstrail.co.uk/the-rangers-f-c-by-true-blue







 
It's an amazing story. I looked up a calendar for May 1872 and, if the game was on a Saturday, it was the 25th.

Question though. Didn't folk work on Saturday mornings back then? How could the playing area be reserved? Was Peter McNeil a student who had Saturdays off , I wonder.
 
It's an amazing story. I looked up a calendar for May 1872 and, if the game was on a Saturday, it was the 25th.

Question though. Didn't folk work on Saturday mornings back then? How could the playing area be reserved? Was Peter McNeil a student who had Saturdays off , I wonder.
Yes, this was why afternoon kick offs became the norm.

People worked on a Saturday morning in the shipyards etc then would head to the football in the afternoon.

As contained in the ‘True Blue’ article Peter was only a 17 year old kid who took it upon himself to get to the Haugh early from the family home in Berkeley Street and literally stand guard over a good bit of ground until joined by his team mates in the afternoon.
 
Yes, this was why afternoon kick offs became the norm.

People worked on a Saturday morning in the shipyards etc then would head to the football in the afternoon.

As contained in the ‘True Blue’ article Peter was only a 17 year old kid who took it upon himself to get to the Haugh early from the family home in Berkeley Street and literally stand guard over a good bit of ground until joined by his team mates in the afternoon.

I lost more than a few jobs with the Saturday morning working hours back in the sixties due to me repeatedly taking time off to travel to our away games :rolleyes: :)
 
What an amazing story this is. Pity we couldn't get a truthful sympathetic film made for 2 years time.
One that could be put out on tv to show the true humble origins of the club.
BBC would corrupt it if they made one.
 
What an amazing story this is. Pity we couldn't get a truthful sympathetic film made for 2 years time.
One that could be put out on tv to show the true humble origins of the club.
BBC would corrupt it if they made one.


BBC don't do films

they are inept enough at what they do,

actually I forgot, they are not,

they tax TV, which they are good at, that's it, fuckin crooks!
 
BBC don't do films

they are inept enough at what they do,

actually I forgot, they are not,

they tax TV, which they are good at, that's it, fuckin crooks!
Fair point. BBC are not to be trusted.
I'm meaning a documentary type of film. Maybe we could do one
Get it out on outlets in U.K. / International.
Spread the good story.
 
If someone has a scanner and the means, they could do worse than getting a hold of 'The chant of Record Rangers' by 'The Minstrel'. In Robert McElroy's 'The Spirit of Ibrox'

I took the time to write it down and post it on here at least a decade ago, but I'd need to pull out all sorts in my wardrobe to get to it, and then putting it all back, so that's a no no.

It's a wonderful story and tells how we started right up to the 1898/99 won all our league games season.

It starts something like

It was back in the 70s we mustered
A handful all told on the green
No honours our banners then carried
Our 'scutcheon was barren and lean

Wonderful stuff.
 
One of the saddest aspects of our illegal ruination in 2012 was that 2022 won't be as spectacular as it should be...club ARE trying but from a standing start. Place should have been immaculate with all sorts planned.
 
One of the saddest aspects of our illegal ruination in 2012 was that 2022 won't be as spectacular as it should be...club ARE trying but from a standing start. Place should have been immaculate with all sorts planned.
We were in discussion with Sandy Jardine in 2012 about a game on Fleshers Haugh between our Legends and youth players and the current Callander FC, that part of the project was going well then Whyte tipped us into administration.
 
If someone has a scanner and the means, they could do worse than getting a hold of 'The chant of Record Rangers' by 'The Minstrel'. In Robert McElroy's 'The Spirit of Ibrox'

I took the time to write it down and post it on here at least a decade ago, but I'd need to pull out all sorts in my wardrobe to get to it, and then putting it all back, so that's a no no.

It's a wonderful story and tells how we started right up to the 1898/99 won all our league games season.

It starts something like

It was back in the 70s we mustered
A handful all told on the green
No honours our banners then carried
Our 'scutcheon was barren and lean

Wonderful stuff.

Here you go -

 
One of the saddest aspects of our illegal ruination in 2012 was that 2022 won't be as spectacular as it should be...club ARE trying but from a standing start. Place should have been immaculate with all sorts planned.
The club is working on it, have faith that they'll get it right.
 
Here you go -

Very interesting that the summit we sit atop in the cartoon is called the "Kopje" (Kop).

I wonder why this term associated particularly with football, didn't find itself coming into common usage in Scotland, as it did in England?
 
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