Memories of Glasgow amateur football teams from the 70s and 80s

When I was growing up Glasgow had some fantastic youth football teams that usually did well in European tournaments. I'm talking Possil YM, Eastercraigs, Glasgow United, Harmony Row, Drumchapel Amateurs.
The cream sides,what about Renton,Maryhill and easterhouse. Think they call it character building, still got the scares.
 
Played for Glasgow United amongst others. We had to play one of the goalies outfield sometimes to make up the numbers. We were made to play in crazy conditions before the concept of health and safety existed. Bits of glass on the pitch, rock hard blaze in freezing weather. Aluminiun and nylon studs were lethal weapons. Going out on to the pitch with different coloured socks from some of your teammates. Wouldn't have changed it for the world.
 
Used to have some good games against hillwood - played at parks at the pollock shopping centre

Worst team to play against for nastiness was a shower called Apex - from Fergusley paisley , them and Millbrae - from Johnstone - not nice to play against
You can imagine it - tightest ever Red blaes park where you could jump from the shy line into the 18 yard box :(
 
Used to have some good games against hillwood - played at parks at the pollock shopping centre

Worst team to play against for nastiness was a shower called Apex - from Fergusley paisley , them and Millbrae - from Johnstone - not nice to play against
You can imagine it - tightest ever Red blaes park where you could jump from the shy line into the 18 yard box :(
I have played against apex,shower of dirty bastards
 
The Signal Box v Lincoln Inn - guy goes down under a heavy tackle and a sheath knife fell out of his sock. :(
Shakespeare Street Youth Club from Maryhill (no shrinking violets ourselves :) ) playing against a team at Easterhouse (can’t remember their name) in the late 1960s.
Among the intimidating young team standing behind our goalkeeper, were several of them with air rifles making it clear who was going to win.
We lost 10-0 that evening, and I’ve never been back to Easterhouse since then :)
 
Used to have some good games against hillwood - played at parks at the pollock shopping centre

Worst team to play against for nastiness was a shower called Apex - from Fergusley paisley , them and Millbrae - from Johnstone - not nice to play against
You can imagine it - tightest ever Red blaes park where you could jump from the shy line into the 18 yard box :(

Played for Ferguslie Utd for serval years and were not to be in terms if success and not a bad football team. Our issue was the area reputation so when we played away in the Scottish Cup for the other team would make a real go at kicking crap out us.

My claim to fame in Youth football at Pollock pitches was playing against Walter Smiths son and was awe struck when he gave me the ball at a throw in. He was assistant at the time however the couple of tims in our team made sure they singled out his son....we won but he never did offer me an S form.
 
Shakespeare Street Youth Club from Maryhill (no shrinking violets ourselves :) ) playing against a team at Easterhouse (can’t remember their name) in the late 1960s.
Among the intimidating young team standing behind our goalkeeper, were several of them with air rifles making it clear who was going to win.
We lost 10-0 that evening, and I’ve never been back to Easterhouse since then :)
Shakespeare Street youth club. God you just brought back some memories. Was on placement there in late 80's early 90's when I was a trainee youth and community worker.
 
Used to watch AC Milanda and PO Phones at Nether Pollok during the spring , summer.

Also Strathclyde Police at their base in Lochinch in Pollok Park too.....dirty , dirty bastards!!!
I remember playing against the 'Polis' one time and the manager's team talk was, "Right boys, this afternoon youse are gonnae find out the true meaning of 'police brutality'!"

(And we did.)
 
Played for harmony row in the late 60s early 70ts we drew a team from Edinburgh in the scottish ,when they seem the 50 pitches they shat themselves we drew with they put in a protest we took them to their place and beat them happy days
 
Played a cup game against a team from Ferguslie Park back in the 80s when skinheads were still a thing and there was a squad of them along the touchline with dogs straining on the leash.

I was playing right wing and anytime I got close to them it was to be met with a barrage of threats, most of them involving knives.

Objects kept getting thrown onto the pitch and the ref had to keep stopping the game and threatening to abandon it and award it to us. Which didn’t go down well. I kept drifting more and more infield much to the consternation of our coach as the dogs kept barking and snarling at the side.

Despite it all we trounced them 10-3 or something (I got a couple) and after it there was a big rammy involving just about everyone before they put some bricks through the back of our mini van window as we drove off.

Happy days.
 
Played a few games against them in the 70s,they had good pitches and facilities at Lochinch next to Haggs Castle Golf Club.
Most of them were ok but they always had a couple running around trying to stick the boot into anything that moved.
Mind you that was standard polis procedure back then.:)
 
Used to watch AC Milanda and PO Phones at Nether Pollok during the spring , summer.

Also Strathclyde Police at their base in Lochinch in Pollok Park too.....dirty , dirty bastards!!!
Played against the Polis at Haggs castle for Pollokshields Athletic.
You are correct, a shower of fucking thugs.
Pumped them 3-2 and our dressing room was broken into.
Funnily enough, theirs was untouched.
 
Played against the Police team many years ago and let's just say, the left back was carrying a few extra pounds. Whole game he's getting called sumo and generally abused about his weight to the extent he looses the plot and has to be substituted. After being subbed, he walks from his side of the park to ours (we're at home) and says to all and sundry "next one calls me sumo is getting it" (and he meant it). One of our guys doesn't hear the threat, turns round, sees the guy and casually says "all right sumo". Copper went absolutely mental and it took a fair few to restrain him.
 
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That’s what Scottish football misses, the character building stuff, the reserves going out against the stiffs, the young pups getting battered about by the old pros.
Amateur football should always have been the pathway to the juniors and professional sides, not pro youth.
The game is far too Sanitised for my liking nowadays. It’s all fair and well having the technique of you can’t handle getting kicked up and down the park, gotta be able to take care of yourself on the park as well.
been some great teams and great players over the years.
 
My mate and I ran a boys team back in the late 80's / early 90's

When we played there we always got changed before the game and loaded up all the bags back in the bus before we went onto the park , for a quick get away

One night we played them at Lochend School & there was a gang fight on the next park.

Funny as %^*&.

This guys chasing another with a big machete thing & as they realised they were going to run onto our park they changed angle so they wouldnae disrupt the game !

We were all buckled up laughing.

They had their values, those boys.
 
Yet another reason we no longer produce good footballers. The demise of youth and amateur football.
I played for a Scottish Amateur club for 13 years, and then a further 18 months when they started an over 35's side in 1992. As I'm sure you know the volume of leagues and therefore clubs was off the scale. Off the top of my head, in the 70/80's Scottish Amateur was 7 divisions, plus 3 reserve divisions. West of Scotland 3 divisions?. Paisley and District 3? then the Caledonian was formed. Add in all the pub leagues and others, and that's an awful lot of young lads playing football. A couple of years back I went down to the pitches at Muirend to take in a game, and whilst watching was told that Muirend who were well funded and organised in my day had folded. It's a real shame, and I can't help but think that young people are missing out on the benefits health, fitness and social of playing organised sport.
 
Stepped up from Harmony Row under 18s to the under 21s. First game, last thing our manager said before we went out was
Remember, if wan o youse is in a fight, yer aw in the fight.
 
Glasgow Amateurs in the 1970's were affiliated to Birmingham City and played in their strip. Jimmy Calderwood and Ricky Sbragia went to City direct and Kenny Burns (a scary boy) joined after a stint at Rangers. Alex O'Hara also signed for Rangers and later Murdo McLeod joined Dumbarton.

They were ran by a man called Sam Beck who got a mention in Alex Ferguson's autobiography.
 
Back in the 50's and 60's amateur football was absolutely massive in Glasgow and its surrounding areas. In Glasgow, as well as the two main amateur leagues (the Scottish And West of Scotland), there were First and Secondary Class Juvenile Football Leagues, BB Football Leagues, Churches Football Leagues, Saturday Morning Football Leagues, a Tuesday Afternoon League (that used to be early closing day for many retail premises in Glasgow), Boys Club Leagues and the Schools Football Leagues. On Sunday afternoons there used to be hundreds of 'bounce games' on the public pitches in the city. There were loads of great teams and many great players. I've personally got a load of memories as I used to run a Saturday morning team. Back then not too much attention was paid to the Saturday morning amateurs. It's ironic that in the Glasgow area it is the one League that has actually grown in strength down through the years.
 
Glasgow Amateurs in the 1970's were affiliated to Birmingham City and played in their strip. Jimmy Calderwood and Ricky Sbragia went to City direct and Kenny Burns (a scary boy) joined after a stint at Rangers. Alex O'Hara also signed for Rangers and later Murdo McLeod joined Dumbarton.

They were ran by a man called Sam Beck who got a mention in Alex Ferguson's autobiography.
My uncle was involved in that.
 
Played against the Polis at Haggs castle for Pollokshields Athletic.
You are correct, a shower of fucking thugs.
Pumped them 3-2 and our dressing room was broken into.
Funnily enough, theirs was untouched.

One of my best friends growing up played for Morton and was a decent player

He joined the police and when he was called up the the SP team he was told to forget everything he ever knew about the game!!! This was fecking war!!! :D :D
 
Back in the 50's and 60's amateur football was absolutely massive in Glasgow and its surrounding areas. In Glasgow, as well as the two main amateur leagues (the Scottish And West of Scotland), there were First and Secondary Class Juvenile Football Leagues, BB Football Leagues, Churches Football Leagues, Saturday Morning Football Leagues, a Tuesday Afternoon League (that used to be early closing day for many retail premises in Glasgow), Boys Club Leagues and the Schools Football Leagues. On Sunday afternoons there used to be hundreds of 'bounce games' on the public pitches in the city. There were loads of great teams and many great players. I've personally got a load of memories as I used to run a Saturday morning team. Back then not too much attention was paid to the Saturday morning amateurs. It's ironic that in the Glasgow area it is the one League that has actually grown in strength down through the years.

The city had over a million people in the 50s - even with the expanded boundaries we're barely touching 600,000 now.
 
Played them in the early 80’s.I was with Leeds Utd boys club and we had some very good teams from Under 11’s right up to 18’s.Played at Huntershill then all saints parks.

They were actually a really well run club. They’re getting a wee bit of stick, but they were really OK guys.
 
One night we played them at Lochend School & there was a gang fight on the next park.

Funny as %^*&.

This guys chasing another with a big machete thing & as they realised they were going to run onto our park they changed angle so they wouldnae disrupt the game !

We were all buckled up laughing.

They had their values, those boys.
Sounds like the drummy and the Toi knocking lumps out of each other.

Out of curiosity G - who did you play for?
 

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