This was posted by someone on this site called “Walter Smith” four years ago, the piece was credited to have been written by Club Historian David Mason.
THE ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE OF THE BRAKE CLUBS
I never fail to be fascinated by the writings of journalists of yesteryear. Before the turn of the 20th Century, the features in newspapers and weekly magazines were eloquent and highly descriptive, particularly with regard to match reports. Quite simply they had to be, because they had to convey the images that nowadays are captured by countless trackside SLR’s and TV cameras. I was browsing through an old edition of the Scottish Sport last week – a short-lived newspaper that was popular in the 1890’s. The newspaper covered many sports, leading on cycling but with a hefty informed section which dealt with football.
The match reports were interesting, but some of the more fascinating features were anecdotal, or provided wider commentary on the ‘association’ game. In one such feature, I came across this fascinating description of fans on their way to an Old Firm match in 1896. In this case, the writer related the scene as brake clubs (the earliest supporters clubs) made their way to Parkhead.
‘The greatness of the Brake Club institution was seen in all its glory on Saturday. With partly-coloured bunting fluttering at the four corners of twenty of thirty crowded machines, with costly banners spread ostentatiously to the admiring gaze, with their distinguishing heroes emblazoned on them with more or less artistic merit, with their bass bugles blaring forth to all sorts of chords, and the corncraik of boyhood’s blessed memory screeching out its hideous noise at intervals, the most modern of all cavalcades rolled in boisterous and imposing array citywards through walls of cynical pedestrians. It is undoubtedly the most material embodiment of enthusiasm which the game has yet seen.’
The Brake Clubs were so named because they were organised around the horse-drawn wagon (or brake), conveying fans all around the country. The Scottish Sport suggested that ‘The Rangers can claim to have begun it’, and as the biggest supported club in Scotland, the brakes became a popular way for many Rangers fans to travel. Other Glasgow clubs eventually followed suit, before the idea extended throughout the country. The clubs were typically organised around a favoured brake, with the members contributing money each week. The first of the brake clubs began in the 1880’s, but by 1896, there were more than two dozen reported on the road to Paisley for one match against St Mirren at the time.
There are several pictures of Celtic brake clubs, but few survive relating to those who favoured Rangers. One celebrated picture shows the Kinning Park Brake Club some time after 1907, outside what appears to be the Jubilee Vaults. It was not unusual to see the brake clubs assemble at local pubs, just as many supporters’ buses do to this day.
As the picture shows, the brakes were often jam packed with fans and they were a notoriously noisy bunch. The brakes themselves also made a bit of a clatter as their iron rimmed wheels rattled across the cobbles. The short piece from the Scottish Sport captures the image of a boisterous group who were often heard before they were seen. If they were not fu’ by the time the brakes left for the game, many of the supporters would have ample opportunity to get into an advanced state of merriment before they arrived at the ground.
In time, the brake clubs (both Rangers and Celtic) tended to be feared by the wider population as they became more rowdy. By the 20’s they had become a positive nuisance and a headache for the police. If they were not throwing stones and bottles from the brakes towards opposing fans, they were themselves a target for missiles. Often the brakes were routed through opposition heartlands, with sectarian singing rife. It was a problem with the brake clubs from both sides of the Old Firm, even though they were often given routes that should be followed to the ground, taking them away from flashpoints. The same traffic management takes place to this day.
The brakes were particularly popular for Rangers fans attending away games, but matches at Ibrox were well-served by other modes of transport. In particular, December 1896 saw the opening of the new Glasgow Subway, with a station a short distance from Ibrox Park, in Copland Road. The railway designers saw Ibrox as an opportunity to capture some business from the growing interest in football.
The introduction of the subway had the press reporting that, ‘Ibrox Park is now the most accessible of any of the Glasgow grounds. Trains, tramcars (two routes) and subway converge upon it from every district of the city.’ For one match at Ibrox shortly after the Old Firm game, supporters were advised that, ‘… it was just as quick to take a Govan (tram)car as an Ibrox car…’, when they should ‘…come off at Whitefield Road and turn south’. This was curious as Ibrox Park lay to the west of Whitefield Road!
However, with the crowds thronging and the brakes rattling along, anyone unsure of the location would easily have found it at its only access, right on Copland Road. At that time there was no Edmiston Drive.
These improves transport links and the growth in availability and popularity of the motor car eventually saw the end of the brake clubs. The horses were initially replaced with engines and what started with four horse-power became many times more powerful and less noisy. The police also clamped down on the brake clubs as the unrest which often followed them became intolerable to the wider community. Football was changing, and football specials on the railway became more popular for travelling wider afield.
There is no doubt that there was a romanticism about the brakes and they served an important function for the fans. Today, plush buses provide up to 70 seats in the ultimate of comfort, but in many ways, times have changed little. The fervour of the fans remain, they will sing their songs, and there may be a pint or two consumed before the journey.
Travelling to the game by brake in these days conjures up an image of adventure. I guess we would all have liked to have given it a try, but wagons and horses are maybe best left to the Wild West! In some eyes, the brakes became a little rowdier than a night in Tombstone. Like all good westerns, it’s a romantic image nonetheless, of an era long gone.
