Perthshire Juniors - playing surface

Remember the ash pitch but was at their ground, Keppoch Park, a couple of years ago and it was a grass pitch.
 
Remember the ash pitch but was at their ground, Keppoch Park, a couple of years ago and it was a grass pitch.

Where was Keppoch park? Must have been the one across from the bus depot?

It is a grass pitch now, but i was sure it was black ash.
 
As well being black ash when I played on it . Horrible place to play football . Used to hate it as an away player . Welcome wasn’t great either
 
Where was Keppoch park? Must have been the one across from the bus depot?

It is a grass pitch now, but i was sure it was black ash.
Yes, you are right. It was a black ash pitch and it was just up the road from the bus depot. The Possilpark Bowling Club was situated nearby before it closed down.
 
As well being black ash when I played on it . Horrible place to play football . Used to hate it as an away player . Welcome wasn’t great either
As well being black ash when I played on it . Horrible place to play football . Used to hate it as an away player . Welcome wasn’t great either

Ha!! Big girl. !!

I played a few games for them and remember the Possil guys in the crowd chased the ref to fu.ck up closeburn street. !!

Those were the days!!
 
The other one from further back in my youth that was black ash was Glenconner Park in the cesspit of Garngad. Only 2,black ash pitches I can recall
 
Having a conversation and i recall Perthshire played on a black ash pitch years ago when the bus garage was still there.

Apparently its all grass now.

Anyone agree or am i talking pish.
Definitely black ash mixed with stones and glass, one of the worst parks I have played on.
The changing rooms were a joke as well and the showers consisted of one pipe with a loop of cold water, for junior football back then it was a disgrace
 
The other one from further back in my youth that was black ash was Glenconner Park in the cesspit of Garngad. Only 2,black ash pitches I can recall

I remember Glenconnor park. Was that Royston?
It was like playing on old coal ashes.

Came off the pitch at the end manky.
 
Way back in Loyalist Dennistoun Alexander park used to be black ash and Haghill Park Park where Dennistoun Waverly played was black ash wth grass round the sidesin

I played for the 'Waverly' back in my youth.

Always had a great team. Then i moved to Possil YM. They were also a good team to play for.

The shitey pitches we played on were like night and day nowadays.
 
I never played for the Shire but played on it in a pub league with teams from Govan, Springburn, Partick on Sundays. When it was Junior Cup ties that was when the crowd was a lot larger and the atmosphere very heated for the away teams, between that and the black ash it must have been a nightmare for away teams but it played a big part in a lot of Possil boys growing up.
 
Every Sunday in Possil you had the hangover match, in the grounds of Possil Secondary.
The massive red ash behind the Post Office, about 20 aside any age. rotation subs every 15 minutes. Very passionate no holds barred entertainment
 
I played for Possil YM from under 11 to under 21 and then done half a season at the shire, it was my YM teams home park, been grass as long as I can remember and I'm 38, I know it was 100% black ash before that though as there was pictures up in the bar area and our manager played for the shire and also kept banging on about how lucky we were to play on grass and he had to play on black ash. My wee granny stayed facing the bus garage, finished our game on a sunday and straight up there for mince and totties
 
Every Sunday in Possil you had the hangover match, in the grounds of Possil Secondary.
The massive red ash behind the Post Office, about 20 aside any age. rotation subs every 15 minutes. Very passes no holds barred entertainment

True that, had the actual football park then about 100 yards to to the fence at Saracen street and from the post office uptown the library, the lines didn't count, lol
 
I never played for the Shire but played on it in a pub league with teams from Govan, Springburn, Partick on Sundays. When it was Junior Cup ties that was when the crowd was a lot larger and the atmosphere very heated for the away teams, between that and the black ash it must have been a nightmare for away teams but it played a big part in a lot of Possil boys growing up.

The 'possil' guys i played with were absolute gems. Played with Alan Fleck who i think must be Johns dad. Very down to earth.
It was always going to get the shithole of the league teams, but by %^*&, they had some cracking footballers.
 
I played for Possil YM from under 11 to under 21 and then done half a season at the shire, it was my YM teams home park, been grass as long as I can remember and I'm 38, I know it was 100% black ash before that though as there was pictures up in the bar area and our manager played for the shire and also kept banging on about how lucky we were to play on grass and he had to play on black ash. My wee granny stayed facing the bus garage, finished our game on a sunday and straight up there for mince and totties

I played for The Waverly till 14 then went to the YM till 21s too.

Bobby Dinnie era.
 
I played for the shire for 6 seasons 1977-1982 and won the top division in the Central league . The black ash was certainly an advantage to us, as we trained in it as well and very few games were ever postponed. It was always funny seeing a far flung team being drawn against us in Scottish cup lol. I can confirm the showers were a copper pipe with holes punched in it. Our floodlights first training were searchlights stolen from somewhere lol. It was known as the SAN Siro and not Keppoch Park
 
Another memory,
Watching a game on the red ash pitch across from the bus garage between locals and a team from Maryhill.
The star player from the away side went to take a corner and was arrested by plain clothes Police, apparently wanted for housebreaking in the city centre.
Nearly caused a riot and to compound matters the ref did not allow a sub.
 
Played quite a few times on black ash parks. Any slide tackle resulted in picking cinders and other detritus out of your legs for days later, even after scrubbing it raw afterwards. One time went up for a high ball and the centre forward made a back for me and I went head over tit, face first into the ash. Looked like a Hiroshima casualty for about a month.
Although nothing stung or was as bad as getting a mouldmaster blasted onto your thigh on a freezing winters day.
 
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Played quite a few times on black ash parks. Any slide tackle ment picking cinders and other detritus out of your legs for days later, even after scrubbing it raw afterwards. One time went up for a high ball and the centre forward made a back for me and I went head over tit, face first into the ash. Looked like a Hiroshima casualty for about a month.
Although nothing stung or was as bad as getting a mouldmaster blasted onto your thigh on a freezing winters day.

There have been rumours for years in Rutherglen that the black ash came from Whytes Chemical works and was contaminated. Pitch at Overton and Dukes Road were all sealed off for years.
Possible links to Cancer and deformed infants born in Rutherglen Maternity.
 
Another memory,
Watching a game on the red ash pitch across from the bus garage between locals and a team from Maryhill.
The star player from the away side went to take a corner and was arrested by plain clothes Police, apparently wanted for housebreaking in the city centre.
Nearly caused a riot and to compound matters the ref did not allow a sub.

The pitch across was Closeburn.

The bevvy team in Possil were brilliant!!
 
The 'possil' guys i played with were absolute gems. Played with Alan Fleck who i think must be Johns dad. Very down to earth.
It was always going to get the shithole of the league teams, but by %^*&, they had some cracking footballers.
Played against Allan too, good player
 
Before 1960 Glasgow Green was all black ash and the lines were red. Then it became red brick clay. If you got a scrape you had to take a scrubber to it and then put iodine on. Horrible.
 
Having a conversation and i recall Perthshire played on a black ash pitch years ago when the bus garage was still there.

Apparently its all grass now.

Anyone agree or am i talking pish.

For those of us of a certain vintage, a hell of a lot of Juniors played on ash pitches, think on Glasgow’s Past Industrial times, and powered by Coal, By Product, Ash. I remember Ali Park, and the Ash pitches, a bitch if you were sent sliding on them, you don’t forget that surface.
 
Canny beat a good old red blaze pitch. Think my high school still has one :eek: I blame my shin splints solely on that.
 
There was also a black ash pitch in Royston, near where the blind tunnel is.

It is crazy when you think of it, diving into tackles on what is basically little sharp stones that will scrape your skin off in a millisecond.
 
There was also a black ash pitch in Royston, near where the blind tunnel is.

It is crazy when you think of it, diving into tackles on what is basically little sharp stones that will scrape your skin off in a millisecond.

Glenconnor. Posh name in Royston.
 
I played for The Waverly till 14 then went to the YM till 21s too.

Bobby Dinnie era.

Bobbie was a cracking guy, took me down to Partick Thistle at u 18 for a trial, got 3 games for them but never stood out and that was that!
 
Bobbie was a cracking guy, took me down to Partick Thistle at u 18 for a trial, got 3 games for them but never stood out and that was that!

He was a great old fella. I remember going down to Ayr for an international tourney. We got minging the night before. We were playing half jaked.
Won the game, and he came in to congratulate us.

He said the smell would knock him down.

I think he meant bevvy sweat. !!
 
The 'possil' guys i played with were absolute gems. Played with Alan Fleck who i think must be Johns dad. Very down to earth.
It was always going to get the shithole of the league teams, but by %^*&, they had some cracking footballers.
Scareface i knew and know a lot of the very good players from possil Johnny Hamilton (dinghy),Alan Dinnie Partick Thistle Bobbie Dinnies nephew, i grew up in Bardowie St where Bobbie lived.In possil when talking about football there was a few who from the dark side were good as one of my mates John mc Colligan Clyde was the last person to score against ceptic as lisbon lions.(a story i just recently didnt mind telling people)
 
Having a conversation and i recall Perthshire played on a black ash pitch years ago when the bus garage was still there.

Apparently its all grass now.

Anyone agree or am i talking pish.

The black ash is still there but grass park on top.

Played with Perthshire and know their manager well and the drainage is amazing due to the black ash underneath
 
The other one from further back in my youth that was black ash was Glenconner Park in the cesspit of Garngad. Only 2,black ash pitches I can recall
The Coup it was known as. Played for a team who used it as their home pitch. I was the only bluenose in the team but they were a good team.
 
Way back in Loyalist Dennistoun Alexander park used to be black ash and Haghill Park Park where Dennistoun Waverly played was black ash wth grass round the sidesin

Ahh the days of walking from Parson St Toonheid out to Dennistoun Waverley, with my Father, As a kid I was always interested on the Steam Trains rather than the football at the far end. What I didn’t know was my Wife, also as kid used to sneak round the railway and get into the ground free!
 
There was nine black ash pitches at Cowlairs which were later converted to red ash. There was also a black ash pitch (maybe two) just outside the 'Shire's " ground in Torr Street.
 
Yes, you are right. It was a black ash pitch and it was just up the road from the bus depot. The Possilpark Bowling Club was situated nearby before it closed down.
I played on it in a Scottish cup tie for Cumnock juniors in 79/80 it was grass then but was told by one of their committee if it was the old ash pitch they would of beat us I assumed he was talking about the red pitches Glasgow was covered back in the day but later found out it was black ash Unbelievable !
 
Scareface i knew and know a lot of the very good players from possil Johnny Hamilton (dinghy),Alan Dinnie Partick Thistle Bobbie Dinnies nephew, i grew up in Bardowie St where Bobbie lived.In possil when talking about football there was a few who from the dark side were good as one of my mates John mc Colligan Clyde was the last person to score against ceptic as lisbon lions.(a story i just recently didnt mind telling people)

Possil was brilliant. A hard place to be brought up in but the folk were amazing.
We used to go from Denmark Street to Cowlairs for sprint training, as on the way the kids threw stones at you en route. :))
 
There was nine black ash pitches at Cowlairs which were later converted to red ash. There was also a black ash pitch (maybe two) just outside the 'Shire's " ground in Torr Street.

Cowlairs was a nightmare. Play at the top park and boot the ball to f*uck, getting the ball back was a pain in the arse.
 
I only ever played on black ash once. Worst pitch I ever played on.
Can't say for sure where, it was a long time ago, but I've got Cowlairs in my head.
Did Cowlairs have black ash?

My mind might be playing tricks again, but didn't there used to be a mostly black ash pitch in Croftfoot?
I say "mostly" because I think it had some grass on it and it was maybe meant to be a grass pitch.

Croftfoot, the pioneers of hybrid pitches.
 
There have been rumours for years in Rutherglen that the black ash came from Whytes Chemical works and was contaminated. Pitch at Overton and Dukes Road were all sealed off for years.
Possible links to Cancer and deformed infants born in Rutherglen Maternity.
i remember playing wolves bc at oatlands/ polmadie and it was the best ground i played at. Think it may have been roseberry or something like that and then years later i seen that that had also been fenced off due to contaminated ground.
 
i remember playing wolves bc at oatlands/ polmadie and it was the best ground i played at. Think it may have been roseberry or something like that and then years later i seen that that had also been fenced off due to contaminated ground.
Roseberry belonged to the Glasgow Schools Football Assoc
 
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