The Speaking Pariah

Well done, Brora !!

My first Junior match would've been Maryhill Harp a few years before they shut up shop in 1967. Was only a wean so can't really remember much about it. In the '70s we moved out of Glasgow. My first Cumbernauld United game would've been in '71 or '72 at the old Ravenswood ground. It was against Kirkintilloch Rob Roy on a wednesday night. A right good crowd that night, and I'm sure Rob Roy won 3-2. I think it was the Red Hackle Trophy.

Your history boffin is correct, Hampden. Celtic played in the hoops a year before the Ants. It has become a bit of an urban myth that the Ants did before Celtic. An auld boy from Croy who used to play for the Ants told me that myth many years ago whilst sharing a few jars with me. He believed it, and I believed him, but it turned out not to be the case. But in saying that, Celtic were'nt the first club in Scotland to play in the green and white hoops either. No, that honour and distinction lies with Hibernian. Edinburgh Hibernians were the first club to wear the hoops.

Thanks for that, Hillonearth. That's a cracking photo. Mind you, I'm quite an auld kunt but I wasn't about in 1942

As you probably know Maryhill Road is one of the longest roads in Glasgow. Kelvinvale Park was located on the right hand side of Maryhill Road. The old Maryhill Harp ground was just down from the present day Maryhill train station, between Duart Street (which was previously known as Watt Street) and Duncruin Street. The ground ran along beside Maryhill Road, as I said on the right hand side. It has been many a long year since I've been back to Maryhill but I think Kelvindale is further to the west on the other side of the canal, quite a posh area, if I remember correctly. This is a few years old but this is were Kelvinvale Park used to be:

Thanks for posting that, Blackie. I often wondered why Auchinleck were called Talbot. A really interesting article, and a little bit of history I was unaware of.

Possibly quite a few could've went to Rangers, Gordon, because not every player at the Harp was Catholic. Bertie Auld wasn't and Frank Haffey, who was born within a few yards of Ibrox, used to go and watch Rangers quite a lot when he was young. But as for David Graham... Sevco are heading into the shadowlands with that appointment. I didn't think it could get any worse than that bam Jabba... but there ye go.

Needless to say the Old Firm, as it was called, doesn't exist anymore after the demise of the original Rangers club who died in 2012... but enough of that. I was born in Maryhill many decades ago. I was too young to go to Celtic Park, my parents deemed it too mental because of the gang fights and the general madness that existed during the sixties at Paradise at that time. But my dad would sometimes take me and my elder brother to see Maryhill Harp at Kelvinvale Park , a junior club that died a sad death in 1967, of all years. Later on I moved to the Drum, and my parents still deemed me too young to go see Celtic, for the same reasons, so I would head down to Clydebank and watch the Bankies with ma pals (a mixture of Celtic fans and pre-sevco Rangers fans, lol) not long after they joined the Scottish League. The Harp gave Celtic 26 players throughout their short history (1923-67), including loans such as the famous Peter Scarff. Other Celtic players also played for the Harp, including Frank Haffey and of course Bertie Auld who was born in Maryhill. 26 players went to Celtic in total, 4 players to Partick Thistle, 25 players to thirteen other Scottish clubs, and 6 players to six English clubs, including the likes of Everton. So given the amount of players that actually went to, or were loaned from, Celtic, I would say, that Maryhill Harp had quite a close relationship with the Hoops. I was only six and a half when the Harp were forced out of existence by the old Glasgow Corporation, who issued them with a CPO so they could build houses on their land. My memories are obviously vague but I do remember going to see them, and my dad in later years used to tell me all about them and the Celtic players that played for them.

Not really, Craig. Cumbernauld was the eastern part (or parish) of historic East Dunbartonshire for many decades, well over a century at least, before the old counties were reorganised in the seventies. Clyde FC, a Glasgow club has been based in Cumbernauld since 1994, which is quite befitting considering Cumbernauld is a massive Glasgow overspill. Cumbernauld Colts... and now Cumbernauld United and Kirkintilloch Rob Roy (who are based in Cumbernauld Utd's ground, in the Village) have joined the two existing seniors in the old historic county. But for some strange reason Cumbernauld new town, and all its Glaswegian residents therein, was detached from its historic roots and put into North Lanarkshire Council along with the old industrial towns of Airdrie and Coatbridge, which apart from consuming large amounts of Buckfast Tonic Wine (the Buckfast Triangle, lol), attending Airdrie Sheriff Court, and Monklands Hospital, it had no real cultural ties or connections... but such is life. On another note, best of luck to all the clubs applying to the the long awaited West of Scotland Football League. Without any doubts, within a couple of years it will be the best and strongest tier six league in Scotland.

Albion Rovers were unlucky not to get a point yesterday

After listening to the Junior Podcast 7 the other night, tonights events don't really surprise me. The head kiddy from Cumbernauld Utd disparaged the Lowland League, and either him or another guest thought six of the LL clubs came from the South of Scotland (I might be wrong but I can only think of Gretna and Dalbeatie Star), and they thought Newtown Stewart played in the LL. The ignorance and arrogance from people heavily involved in the west juniors with regard to the LL was shocking, but not altogether surprising. Perhaps, the "n*****s" running the East of Scotland League should reaffirm their very generous offer from a couple of years back to clubs in the west, between now and March, to help set up a West of Scotland League. A WoSL to be set up at tier six for season starting 2020/2021. The West Region, controlled by the SJFA, are never going to come over. They are a dead loss that will forever drag their heels with regard to the pyramid, and I say that as someone who attends quite a few west junior games per season. The WoSL should be open to all... the licensed clubs, Girvan and Glasgow Uni, junior clubs not stuck in the past, and ambitious amatuers from Oban to the west central lowlands. The comments regarding the East of Scotland League are disgraceful. For me the EoSL are in the same category, as regards the non-league game, as the late Turnbull Hutton was to the integrity of the so-called senior game... they were a game changer. They near enough sacrificed their existence for the good of the game by supporting the LL and the pyramid.

Yes, every club (even that Hearts mob) except Sevco.

What a tragic and ignorant post that, sadly, probably sums up a lot of clubs in the West Region and elsewhere. A genuine West of Scotland League within the pyramid has to be set up at some time in the future. An informed change of direction by the clowns in the SFA of no more pandering to the SJFA would definitely help to move things along with concensus and agreement. There will never ever be progress under the present so-called leadership of the SJFA, nationally or regionally, none whatsoever. Just the usual delaying and obstructive tactics. As another poster said , can't mind who it was, but unfortunately some of the juniors are destined to head into the same barren wilderness as that of the Welfare Leagues whiich have practically dwindled into obscurity over the decades. There is evidence of that already in the ERJFA with their unfathomable bunker mentality, especially in the darker areas of West Lothian. And there is no need for it, absolutely no need for it. I hope I am wrong but I cannot see the West Region clubs doing anything in the next season or two to break the impasse given the 'grade' mindset, even though I do believe that a coming together, a gradual integration of Scottish football is inevitable... and necessary. I live in the west and attend a few games when the Hoops aren't playing at home. I love going to grounds that are embedded into the community and are light years away from the rising commercialism that is polluting our society, but the pyramid, flawed as it is, is the way ahead, not only for juniors but for ambitious amateurs as well if they don't want to be left behind. I suppose if some clubs want to exist in a bubble of isolationism and don't want to join the pyramid in any shape or form then that's fair enough, but access to the Scottish Cup from outwith the pyramid should then be restricted only to the winners of the Junior Cup and the SAFA Cup. In saying that, I sincerely hope things move forward in the next few years. One can only hope.

Congratulations to Bonnyrigg Rose on their long belated promotion. Scandalous yourselves and WW waited this long to know what was happening.