| Full name | East Lanarkshire Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | the E.L., [1] the Shire [2] | |
| Founded | 1898 | |
| Dissolved | 1900 | |
| Ground | Hawthorn Park | |
| Secretary | R. Finlay | |
East Lanarkshire F.C. was an association football club from Harthill, Scotland, active in the late 19th century.
The first East Lanarkshire F.C. was formed as a merger between the Shotts Football Club and the East Lanarkshire Cricket Club in 1876, [3] but the merger either fell apart or was never fully "consummated" as Shotts F.C. continued to play afterwards under the Shotts name.
The instant East Lanarkshire was a separate entity, formed in Harthill, Lanarkshire in April 1898, mostly with players from the recently-defunct Harthill Thistle [4] junior side, but also recruiting Dowker, Davidson, and Sommerville from Dykehead, and Sim and John Paterson from East Stirlingshire. [5] Before the 1898–99 season started the club also recruited Bob Reid from Benhar, [6] joined the Lanarkshire Association, [7] and joined the Scottish Football Association, [8] enabling it to play competitive football in the season.
The club's first match was a 2–2 draw at Bonnybridge Grasshoppers, [9] and its first tie in the Scottish Qualifying Cup was a near-impossible task at Linthouse; the home side won 6–2, the E.L. resorting to long shots. [10] It had a little more fortune in the Lanarkshire Cup, beating Carfin Rovers in a first round replay; the original draw at Carfin was considered a "feather in the cap", [11] and the E.L. exploited home advantage to the full - the Rovers were fatigued through travelling to Harthill by brake in windy conditions, which left the team not only unfit, but at a disadvantage in gauging the effect of the wind on an exposed and unfamiliar ground. [12]
In the second round, the club was drawn at home to Airdrieonians, and offered to sell home advantage for £15. [13] The tie was duly switched to Broomfield Park, and the E.L. startled the home support by equalizing an early goal thanks to a header from Graham, coming in from the left wing, and centre-forward Francis scoring a second equalizer just before half-time; with the second-half wind in their favour, the 'Onians were 5–2 ahead with 8 minutes to go, when the referee stopped the match because of darkness. [14] However, as the early finish was due to the home side turning up late, [15] the Lanarkshire FA unanimously agreed to order a replay, [16] to take place at Harthill, which in effect robbed the E.L. of its £15, as the tie was deemed unplayed; even worse from a financial perspective, with no free time for a replay, and with the expenses of the tie likely to exceed a gate share, Airdrieonians scratched from the competition. [17]
The small consolation was that the E.L. was in the last 4, and entertained Albion Rovers, but put in its "worst display...in their short career", and went down 4–1; demonstrating the economic realities of a smaller club in such a competition, the total receipts were £2 8/-, which suggests a crowd of under 100, but, despite the amount not covering the Rovers' travel expenses, the Coatbridge side had nothing but praise for the Shire's sporting attitude. [18]
The club however was able to enter the Coatbridge Express Cup, and after walking over Hamilton Academical (whose Lanarkshire League commitments precluded it from playing the tie) [19] and beating Carfin Rovers 2–0 [20] the club reached the final against Wishaw Thistle, played at the Acas' Douglas Park; [21] the club prepared with an unexpected 1–0 win in a friendly against East Stirlingshire. [22] The final ended 1–1, the E.L. considered by most spectators to have been unlucky as the Jags' goal was considered offside by a distance. [23] The replay, at Fir Park, ended 2–2; the E.L. squandered a two-goal half-time lead and missed a penalty when still a goal ahead, before conceding an equalizer in the 86th minute. [24] It was third time unlucky for the E.L., without Graham for the second replay (again at Fir Park) due to an accident at work; despite taking the lead before the break, the club went down 3–1. [25]
However, even in the club's first couple of months of playing, it was obvious that the smaller senior clubs in the region were finding it difficult to attract other senior clubs for matches. [26] This was made harder by the bigger clubs in the shire forming the Lanarkshire Football League in October 1898, which required a £10 guarantee for visiting clubs, well beyond the capabilities of the smaller clubs. [27] A smaller Second League was held in the second half of the 1898–99 season, with E.L, Dykehead, Uddingston, Glengowan, and Carfin as members, [28] but it seems to have fizzled out by the end of April.
Mr Finlay promised that the E.L. would come back stronger for 1899–1900, [29] signing up 13 players before the summer had even started, [30] and the club seemed to demonstrate this with a hard-fought 2–0 win over Dykehead in the Qualifying Cup first round. [31] However the vagaries of the wind at Longriggend proved too much for the Shire in the second. [32]
The club narrowly lost to Royal Albert in the first round of the Lanarkshire, but was fancied to win at Dykehead in the quarter-final of the Coatbridge Express Cup, having more or less the same side as reached the final the previous season, while Dykehead, having lost its ground and having barely played, had to borrow a junior ground to host the tie. [33] However the E.L. went down 8–1, [34] which seems to have had a deleterious effect on the club, which barely played afterwards - its last recorded fixture is a 5–0 defeat at West Calder in April. [35] It was struck from the Scottish FA roll in August 1900, [36] at least three players joining West Calder, [37] others joining Dykehead, [38] and Graham joining the new East Benhar Rangers. [39]
The club wore blue and white shirts. [40]
The club's ground, Hawthorn Park, [41] was to the north of a row of houses on Main Street [42] and remains a football ground today. It was formerly the home of West Benhar, when it was called Harthill Mains. [43]
Harthill is a rural village split between North Lanarkshire and West Lothian in Scotland, with most of the village in North Lanarkshire. It is located about halfway between Glasgow, 21 miles to the west, and Edinburgh, 25 miles (40 km) to the east. It lies on the River Almond about 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) west of the small town of Whitburn. The closest major towns are Bathgate, 6 miles (9.7 km) away, and Livingston, 10 miles (16 km) away. Major towns within North Lanarkshire, such as Wishaw, Airdrie, Motherwell, Coatbridge and Bellshill are all around 10 to 15 miles to the west. The M8 motorway bypasses the village and Harthill has a service station named after it.
The Lanarkshire Football League was a short-lived local football league in Scotland.
The Lanarkshire Cup was an annual competition open to football teams in the Lanarkshire area. The competition is now defunct. The Lanarkshire FA was dissolved in June 1999 when it was merged with the Ayrshire and Renfrewshire FAs to form the West of Scotland FA. This was because the memberships of these associations had fallen below the 7-club threshold placed on them by the Scottish FA.
The 1881–82 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the ninth season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. A total of 147 teams entered the competition, five more than the previous record set in 1879–80. For the second season in a row, defending champions Queen's Park played Dumbarton in the final. After the original match finished in a 2–2 draw on 18 March 1882, Queen's Park won the trophy for a sixth time with a 4–1 win in the replay 1 April 1882.
The 1884–85 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the 12th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Renton won the competition for the first tie after they defeated Vale of Leven in a replayed final.
The 1886–87 Scottish Cup was the 14th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Hibernian won the competition for the first time after they beat Dumbarton 2–1 in the final.
West Benhar Football Club was a senior football club from the small mining settlement of West Benhar, a mile to the south west of Harthill, Scotland. There is now little left of this settlement.
Drumpellier Football Club was a Scottish football team located in the town of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Carfin Shamrock F.C. was a Scottish football team, from the village of Carfin in Lanarkshire. Although the club only existed from 1885 to 1895, it reached the last 16 of the Scottish Cup, and provided a number of footballers who played for clubs in the Football League and Scottish League.
Airdriehill Football Club was a Scottish association football club based in the town of Airdrie, Lanarkshire.
Glengowan Football Club was a Scottish association football club based in the village of Caldercruix, Lanarkshire.
Lanark F.C. was a Scottish football team, from the town of Lanark in Lanarkshire, which played in the Scottish Football Combination, a second-rank national league.
Whifflet Shamrock Football Club was a Scottish football team located in the town of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Hamilton Harp F.C. was an association football club from Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland, active in the 1890s.
Motherwell Shamrock F.C. was an association football club from Motherwell, Lanarkshire, active in the early 1890s.
Longriggend Football Club was an association football club from Longriggend in Lanarkshire, active at the turn of the 20th century.
The Gaelic Football Club was a short-lived association football club from Coatbridge in Lanarkshire, active briefly in the 1890s.
Carfin Emmet F.C., sometimes spelt Carfin Emmett, was an association football club from the village of Carfin in Lanarkshire.
Carfin Rovers F.C. was an association football club from Carfin in Lanarkshire, active in the late 19th century.
