To give a flavour of Queen's Park for those outside Scotland, imagine Corinthians playing in Division Two on Saturday against Carlisle, Tuesday against Mansfield, with both games at Wembley. Except Queen's Park is perhaps historically more central to the development of the game than even the Corinthians. Queen's Park is where two cultures collide, past and present confront each other, different philosophies eye each other.
Queen's Park is an amateur club in an otherwise professional league. Its motto is ludere causa ludendi – "to play for the sake of playing". Its home is Hampden Park, all-seater home of the Scottish national team. Queen's Park is the oldest association football club in Scotland, having been founded in 1867, and is the oldest outside England and Wales. It is the only Scottish club to have played in the FA Cup Final, which it did twice. Only Celtic and Rangers have won the Scottish Cup more times than Queen’s Park's ten successes. The fact that the last of them was in 1893 can either lead to the conclusion that the club is now no more than a curiosity like Nessie, surviving from the age of dinosaurs, or that its continuing existence represents values the modern game ignores at its peril.
In 1872 Scotland faced England at the West of Scotland Cricket Club. All eleven Scots players were from Queen's Park and they wore blue jerseys, because those were then Queen’s Park’s colours. In 1873 Queen's Park formed the Scottish Football Association with eight other clubs and the game against Dumbreck was the first match played at Hampden Park. It was also the first appearance of the club’s famous black and white hooped jerseys, from which it gained its nickname 'The Spiders'.
Remarkably Queen's Park is credited with the introduction of a collective and 'scientific' form of team-based passing, which would become known as 'combination' football. Rudimentary forms of passing did exist prior to 1872, and Queen's themselves appear to have used it, but the combination game with its systematic form of passing was being used by the club when that first official international match between Scotland and England took place. So Pep Guardiola, your shirt is short a few black and white hoops!
In a professional world an amateur team was almost bound to struggle. They survived in the top flight until 1922 and even bounced back when finally relegated, winning the second tier at their first attempt. However, if success is measured only in trophies, the last eighty years for Queen’s Park has been a fallow period in a distinguished history. The club won the second tier (First Division) in 1955-6, the third tier (Second Division) in 1980-1 and the fourth tier (Third Division) in 1999-2000. They were also play-off winners in the third tier 2006-7 and 2015-16.
Manager: Gus McPherson
Ground: Hampden Park (capacity 51,866 all-seated)
Nickname: The Spiders
Travel:
First find Glasgow:
By Rail:
The stadium is around a 10 minute walk from Mount Florida Station and King’s Park Station. Trains to both stations run from Glasgow central. Please call National Rail enquiries on 08457 484 950 for further information.
www.nationalrail.co.uk
By Bus:
The most frequent bus service from Glasgow City Centre is the 75 by First Bus, alighting at Aitkenhead Road. For further details please call Traveline on 0871 200 2233 for further information.
www.travelinescotland.com
Queen's Park is an amateur club in an otherwise professional league. Its motto is ludere causa ludendi – "to play for the sake of playing". Its home is Hampden Park, all-seater home of the Scottish national team. Queen's Park is the oldest association football club in Scotland, having been founded in 1867, and is the oldest outside England and Wales. It is the only Scottish club to have played in the FA Cup Final, which it did twice. Only Celtic and Rangers have won the Scottish Cup more times than Queen’s Park's ten successes. The fact that the last of them was in 1893 can either lead to the conclusion that the club is now no more than a curiosity like Nessie, surviving from the age of dinosaurs, or that its continuing existence represents values the modern game ignores at its peril.
In 1872 Scotland faced England at the West of Scotland Cricket Club. All eleven Scots players were from Queen's Park and they wore blue jerseys, because those were then Queen’s Park’s colours. In 1873 Queen's Park formed the Scottish Football Association with eight other clubs and the game against Dumbreck was the first match played at Hampden Park. It was also the first appearance of the club’s famous black and white hooped jerseys, from which it gained its nickname 'The Spiders'.
Remarkably Queen's Park is credited with the introduction of a collective and 'scientific' form of team-based passing, which would become known as 'combination' football. Rudimentary forms of passing did exist prior to 1872, and Queen's themselves appear to have used it, but the combination game with its systematic form of passing was being used by the club when that first official international match between Scotland and England took place. So Pep Guardiola, your shirt is short a few black and white hoops!
In a professional world an amateur team was almost bound to struggle. They survived in the top flight until 1922 and even bounced back when finally relegated, winning the second tier at their first attempt. However, if success is measured only in trophies, the last eighty years for Queen’s Park has been a fallow period in a distinguished history. The club won the second tier (First Division) in 1955-6, the third tier (Second Division) in 1980-1 and the fourth tier (Third Division) in 1999-2000. They were also play-off winners in the third tier 2006-7 and 2015-16.
Manager: Gus McPherson
Ground: Hampden Park (capacity 51,866 all-seated)
Nickname: The Spiders
Travel:
First find Glasgow:
By Rail:
The stadium is around a 10 minute walk from Mount Florida Station and King’s Park Station. Trains to both stations run from Glasgow central. Please call National Rail enquiries on 08457 484 950 for further information.
www.nationalrail.co.uk
By Bus:
The most frequent bus service from Glasgow City Centre is the 75 by First Bus, alighting at Aitkenhead Road. For further details please call Traveline on 0871 200 2233 for further information.
www.travelinescotland.com
