Part Fourteen: Third Lanark to Wishaw Athletic
Third Lanark Athletic Club and Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers
Nickname: The Hi Hi (possibly because of the panoramic views available from its home ground; possibly because the crowd once chanted `Hi; hi; hi!” as a player booted the ball into orbit – or maybe it’s something to do with a drum kit; who really knows?); The Thirds; The Redcoats or – originally – The Warriors.
Strip: Predominantly red & white with a few variations over the years.
Home Ground: Cathkin Park (1903-5), New Cathkin Park (formerly Hampden Park Mark II), Glasgow.
It is not unusual to have connections between football clubs and the military in many countries and Scotland is no exception. Third Lanark thus started life as the Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers (or The Warriors) and played at the Regiment’s Victoria Road drill field in Glasgow initially. They were invited by the Scottish Football League to become one of the twelve founding members of its new competition in 1890 – and readily agreed. The club turned professional during 1893 and by 1903 were registered as Third Lanark Athletic – as opposed to a Third Lanark Football Club – with the SFA; an unusual title which was never altered. By this time, all links with the army had been severed and the club had moved to Cathkin Park. In 1903, they also moved again to the second incarnation of Hampden Park when Queen’s Park moved out of it and took the name with them. Third Lanark re-named their new stadium New Cathkin Park. They won the FA Challenge Cup in 1889 and 1905 as well as the First Division title during 1903 but success eluded them for much of the club’s subsequent history. Having said that, they spent more time in the top tier of Scottish football than they did anywhere else and enjoyed the services of Managers such as the brother of the legendary Liverpool boss Bill Shankly, Bob. Bob Shankly later said of his experience at the club: “I enjoyed my spell with the Thirds more than any other club I have been with. I was sad to move to Dundee when asked to do so, as at that time Thirds were one of the best teams in the league and were very popular with the crowds, both home and away’.
Sadly, a terminal rot started to set in at the club during the early 1960s. In 1961, the club was watched by well over half a million (555,489) spectators at Cathkin Park alone in just one season. Just six years later, as Third Lanark slipped down to SFL Division Two and started to struggle on the field, ninety per cent of this very impressive attendance had been lost. (The gate receipts from their final season of 1966-7 were from just 55,543 paying customers.)
I can personally remember Third Lanark being mentioned every Saturday of my youth when the football results were read out on the steam wireless and Pools coupons being checked against them. Then – suddenly – they weren’t mentioned anymore. What had happened? This is Matthew Allen’s attempt to explain:
“A small black plaque sits atop a post at the park’s entrance; Cathkin Park, home of Third Lanark Athletic Club. Known as the Hi-Hi, they went from finishing third in 1961 to extinction six years later, though Cathkin Park remains a symbol of a club betrayed by its owner and of fans who refuse to let its memory die.
With things looking up, a familiar face reappeared and sent shockwaves throughout the club (in December 1962). Former director Bill Hiddleston announced that he was the major shareholder of Third Lanark. Manager George Young quit instantly, chairman William McLean stood down and director Robert Martin departed, uttering “Good luck to Thirds and God help them”…
With Young gone, Thirds became rudderless and his successors went through what had become a revolving door in the manager’s office. Initially, the players were none the wiser to the goings on but when the electricity was cut off at Cathkin Park and wage packets were crammed with coins clearly taken from the turnstiles, alarm bells started ringing.
Hiddleston’s cost-cutting had hit unbelievable levels; balls were ordered to be whitewashed to give the impression they were new. Word spread and away teams arrived at Cathkin Park with their own lightbulbs and soap to replace the missing ones from their changing rooms. Youngster John Kinnaird suffered a sickening compound fracture in his arm and, whilst waiting for an ambulance, Hiddleston told him to make sure the doctor didn’t cut the shirt off him at the hospital as they didn’t have any more. Club suits were billed to the players while supporters bought tickets for raffles only to never see prizes given out.
Rumours grew that Hiddleston wanted to take advantage of Glasgow’s regeneration by moving the club to East Kilbride and selling Cathkin Park to property developers. When Glasgow City Council blocked the move, Hiddleston saw his chance at making a quick fortune disappear. His deliberate mismanagement interfered with the playing side too; anyone who defied him found themselves frozen out, captain Alan McKay dropped without any explanation. Some fans stopped going, refusing to give Hiddleston their money as the supporters’ association continued raising funds only to see it fall into the black hole the chairman had created…
Likewise, fans had seen enough, contacting the Board of Trade asking for them to investigate the goings on at Cathkin Park. The investigation began and soon it became clear that Hiddleston had acquired the club to satisfy his own needs, using club funds to pay for gravel to cover the driveway outside his house amongst many other things.
A 3-3 draw against Queen of the South proved to be the final game at Cathkin Park as John Kinnaird scored two to secure a draw in front of a declining home crowd. Three days later, a lacklustre 5-1 defeat to Dumbarton at Boghead Park would bring the curtain down on the club. Upon returning to Glasgow, the players were asked to go to the manager’s office, where manager Bobby Shearer handed them envelopes filled with coins and told them it was over. Hiddleston made the manager do his dirty work.
A contractor had taken Thirds to court over an unpaid bill for work done on one of the Cathkin Park stands. With the club’s accounts empty, they found themselves wound up. The gates to Cathkin Park were closed, players were left devastated and the fans had begun to drift away, yet they still retained hardcore support. The fans who urged the Board of Trade to investigate were shocked to find thousands of pounds had simply vanished and, in the summer of 1967, Third Lanark’s 95-year spell in the Scottish football leagues ended when they were officially declared bankrupt.
Four board members were convicted for their roles, yet the Board of Trade stated the club was an “inefficient and unscrupulous one-man business”. Hiddleston himself evaded questioning and before he could be brought to task was found dead in a Blackpool hotel from an apparent heart attack. The villain of the piece took to the grave the answers for his actions. Many felt his sole intention of owning the club was to sell Cathkin Park. When that was taken away, he merely ran it into the ground.
Glasgow City Council still refused to grant planning permission for any prospective developments to Cathkin Park and, 50 years after Thirds played their final game, fans are raising funds to restore the ground to its former glory. The stadium stands as a reminder of a club who for a time-challenged and beat the best Scotland had to offer only to find it snatched away by one man’s greed.” [1]
Bill Hiddleston, of course, in no longer here to defend himself. But the fact of the matter is that although it is difficult to find any articles defending his actions as Third Lanark Chairman, there are loads that label him with negative epithets, some of which are not repeatable here. Even the normally sober Scottish Football Museum’s official website describes him as `a crook with selfish intentions’. [2] As noted above, Glasgow City Council responded to Third Lanark’s demise by passing an edict preventing the site of their ground from being developed for the foreseeable future to prevent any further dodgy dealing there. This ruling still stands. Sad photos of the ghostly remnants of a once huge football stadium were published by the Glasgow Evening Times and can be seen here:
Contrast these with the stadium as it appeared in its pomp:
https://www.stadiumguide.com/cathkinpark/
A new club called Third Lanark was formed in 2008 as an Amateur club but I can’t find any further details about them, such as whether or not they still actually exist.
Third Edinburgh Volunteers: see St Bernard’s.
Thistle FC.
Nickname: Unknown but possibly the Jags.
Strip: Royal Blue & White hooped shirts; Royal Blue shorts and socks.
Home Grounds: 1882-4: Dalmarnock Park, Dalmarnock, Glasgow; 1884-1892: Beechwood Park, Dalmarnock; 1892-1894: Braehead Park, Oatlands, Glasgow.
This club were also known as Glasgow Thistle and Bridgeton Thistle at various times in its brief history. It was formed in 1868 in the East End of Glasgow and was in competition with nearby clubs such as Clyde and – later – Celtic, both of which attracted larger crows from the ever-growing working classes who were populating a growing and increasingly industrialised Glasgow. Its forced move to Braehead Park in Oatlands on the other side of the River Clyde during 1894 cut the club off from its core support as it coincided with the demolition of the old Rutherglen Bridge, which wasn’t replaced until 1896. This made travel from Clyde to Oatlands problematic and this was reflected in the drastic fall in the size of the home crowds. Thistle had been invited to join the new SFL Division Two in 1893 but – with a dilapidated ground; small crowds and some appalling defeats (13-1 against nearby Partick Thistle, for instance), things looked bleak for the club. So it was to prove: Thistle came bottom at the end of the season and folded even before the re-election voting which could have kept their SFL place.
Thornliebank FC
Nickname: Unknown.
Strip: White shirts with navy blue shorts.
Home Ground: Heatherty Park initially; then Deacon’s Bank Park then and finally Summerlee Park, all in Thornliebank.
Thornliebank can be found about five miles south and slightly west of Glasgow city centre. This was another club which never actually played in the SFL but is worth a mention because it influenced the development of soccer in Glasgow in its earliest times. The club was formed in 1875 and in 1880 reached the Scottish Cup Final, losing 3-0 to nearby Queen’s Park. However, any hopes that they might reach the Big Time were extinguished in 1906, when they were expelled from the influential Scottish Football Combination – and that was it.
Vale of Leven
Nickname: The Vale.
Strip: Several with red in the design; but finally navy blue shirts and socks with white shorts.
Ground: Milburn Park. Alexandria.
Alexandria is a town to be found directly north and about four miles away from Dumbarton on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. Its most famous feature is now its floral gardens, Christie Park. But back in the day, the town’s football team was one of the most influential in Scottish Senior football. They and near-neighbours Renton were founder-members of the Scottish Football League in 1980. They had already won the Scottish FA Cup three times in a row between 1877 and 1879. But even by 1892, the power base of Scottish football was already shifting to the bigger cities – and Glasgow in particular. Vale finished bottom of the League in 1892 after failing to win even one game during the season and did not apply for re-election.
In their second season, they failed to win a single game and finished last. Rather than face re-election for the second time, the club withdrew and joined the rival Scottish Alliance where they played for a single season. They were soon back again and came second in the Second Division in both 1907 and 1909 but were not elected to the First Division. At the end of the First World War, Vale of Leven were placed in a reformulated Second Division but found themselves relegated to the newly-formed Third Division in 1924. When this in itself failed during 1926 under the economic pressures of the Great Depression, Vale’s fortunes declined with it. By the time they decided to pack-up altogether during 1929, they were playing in a local league. The last straw was when they were then thrown-out of the Scottish FA for failing to fulfil a fixture against Dykehead in the esoteric Qualifying Cup competition. An amateur team – Leven `Ocuba’ (or Vale of Leven Old Church Boys Association to give the club its full name) continued to play at Milburn Park. They changed their name to Vale of Leven (who were technically still banned by the SFA) in 1938 only for the Second World War to end any progress they may have planned back towards rehabilitation and the SFL. They joined the Scottish Junior FA in December 1939 and a team of this name are still members today and will face Bathgate Thistle away in the Scottish Junior Cup First Round next season. Interestingly, the new team makes no claim to be the successors of the original club and traces its origins only back to 1939.
Wishaw Athletic
Nickname: Wishy or Wishae – But definitely not Wishae Washae.
Strip: Chess board pattern black & white shirts; black shorts and socks.
Home Ground: The Beltane, Alexander Street, Wishaw.
Wishaw is a large town in North Lanarkshire which can be found about three miles east of Motherwell and about fifteen miles south-east of Glasgow. Wishaw Athletic is another team that never actually played in the SFL – but it wasn’t for want of trying. Their applications to join were turned down several times by the posh men in suits who were in control of the Scottish Football League in the last decade of the Nineteenth Century. Several Junior clubs and at least one amateur one have existed in the town but none have been any more successful than Athletic ever were. I’ve been unable to find much information about Athletic but I did unearth the following little gem about Wishaw itself, headed `A Psycho’s Paradise’:
“Where to even start with this place. Wishaw is a relatively small town in North Lanarkshire famed for well… nothing. There is nothing to do in this place, the most exciting part of a day out here is the possibility of witnessing a fight or someone getting abused in some way or another.
The towns main attraction is probably the Tesco, if that doesn’t say enough, I’m not sure what will. Oh and if you thought you would have a pleasant time shopping there think again. The vast majority of the people that populate this place are rude, annoying, stupid, idiotic, and pretty much any (o)ther negative word you can think of to describe someone. For example, bumping into someone on the main street you may expect to be resolved by a simple “sorry” in most places, but in Wishaw there is not much doubt that the common “square go” will be initiated. The participants will proceed to “kick f*ck out of each other” probably in a drunken stupor.
I reckon that the only reason people still stick around here as they are drunk or high so often that they can’t tell the difference between when the(y) are sober or not, and think that this town is actually a good place to live. It’s not like the place is appealing to the eye either. It’s almost like it’s a legal requirement for every street to have at least one empty or smashed bottle of Buckfast on it.” [3]
Staycation anybody?
So that’s it – the end of the road for this account just in time for the new EFL season to begin. If you are aware of any mistakes or omissions in the above – or would like to add your own personal recollections or photos – please get in touch with me at rogerfitton632@gmail.com
Thanks for taking the time to read it.
words Roger Fitton
[1] https://thesefootballtimes.co/2019/04/19/how-scottish-football-lost-third-lanark-a-cherished-club-destroyed-by-one-mans-greed/
[2] https://scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/the-rise-and-fall-of-third-lanark/
[3] https://www.ilivehere.co.uk/wishaw-psycho-paradise-with-fck-all-to-do.html