Hamilton Crescent is located in the Partick area in the west of Glasgow. The venue is famous and holds a special part in the history of football as on the 30th November 1872 it staged the first ever football international. A crowd of 4,000 turned out to see a goalless draw between Scotland and England.
The Scottish FA Cup Final of 1876 between Queen’s Park and 3rd Lanark RV attracted a crowd of 6,000 to the ground. The following season 8,000 fans turned up at Hamilton Crescent for the final, which ended in a 1-1 draw between Vale of Leven and Rangers. 15,000 attended the replay, which also ended level. The third game was played at the original Hampden Park.
Further internationals at the ground saw a 2-1 win against England in March 1874, which attracted a crowd of 7,000, while two years later 15,000 flocked to Partick for a 3-0 win over England and then a record 17,000 for the 4-0 win against Wales. As the game was growing in popularity and crowds were increasing, the major matches moved to Hampden Park and Ibrox.
Hamilton Crescent became the sole home of the West of Scotland Cricket Club who had been formed in 1862 originally using the top end of the ground before owning the arena. The Scottish FA paid the club £1.10s for the hire of the ground for its first international. Since those days the Scotland cricket team have used the ground many times for domestic and international matches, with many touring sides visiting.
My visit
Monday 30th September 2013
Despite visiting Glasgow on several occasions I had surprisingly never paid homage to such an important historical venue. This had to be put right. A pleasant afternoon saw me heading back into Glasgow for Alexandria and an excellent opportunity to pop in.
Partick station had several paintings on the back of large buildings facing the square depicting events at the forthcoming 2014 Commonwealth Games to be held in the city. A quick walk over Dumbarton Road into Fortrose Street led me to the outside of the venue. I continued walking up the hill and round the back of the pavilion and into Peel Street, where I saw an open gate.
The ground looked in fine condition after the summers activities. As mentioned there was a significant slope once the outfield ended. The impressive pavilion stood behind a seating area, with grass banking behind the bowlers arm leading to the scoreboard in the corner.
Sadly no-one was around so I could have a look inside the pavilion, but I suspected that any football memorabilia would be now housed at the museum at Hampden Park.
I walked back to the main road past Stumps Bar, which I thought was an excellent name. The bus back into the city took me past a huge potential pub crawl along Dumbarton Road, but that would have to wait for another time!
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