St Roch's (Scotland)

St Roch's is a Scottish non-league football club from Glasgow who were formed in 1920, playing their home games at Provanhill Park, as the club's home ground was originally called.

‘The Candy Rock’ gave sixteen-year-old Jimmy McGrory his first taste of adult football, a player who went on to legendary status in Scottish football at Celtic. St Roch’s reached the final of the Scottish Junior Cup in 1921-22, where they defeated Kilwinning Rangers, with McGrory scoring one of the goals.

At the end of the season, McGrory was signed by Celtic, where he would go on to set the British goalscoring record as he netted 550 times for Celtic, Clydebank and Scotland before becoming manager at Parkhead.

St Roch’s went on to become Glasgow League champions in 1924-25 and 1925-26 before lifting the Central League title in 1943-44. Five triumphs in the Glasgow Cup would follow over the years, but it was a long wait until further league honours.

St Roch’s became champions of the Central League C Division in 1971-72 and won promotion to Division B, which they won at the first attempt in 1972-73. After a shake-up of the junior game, the Candy Rock won the Central Division One in 1983-84.

The team were relegated a few years later, before recovering to win the Central Division Two in 1994-94. Once again, the club would drop down a level in 2002-03, before ending as runners-up of the West of Scotland Central League Second Division in 2006-07.

Promotion to Division One was tempered, as the side was relegated twelve months later. Promotion was achieved once again in 2011-12, but again the jump proved too steep as St Roch’s finished in the relegation places of the Central District First Division in 2012-13.

The club changed the name of Provanhill Park to James McGrory Park in honour of their greatest ever player. The change of name somehow inspired the struggling side, who turned in a third-place finish in the 2014-15 Central District Second Division campaign to win promotion under manager Andy Cameron.

The 2017-18 campaign saw the team finish as runners-up in Division One before the SJFA West Region was restructured, with St Roch's under the leadership of Stevie Rankin and Gary Flint, being placed in the Championship. Like many other Junior clubs, they headed to the SFA West of Scotland League for the aborted 2020-21 season.

Their performance in Conference C in 2021-22 merited a place in the First Division for the following season after manager and former player Paul Kelly passed away. Iain Kennedy was appointed to replace him. The team went on to miss out on promotion by one place in 2024-25.

St Roch’s FC will play in the SFA West of Scotland League First Division in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

Wednesday 2nd August 2017

The weather in Glasgow was not really befitting an August summer’s afternoon on my arrival. I was in town for some Junior’s action between Cambuslang Rangers and Vale of Clyde that evening, but there was time to kill first.

Eventually, I found the correct stop for the number 19 bus on West George Street and explained to the driver where I wanted to get off. The route travelled in a north east direction, past the cathedral and necropolis and then along the residential Royston Road.

Alighting at the Broomfield Road stop right outside James McGrory Park, I took some photos over the wall before heading down to the main entrance to see if there was any chance of gaining entry. My luck was in.

A friendly gent originally from Nottingham was getting the ground ready in preparation for a local cup final the following Friday. He told me to go inside the buildings and take whatever photos I wanted.

The ground was relatively basic, but it had obviously been looked after of late. The only small cover was behind the goal, but the Royston Road side had a few steps of open terracing, while the opposite side looked to have been prepared for something similar.

My thoughts about the club making a real effort and using the McGrory history to attract fans were confirmed. I was told that when the old committee left, the gates were around 20 to 30. Now 150 would be a regular attendance, with up to another 100 added if Celtic were away.

It was good to see a local club making a real effort. I departed as the rain fell and walked up Broomfield Road to head to Petershill to update my photo collection.