Third Lanark (Scotland)

Third Lanark Athletic Club was a professional football club from the south side of Glasgow who were formed in 1872 as the football of the Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, 3rd LRV, although military links were severed in 1903 when the club name was amended to Third Lanark AC.

The Redcoats, Thirds, Warriors or The Hi-Hi continued for ninety-five years until they were dissolved in controversial circumstances in at the end of the 1966-67 season.

The club had an auspicious beginning, reaching the finals of the Scottish Cup in 1875-76 and again in 1877-78 losing 2-0 to Queen’s Park after a replay and then to a solitary goal against Vale of Leven.

However, the Hi-Hi made up for the disappointment when lifting the Cup in 1888-89 when Celtic were defeated 2-1 with goals from Marshall and John Oswald after the original final won 3-0 by Thirds was deemed null and void owing to the snowy conditions.

The club were founder members of the Scottish League in 1890-91 playing at their original Cathkin Park in Crosshills, prior to moving a few hundred meters east to take up residency at what was the home of Queen’s Park’s second edition of Hampden Park in 1903, of which more can read about here.

Third Lanark renamed it New Cathkin Park, with the ‘New’ being dropped in time as the team went on as the team was crowned as Division One champions in 1903-04. A third place followed in 1904-05 as well as a second Scottish Cup triumph when a James Johnston goal along with a brace from Hugh Wilson was enough to beat Rangers 3-1 after a replay.

Thirds returned to the final in 1905-06 but went down 1-0 to Heart of Midlothian. The team generally ended no worse than halfway up the table, with a few exceptions before embarking on an eight match tour of South America in 1923 which included a game against the Argentina national side.

Form was poor upon their return which led to relegation in 1924-25 before regaining their top flight status as Second Division runners-up in 1927-28. The spell lasted just one season, but the club recovered to win the Second Division title in 1930-31 and putting together a fourth place back in Division One twelve months later.

The 1933-34 campaign ended in relegation, but Thirds once again fought back to take the Division Two title at the first time of asking before reaching the 1935-36 Scottish Cup final, going down 1-0 to Rangers.

Decent performances followed in the First Division, where Bobby Mitchell finished as top scorer in 1946-47 during a time that it was called Division 'A'. Poor finishes in the early 1950’s culminated in relegation in 1952-53.

Promising final placings were put together before Hi-Hi’s won promotion as Second Division runners-up in 1956-57 which was backed up by third place in the 1960-61 campaign back in the First Division as the forward line of Jimmy Goodfellow, Dave Hilley, Alex Harley, Matt Gray and Joe McInnes scored 100 goals between.

Unfortunately, the star players moved on to further their careers which led to relegation in 1964-65 after narrowly avoiding the drop twelve months previously with accusations of mismanagement lingering in the background.

The end was not far away. The club was declared bankrupt after a Board of Trade enquiry and was liquidated in 1967. Boardroom corruption allegedly played a role in this; the role of the chairman of Thirds, Bill Hiddleston, remains subject to intense debate.

He may have wished to profit personally from the sale of Cathkin Park for property development with Cathkin being sold for housing during the 1967 close season, before Glasgow City Council refused building permission.

It could be argued that he built a new stand in 1963, which would seem strange for someone interested in running the club down. Another allegation was that Hiddleston wanted to force the club to move to either Cumbernauld or East Kilbride, the booming ‘New Towns’ within the Glasgow commuter belt which at that time had no Senior side of their own.

The report by The Board of Trade into Third Lanark's activities in 1967 found that players were paid badly paid and generally not very well looked after. Each of the club's management was made from a personal appointment by Hiddleston.

In short, there was a wave of disincentive for anyone to remain working for or even being a shareholder of the club if they were not part of Hiddleston's clique.

Some Third's fans went to follow Pollock in the Junior League, but the vast majority of the club's 10,000 fans that went through the turnstiles at the start of the 1960s were lost to football for good: Third Lanark had long been seen specifically as the club of choice for those that objected to the sectarian connotations of the "Old Firm".

An amateur club took up the name in 1971 and played their games at Cathkin Park in Division 3 of the Greater Glasgow Amateur League.

In 2008 it was rumoured a team under the famous old Third Lanark name were preparing to apply to replace Gretna in the Scottish League, but it came to nothing. Then in 2010 a group called Friends of Cathkin Park have fought to restore the old stadium and introduce some new Third Lanark teams. 

Their blogsite can be viewed here.

The name of Third Lanark appeared again in the Scottish football scene from 1996 through an under 18s side, before a new committee was formed in 2004, chaired by former player Alan Mackay.

The club gradually progressed with the committee evolving as the team played in the West of Scotland Amateur League with the aim of progressing into the Junior FA and to ensure that Cathkin Park could be used. However, the side found themselves playing at the Toryglen Regional Football Centre in the Central Scottish Amateur Football League.

Third Lanark FC will play in the West of Scotland Amateur League Division 1B in the 2020-21 season.

Meanwhile the Jimmy Johnstone Charitable Trust which includes the Jimmy Johnstone Academy in memory of the former Celtic legend which had boys football moved into Cathkin Park while the ground also staged games of Hampden AFC as members of the Glasgow Colleges Amateur Football Association.

The Jimmy Johnstone Academy applied to the council to install two shipping containers to be converted changing rooms at the ground in the summer of 2020 to assist in proving facilities for youth footballers.

My visits

Thursday 29th January 2010

I had been to many grounds in the Glasgow area over the previous three days, but I was to leave the saddest story until last. My final port of call on  was to Cathkin Park. My Hampden Park guide, Sandy had told me how sad he was when he recalled his days of standing on the packed terracing watching games at Cathkin Park.

I thought I had gone on the wrong path from Hampden but I found an entrance to a park. I walked through a wooded area in the gloom and found myself stood at the back of the old terracing. This continued round three sides of the arena. 

A large roof once covered spectators opposite the Main Stand, but it had long gone. The arena still had the small brick wall at the front with the shale running track beyond it. The terracing was in remarkably good condition with many crush barriers still in place. Trees and bushes had grown over parts of the concrete but large sections were still visible. 

The fourth side was now just open flat grass, where the Main Stand once stood. The goalposts were up. Sadly I didn’t have a ball, but I roamed around the pitch which once graced many of the greats of the game.

I walked away back onto Cathcart Road opposite the site of the first Hampden Park which is now the site of Hampden Bowling Club. I continued uphill and onwards to Mount Florida station for a train back to Glasgow Central and a pub meal before my train back home.

Sunday 15^th February 2015

It was the third day of a long weekend with pals Karl Theobald, Carl Ellis, Guy Watson in Glasgow. Guy had decided to get off a bit earlier for his journey back down to Leeds. I led the party on the train down to Mount Florida to show the others a real site.

The ground was in a similar condition to when I’d previously called but the weather was brighter for taking photos. They were suitable impressed as we stood on the terraces before having a walk on the pitch and then climbing the steps at the other side and departing Cathkin Park on the top side to head down Bolivar Terrace to Hampden Park.

It was a fine way to walk off the excesses of the previous evening while waiting for the socialising to continue at opening time!