Clydesdale Harriers Are Not Of The Rangers Stamp

In the early years there were many sports journals and newspapers in Glasgow and the one which pursued the Clydesdale cause was 'The Scottish Umpire' - started up by a senior member of the Rangers FC and the one which sniped at the club was 'The Scottish Athletics Journal' who championed another organisation altogether. When Clydesdale held their first fixture at Rangers' Kinning Park ground and then started training there, the Journal was most critical, slating the Rangers support, the ground itself and the area in which it was situated. I quote one small part of the article: "I should strongly advise the Clydesdale Harriers to move their quarters from Kinning Park. Several prominent athletes have told me that so long as these handicaps are run on the Rangers grounds they will not compete. I expect that several names will be missing from the next handicap on account of the language used by the crowd and also because Kinning Park is not well adapted for running purposes. I know Clydesdale Harriers are not of the Rangers stamp and hire Kinnning Park because none other is available."

The remark about none other being available is not strictly true - Partick Thistle had a good pitch at Meadowside but the Harriers/Rangers link was invaluable to the club in it early years as, indeed, was the connection with Glasgow Celtic after it was founded in 1888. But the fact is that the writer was michief making - who ever heard of bad language at football grounds?!