Talk by Robert Harvey: History of Scottish Football

Members of Rutherglen Heritage Society greatly enjoyed a talk given by Robert Harvey on 19th. January 2023 in Rutherglen Library on the history of Scottish football.

Robert, who is a member of the Heritage Society, is a football man through-and-through. He played for Clyde FC in the 1970s when he was perhaps better known as Bobby Harvey. These days, Robert is very closely involved in the Football Memories Scotland project which is a partnership between Alzheimer Scotland and the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden.

In his splendidly illustrated talk, Robert took us back to the very early days of football in Scotland including the time in 1424 when the game was banned by King James I. He showed us photographs of the world's oldest football, and described the origins of the Scottish Cup emphasising its importance in the development of the Scottish game.

Robert also listed the numerous and now long-forgotten football teams which played in Victorian Rutherglen. These included Stonelaw, Greenbank, Muirbank and Woodburn. His talk also included a roll call of famous footballers from Rutherglen.

In his talk, Robert included extracts from his recently published book comprising match reports from the Rutherglen Reformer 1876-1886 (see book cover left)

Robert's excellent book can be downloaded from this website. You can find the link below.

Robert's talk was very well received by an appreciative audience which included Heritage Society members, Heritage Society website subscribers and guests.

We're very grateful to Robert for giving us this talk.

© 2023 by Rutherglen Heritage Society.

Links:

To download Robert Harvey's Rutherglen Reformer Football Match Reports 1876-1886. Click here

Football Memories Scotland website. Click here

Alzheimer Scotland's website. Click here