| Full name | Glasgow Corporation Transport Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1923 | |
| Dissolved | 1974 | |
| Ground | Helenvale Park | |
Glasgow Corporation Transport Football Club was afootball club based inGlasgow,Scotland.
The club was theworks team for Glasgow Corporation Transport, the corporation which provided public transport in the city. The idea of having a club to represent the transport workers, whose depots had their own amateur league, seems to have been coincident with the idea of building an athletics venue for the workers; the club was founded the year before the ground was opened.
In 1930, the club joined theScottish Football Association as an associate member, which entitled it to enter theScottish Cup.[1] It did so in 1930–31, losing in its first tie toGlasgow University F.C.[2] The club did however win theScottish Amateur Cup in 1931–32 and the West of Scotland Amateur Cup in 1935–36.[3]
In 1966, the club became a full senior member. It joined theCombined Reserve Football League in 1967[4] and once again entered the Scottish Cup. The club's major success came when they qualified for the competition proper in1970-71. The club received a bye in the first round and was drawn to play atBrechin City in the second, travelling to Brechin (as was usual for away matches) on a Glasgow Corporation bus.[5] The club lost 4–1, two of the City goals coming from the penalty spot.[6]
At the end of the season, the corporation handed the Helenvale ground over toGlasgow City Council; without its own ground, the club lost its senior status, and was wound up within a few years.[7] By this time few of the players were Corporation employees.[8]
The club was notable as the opposition for the final matchAlex Ferguson played forRangers in 1969, Ferguson having been demoted to the third XI after the1969 Scottish Cup Final.[9]
The club played in royal blue shirts until 1931,[10] when it changed to green shirts, white shorts, and orange socks, which matched the corporation's livery colours.[11]
The club's home ground was Helenvale Park inParkhead, converted from a series of bowling greens[12] into an athletics track and football pitch, within a few dozen yards ofCeltic Park. The ground's opening match was a friendly between Rangers andPartick Thistle, ceremonially kicked off bythe Duke of York, later to become King George VI.[13] The ground was used by Scottish Athletics for the national championships on several occasions.[14]
