ScotsFoundedFootball

3 of 3 So What? These are the little steps I must take, to keep the pot bubbling. And who can resist a wee trip to such a lovely town? It will allow me to firm up my ideas in an audience of people who may not be majorly interested in the game, but want to know about Scottish Culture.

2 of 3 I guess there will be lots about Anwoth, given it is just up the road from Kirkcudbright. This will lead us, I am sure, into the First Hampden, via 1872, Inverness, the Vale of Leven and the general brilliance of the #scotchprofessor John McIntosh will be keeping everything in order.

Sat 7th March, 1.00pm - Julie McNeill and Ged O'Brien: The Field of Dreams: Stories, histories and celebrating the local — Kirkcudbright Book Festival Venue: Kirkcudbright Scout Hut, Soaperie Gardens, Parish Church Grounds, St Mary St, DG6 4AA Football holds a special place in the emotions of millions. In the past year Dumfries and Galloway was p...

1 of 3 #scotsfoundedfootball This week, I must prepare for my afternoon in the sun with Julie McNeill, at the Kirkcudbright Book Festival. tinyurl.com/y7xafj8t I have just published my book 100 Reasons. Julie will talk about her work with St. Cuthbert Wanderers. I will talk about...

Full Programme — Kirkcudbright Book Festival Kirkcudbright Book Festival March 5-8th 2026 Programme

Kirkcudbright Book Festival 2026
5–8 March

Kirkcudbright Book Festival celebrates local & national voices, local history, Scottish culture, children’s authors, crime fiction, nature & the environment & much more – full programme online now
www.kbtbookfestival.org/full-programme

Is there anything out there, with the beginnings of sentience?

I am totally for AI. Someone wake me, when the 'I' bit actually arrives...

Front cover of 'First Elevens' by Andy Mitchell. Colourised image detail from William Ralston's picture from the Graphic of a Scotland player shoulder charging and English player. A second Scot takes the ball away with his left foot.

Mic Drop: A puny human called Andy Mitchell - has outdone the robots and produced a book called ‘First Elevens’. On page 55 - he gives us the team lines and the fact that Alcock was an umpire. Final score? Match abandoned, due to ChatGPT knowing nothing. 3-0 win awarded to the meat bags.

4 of 4 So What? Alcock is down as an Umpire, but ChatGPT missed that. I amuse myself sometimes by asking AI about the Scotch Professors. Their answers show that there is almost nothing written about them, which AI could ingest. This is why I am getting into print. To help alter the knowledge base.

3 of 4 Impressive, given that the player was Scottish and that Charles Alcock was injured and did not play. I am not a software engineer. I do not know the process by which ChatGPT would get it so laughably wrong. It is clearly unable to read a set of team lines and reason that it was mistaken.

2 of 5 ChatGPT said: 'The player heading the ball in William Ralston’s illustration of the 1872 Scotland vs. England international is C.W. Alcock, the English captain. Ralston’s engraving, which appeared in The Graphic, depicts Alcock [...] during the first official international football match.'

Detail from the William Ralston image in 'The Graphic' of the 1872 International. A Scotland player is off the ground, with his hands by his side, as he heads the ball up and to the right. His hat which might be a cowl is not dislodged. Behind him are a group of men in bowlers and other hats, behind a simple rope. The player has a dark shirt, which will be blue. He has trousers which seem to tuck into socks, with a hooped pattern.

1 of 5 #scotsfoundedfootball I am endlessly sceptical about AI. The Intelligence bit is nothing of the sort. I thought I would ask ChatGPT who the player heading the ball was, in William Ralston’s image of the 1872 International. Its reply was an example of the enshittification of knowledge.

4 of 4 So what? Two random facts which might reference the burgeoning Irish community who took on the Scottish game with a passion beyond understanding. My take from this? Football is cultural DNA which can be passed on, to anyone.

3 of 4 Obviously it is not the slightly better known Celtic of Glasgow founded 1887, but a brief shadow in the footballing heavens. Another Irish club: 23rd Nov 1878 Shamrock beat Ruby Rangers 2-0. No ground is given. What interests me is the number of ‘grounds’ where football was played.

2 of 4 The answer, on Row 6 is 25th January 1873 Eastern 4 Celtic 0 Fleshers’ Haugh (Glasgow Green). Another place that could claim to be the origin of modern world football. There are so many. Here are Irish immigrants taking the People’s Game for their own pleasure and amusement.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball Here is a pub quiz question that very few would get. But first, praise must go to the creator of the spreadsheet Club Games 1870-82. Can I remember where I got it from? No. 5474 rows of records about matches played. What was Celtic’s first away game?

And to borrow Max Boyce’s saying. ‘I know because I was there.’

EFA Cup Winner Southampton 1976.

Entrance gate to Hampden Bowling Club.

Till we meet again. Ged and Hampden BC.

Till we meet again.

Looking into the original Pavilion.

Looking in to the original Pavilion.

Table of Hampden BC trophies with no home - yet.

Trophies. Going, going…

Final Hampden BC badge for Members.

Final Hampden Badge. The last visit.

Decision on divisive Mount Florida bowling club flats plan delayed for hearing Councillors decided to hold a hearing which will allow objectors and supporters of the scheme to share their views.

4 of 4 So What? The Club would make a great site for bijou flats. Compare the possible future for the last field of Pathhead Farm, with the shenanigans surrounding Mount Florida BC. tinyurl.com/bddyfzay Hampden Bowling Club. Father Polmadie BC. Born 1905. Died 2026. Requiescat in Pace.

3 of 4 More importantly. The Council insisted on the Club sorting out an onerous range of issues. The roof was going to cost the Club at least £150,000 to repair. They and we, knew that this was the death knell. Now they have what they want, do they have a plan? And can we get to know?

2 of 4 I will pop down, to take final photos, this morning. Got to archive the final hours. What will happen to the site? The locals have created a CIC to try and ensure that this patch of land remains as a community space. If it can’t be Bowls at least it can usefully serve, in another way.

Information Panel on the fence at Hampden Bowling Club. It describes how the Passing Game was perfected here 1874-83. The image is of the Hampden Mural.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball Today is my last day as a member of the Hampden Bowling Club. It is also the last day of the Club. Tomorrow, the site will belong to City Properties. Bowls has been shrinking for many decades. Pollokshields, Govan, Kings Park, Kingston, Farme, Mount Florida. All gone.

4 of 4 So what?The UK (English controlled media) is understandably uninterested in allowing Scotland to be seen as the sporting nation of the 19th Century. Therefore, we must go around this Maginot Line and seek our friends where we can find them. Friends without a dog in our fight.

Kingsley Gardens Half bricks creating a base for the tennis courts c. 1905.

3 of 4 That 5 goal blow ended the English notion that their game was the equal of the #scotchprofessor That Mural is the first brick in a wall we must build. Monuments to those who created modern world football. Hampden is Home. A Home that exists underneath the modern world, in separate chunks.

Kingsley Gardens Drainage Pipes for the Football Pitch and beneath them, possible drainage pipes for the Pathhead Farm fields. A single clay pipe crosses the Archaeology Scotland trench.

2 of 4 When Archaeology Scotland did their thing, they found the drainage for the pitch and - below that - the drainage for the farmland. Each layer with its own history. In Kingsley Gardens they found the pattern of half bricks for the tennis courts. But 1882 is still the defining moment.

1 of 4 #scotsfoundedfootball With the future of Hampden Bowling Club Pavilion in doubt, I hope that the 1882 Mural is saved. It is important to have visual representations of Football history, where no evidence exists of the place in which a historic moment occurred.