The story of football's origins and rise in Campbeltown
1. THE STORY OF FOOTBALL IN CAMPBELTOWN
KIT AND CABO ODLE
The Journey of Football: Origins of the Game
Argyllshire Roads Act 1843,Section LXV;‘Penalty for Offences on
the Road’.The Act demonstrates the popularity of an early form of
football being played throughout Argyll and the lack of facilities for its
provision.The penalty for being caught playing football on the street
was a fixed fine of forty shillings.
Photograph:Argyll &ButeArchives.
1824-1825 Membership
List for Edinburgh
Foot-Ball Club.The club
was set up in 1824 by
John Hope,a 17 year
old trainee lawyer.
Most of the members
were lawyers and other
professionals.
Photograph:National Records of
Scotland.
Expenses for
Edinburgh Foot-
Ball Club,1824-1825
season.Purchases
included bladders
for footballs and
park rental.
Photograph:National
Records of Scotland.
A photograph of the‘oldest football in
the world’.The ball was discovered in
the late 1970’s at Stirling Castle and is
believed to date from around 1540-70.
Photograph:TheStirling Smith Art Gallery
&Museum.
In the 19th century,industrialisation and population
growth threatened the existence of the old football
games played on the street.A number of bans were
imposed,including the Argyllshire Roads Act 1843.
These were the catalyst for standards to be set and
rules developed.
The earliest evidence for the modern game is
from 1824,when the Edinburgh Foot-Ball Club
produced a set of rules.This was 40 years before the
establishment of the Football Association in England.
The foundation of Queens Park FC in Glasgow in
1867 saw the development of‘the passing game’,
where football started to become a co-ordinated
team sport.
A game that was often informal and irregular
changed significantly following the first international
match between Scotland and England in 1872,
culminating in the establishment of the Scottish
Football Association in 1873.
1824 Edinburgh Foot-Ball Club rules.The rules
prohibited tripping,but allowed pushing and
holding the ball.
Photograph:National Records of Scotland.
Sketches from the Graphic Illustrated newspaper
relating to the first official international football
match in 1872.The Scotland side wore cowls
(pointed hoods),and the English side wore caps.
The match finished in a 0–0 draw and was watched
by 4,000 spectators.
Photograph:TheScottish Football Museum.
CAMPBELTOWN
PUPILS AFC
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Football has an important place in the culture of many
nations.Historically,it has shaped identity,offered a
sense of place,and brought people together.
Its origins can be traced to China in 206 BC,with a
game called Tsu Chu that involved a stuffed leather ball
kicked with the foot.From 644 AD,the Japanese played
a game called Kemari,where the main objective was
to keep the ball in the air.Other cultures had their own
versions of football,including Harpastum,a game used
for military training by the Romans.
From the 13th century,a number of ball games
evolved,played by large numbers of people at the
same time:these were often riotous.They included
Shrovetide Football and Mob Football,known as
the Ba’Game in Scotland,and are collectively
known as‘Folk Football’.
3. THE STORY OF FOOTBALL IN CAMPBELTOWN
KIT AND CABO ODLE
The early 20th century saw investment in sport
by politicians,the gentry,religious leaders and
industry.In 1900,Campbeltown was presented
with the Orr-Ewing Cup by Charles Lindsay
Orr-Ewing,Member of Parliament for the
constituency covering Campbeltown.The cup
was presented in recognition of the benefits
that football offered to society.
Campbeltown players began to make their
mark in the professional game elsewhere.In
particular,the Pursell brothers,Robert and
Peter,became local heroes.Peter played with
Campbeltown Rangers and Campbeltown
Academicals but then moved on to Queens
Park,Glasgow Rangers and Port Vale.He played
for Scotland against Wales in 1914.
Robert also played for Queens Park before
joining Liverpool.In 1914,he became the first
Campbeltonian to take part in an FA Cup Final,
between Liverpool and Burnley. The game was
played in front of a crowd of 72,000 including
King George V:this was the first Cup Final
attended by a reigning monarch.
The Breakthrough Years
Campbeltown Hearts
in 1901.They were the
first winners of The
Orr-Ewing Cup which
can be seen alongside
the Charity Cup.
Photograph:AlexMcKinven
Campbeltown United
at Moy Park in 1912.
Jamie Brown of
Glasgow Rangers is in
the back row,first left.
Photograph:
Margaret McKiernan
Peter Pursell
wearing the Scottish
International Cap he
won playing against
Wales in 1914.
Photograph:William Pursell
Neil McBain,born in Campbeltown,
played for Ayr United before moving to
Manchester United in 1921.In 1922,he
was part of the Scottish team that beat
England 1-0 at Villa Park,Birmingham,
and he represented Scotland twice more,
against Northern Ireland and Wales.He
went on to play for both Everton and
Liverpool,and ultimately became the
oldest player ever in professional football
in Great Britain,when he turned out at
the age of 51 years and 4 months.
Campbeltown
Rangers during
1909-10 season.
Peter Pursell is
in the front row,
first left.
Photograph:
William Pursell
Liverpool / Everton
select team
photographed in
1913 before playing a
charity match in aid of
local hospitals.Robert
Pursell is in the back
row,second right.
Photograph:
William Pursell
Provost John
Colville opens
the new season
at the Showfield
(now the Smith
Drive / Castleacres
area of the town),
around 1920.
Photograph:
MrDL McMillan
Campbeltown United with
friends and family during a
picnic outing to Southend,
Mull of Kintyre in 1912.
UpperPhotograph:
Campbeltown HeritageCentre
LowerPhotograph:
Margaret McKiernan
CAMPBELTOWN
PUPILS AFC
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4. THE STORY OF FOOTBALL IN CAMPBELTOWN
KIT AND CABO ODLE
After the First World War the Campbeltown
& District Junior League was restarted.
In 1919 a new club was formed; the
Campbeltown Grammar School Former
Pupils Association:generally known as
“the Pupils”.
Between 1926 and 1928,one regular
player with“the Pupils”was Giovanni
“Johnny”Moscardini.Johnny was born in
1898 in Falkirk,to Italian parents,and at
different times lived in both Scotland and
Italy. After serving with the Italian Army
during the First World War,he went to
live in his parents’hometown of Barga in
Tuscany,where his football skills were soon
recognised by the local the professional
club,Lucca.He went on to play for Pisa
and Genoa,and nine times for Italy during
which he scored seven goals. In 1925,
Johnny arrived in Campbeltown to manage
the Royal Cafe on Hall Street.He joined“the
Pupils”and played for them in the local
league,but kept his professional football
career quiet only revealing his previous
achievements after retiring in 1928.
The original members
of the Campbeltown
Grammar School
Former Pupils
Association,
photographed in
1919.
Photograph:Campbeltown
HeritageCentre.
A young Johnny
Moscardini standing
next to one of the
many trophies he was
to win throughout
his career. Johnnie
remains to this day
the only Scottish born
male footballer to
have played for Italy.
Photograph:RonaldTogneri.
Local heroes like Johnny Moscardini provided
inspiration when times were difficult.The inter-
war period was characterised by hardship
and unemployment.The Campbeltown &
Machrihanish Railway closed,Argyll Colliery
ceased production,and there was a decline in
the number of distilleries.
In 1930,a government Work Relief Scheme
brought about the construction of a new
football pitch at Kintyre Park,which remains in
use to this day.Junior Football was at its peak,
with six local clubs supported by large crowds
for national and local games.This was also the
period of the‘Caboodle’:regular gatherings
of players and club officials in places like
unused or vacant properties,which played an
important part in building team spirit.
When the Second World War began,the league
was suspended as players and supporters
enlisted in the armed forces.
Peace,Poverty and Passion:The Inter-war Years
CAMPBELTOWN
PUPILS AFC
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The Royal Cafe in Hall Street,in 1936.Left to right:Jack Togneri,
Alf Grumoli,Emma Grumoli and Charlie Serafini.From 1925 -1928,
Johnny Moscardini looked after the cafe for his uncle,Leo Grumoli.
Photograph:RonaldTogneri.
The‘Johnny Moscardini Stadium’in Barga,Italy.The
Moscardini family came from Barga,and this stadium
was named in his honour in 2000.
Photograph:Massimo Pia
Campbeltown United Juniors in 1927.
Photograph:Margaret McKiernan
Campbeltown United Juniors playing against Cambuslang
Rangers,for the Scottish Junior Cup in 1939.
Photograph:Campbell Robertson.
5. THE STORY OF FOOTBALL IN CAMPBELTOWN
KIT AND CABO ODLE
From the late 1940s,housing improvement schemes steadily
altered the character of Campbeltown. Football continued to
offer a sense of identity while the town physically changed.
The coal mine at Machrihanish was reopened in 1947,and
in 1951 Argyll Colliery FC - known as‘The Miners’- was
established.This coincided with the launch of the Miners
Welfare Cup and the Miners Welfare Boys League,both of
which were supported by mine workers and their friends.The
industries and residential areas of Campbeltown continued
to influence the identity of football teams,as did the
places where people spent their leisure time.Former local
footballer Charlie McFadyen remembers the Mayfair Cafe
as a popular meeting place in Campbeltown.In 1957,some
of the cafe’s regulars decided to establish their own team
which played in the Kintyre Amateur Football League as
“Mayfair Thistle”.
In 1961,a new club was formed to provide a supply of
fresh talent to the league.Initially called Campbeltown
United Amateurs,this was soon renamed“Campbeltown
Former Pupils”in commemoration of the successful local
team founded in 1919 and which had played until the
outbreak of the Second World War.
Campbeltown United playing against
Loanhead Mayflower in the 5th round
of the Scottish Junior Cup in February,
1957.The game was played at Kintyre
Park watched by over 3,500 spectators,
breaking the attendance record for
the club.
Photograph:Campbell Robertson
The new“Pupils”were immediately successful in their
first season,winning the Civic Cup and the League
Championship in 1961-62.They joined the Scottish
Amateur Football League in 1977,and went on to win
five Scottish Amateur Football League competitions,
including the Colin Munro Cup and the Top Score
Trophy. In 2000,the club was the first from Argyll to
become champions of the Scottish Amateur Football
League Premier Division.
In 1988,the pitch at Kintyre Park was upgraded,with
this being celebrated by a game between Campbeltown
Pupils AFC and Morton FC,a professional club then in
the Scottish First Division.In recent years there has been
renewed interest in football in Campbeltown.In 2012,a
new All Weather Pitch was constructed at Kinloch Park,
which will improve football facilities in the town for
many years to come.
Building a better world for the future
CAMPBELTOWN
PUPILS AFC
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Campbeltown Pupils in 1967,
before playing against Viewfield at
Lochwinnoch for the Scottish Cup.
Photograph:TheCampbeltown Pupils Archive.
Kintyre Park in 2012.
Photograph:TheKintyreForum.
The colliery at Machrihanish in 1950.
Surface buildings were still under
construction after the colliery reopening
in1947.
Photograph:theScottish Mining Museum.
Campbeltown Pupils AFC in March 2012.
Photograph:TheKintyreForum.
Campbeltown United with the
Sutherland Cup and Charity Cup in 1957.
Photograph:Lorna Barr.
