Maryhill FC have a long and illustrious history in the annals of Scottish football, having been formed as far back as 1884, when the district of Maryhill was merely a village on the outskirts of the city of Glasgow. In the earliest years of the club’s history the side had a brief flirtation with Senior football, entering the Scottish Cup on several occasions (this was before the formation of the senior Scottish League), but the majority of the club’s existence has been in the Junior grade of football unique to Scotland.
Having moved ground several times in the earlier years of their existence, since the final years of the 19th century Maryhill have made Lochburn Park their home. Originally one of Glasgow’s more basic football venues, after an extensive upgrading program in the late eighties and early nineties, Lochburn is regarded as one of the finest stadia in Junior football, regularly hosting local Cup Finals.
Over the last 120-odd years Maryhill have won a long list of honours, including Junior football’s ultimate prize - the Scottish Junior Cup - on two occasions; the first in 1900 against Kilmarnock Rugby XI (1-0 at Shawfield Park), and the most recent in 1940 when the opposition were Morton Juniors (1-0 at Celtic Park). Probably the most successful period in the club’s recent history were the years around the turn of the new century when back-to-back League titles were secured along with the club’s first ever West of Scotland Cup win and a trio of Junior Cup semi-finals in which we fell at the penultimate hurdle on each occasion.
Many distinguished players have trod the Lochburn turf in the red and black of Maryhill – many of these never took the step up to the Senior game, however just a few of the notable names who did were the likes of the late Tommy Burns (Celtic & Scotland), Danny McGrain (Celtic & Scotland) and Jim Duffy (Partick Thistle/Dundee).
The last few seasons have seen an unfortunate decline in Maryhill’s fortunes – after the necessity of financially downsizing in order to balance the books, the club suffered the ignominy of successive relegations from the West Superleague and for the moment ply their trade in the Central District First Division. However, recently appointed manager Kevin O’Neil has assembled a new playing squad which balances tried and tested Junior stalwarts with an injection of fresh young talent which bodes well for the future and engenders a sense of optimism in the team’s supporters, who hope that sooner rather than later Maryhill will regain their place in the higher echelons of Junior football.
Maryhill
Football C
Scottish Junior Cup winners: 1899-00,
1939-40
Scottish Junior Cup runners-up: 1887-88,
1900-01, 1901-02, 1906-07
West of Scotland Cup winners: 2000-01,
2003-04
Glasgow League winners: 1900-01
(shared), 1903-04, 1904-05
Central League Premier Division winners:
1996-97, 1997-98
Central Division One winners: 1993-94
Central Division Two winners: 1987-88
Central League C Division winners:
1944-45, 1973-74, 1977-78
Glasgow Junior Cup: 1904-05, 1944-45
Central District League Cup: 1944-45,
1955-56, 1970-71, 1978-79, 1980-81,
1995-96, 2005-06
Central Region Sectional League Cup:
2004-05
Evening Times Cup Winners Cup (was
Central League Championship until 1979):
1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98
Glasgow Charity Cup: 1899-00, 1903-04,
1904-05, 1906-07, 1913-14, 1926-27,
1927-28
Glasgow Junior Consolation Cup: 1914-15
Glasgow North-Eastern Cup: 1905-06,
1943-44, 1956-57
Maryhill Charity Cup: 1887-88, 1896-97,
1899-00, 1901-02, 1905-06, 1907-08,
1918-19, 1921-22, 1940-41, 1941-42,
1944-45, 1952-53, 1956-57, 1961-62,
1963-64, 1972-73, 1973-74, 1975-76,
1980-81, 1981-82, 1990-91, 1992-93