Fleshers Haugh

1872 - 1875

From the spring of 1872 when the Rangers were formed we've had various locations around the city of Glasgow that we've called home. In fact, I find it difficult to find any other Club who led such a nomadic existence in their early years.

Glasgow in 1872 was a bustling growing city that was attracting Industry, Goods, Traders, Travellers and Scholars from every corner of the globe. One of the main sporting events of the time was rowing, in fact each shipyard on the Clyde back then had their own Rowing Club. Regattas on the Clyde could attract incredible crowds of up to 100,000.

 The original rowing club boat house on the Clyde

Moses McNeil, Peter McNeil and Peter Campbell were all keen sportsmen from the Gareloch area (William McBeath hailed from Callander).

Glasgow Green at this time was a popular area for a variety of sports and it's believed that while waiting around for a boat to become available our four lads first witnessed the game of football being played which was a rapidly growing sport at that time. A ball was soon acquired, Moses chose the name Rangers from a sports book of the time and we were off and running.

Rangers remained at Fleshers Haugh for 3 years initially playing their first games in their civvies v Callander in a 0-0 draw and the defeat of Clyde by 11-0.

During this period the young Rangers team were using West End Park (today’s Kelvingrove Park) for training purposes although they would also travel to Fleshers Haugh to practise their skills.

After a run of successful results and the numbers attending their games growing the Rangers challenged the mighty Queens Park, who were Scotland's Premier Club at the time to a game but Queens declined as the Rangers they said didn't have a ground of their own.

It was time for the Rangers to move to the west of the city into familiar territory.

Burnbank