Can someone please explain?

[54andcounting 0]

Hi, recently I was asked when Rangers FC were founded, I always believed it to be 1873, but was informed it was 1872. I argued 1873 others insist 1872.

 

This picture backs up my claim, no doubt a few of you on here will have stuff to back your claim, I really would like to know the answer.

 

Also can somebody let me know why the date 1981 is also in there? Thanks.

[pete 2,499]

Hi, recently I was asked when Rangers FC were founded, I always believed it to be 1873, but was informed it was 1872. I argued 1873 others insist 1872.

 

This picture backs up my claim, no doubt a few of you on here will have stuff to back your claim, I really would like to know the answer.

 

Also can somebody let me know why the date 1981 is also in there? Thanks.

 

It was always thought it was 1872 but I believe the first real evidence was 1873 so that was accepted. Recently it has been agreed that 1872 was the real date i believe.

[Gazza_8 233]

It was 1872.

 

There is a reason why we have 1873 on our badge though.

[Gazza_8 233]

The harrowing and heartbreaking stories behind the founding fathers of Rangers are sympathetically revealed and told for the first time. This is the first in-depth study of the club's early years' history for almost a century. Rangers are one of the most famous teams in world football, but the scale of their success is astonishing set against the backdrop of their formation in 1872. Back then, four young men gathered in a park in the west end of Glasgow and decided to set up a team that would do justice to the new craze of association football. Amazingly, William McBeath and Peter Campbell were just 15-years-old, Moses McNeil was only 16 and his brother Peter the elder statesman at 17. Soon they were joined by Tom Vallance, another 16-year-old who quickly rose to become captain of the famed club. None of those gallant pioneers was a native of Glasgow and yet within five years they were Scottish Cup finalists, set up in their spiritual home on the south side of the burgeoning industrial city and attracting a working class audience they have never since lost. But what became of the men who formed a club that's loved and cherished by so many? Rangers may have scaled great heights, but the personal lives of almost all the founding fathers were touched with terrible tragedy. Journalist Gary Ralston has used fresh research and uncovered hitherto unseen documents, records and transcripts to sympathetically recount the heartbreaking stories behind the men who created a great institution. He reveals the torrid tales of death through insanity, a drowning that denied a birthright as a steamship entrepreneur and the sad passing of a pioneer who lies buried in a pauper's grave in the forgotten fringes of an English cemetery, cast as a certified imbecile, tried as a fraudster and left to live out his life in the poorhouse. This fascinating insight into the earliest years of Rangers, the first in-depth analysis for almost a century, also tells of happier times, the links with royalty and football aristocracy such as Sir Stanley Matthews and the club's relationship with the city in which it was born and grew in the tumultuous Victorian era. It also traces the only two known surviving grandchildren of the founders and tells how they knew nothing about their grandfather's most famous achievement. "Rangers 1872: The Gallant Pioneers" tells one of football's most romantic tales - and also one of its saddest.

[Gazza_8 233]

From The Daily Record

 

RANGERS Football Club are one of the world's most famous sides, with an illustrious history and fans that follow them to the ends of the Earth.

 

But few know the true story of how Rangers were formed by four teenage pals - and their touching, yet tragic stories.

 

Record sports writer Gary Ralston spent three years researching the history of the reigning SPL champions' founding fathers.

 

In Rangers 1872: The Gallant Pioneers, out today, he reveals that far from being venerated, one ended his days in a lunatic asylum, another was lost at sea and a third was buried in a pauper's grave.

 

The birthplace of Rangers was Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park, known as West End Park back in the spring of 1872.

 

Brothers Moses and Peter McNeil went for a walk with pals William McBeath and Peter Campbell and came up with the idea for the club.

 

Soon, they were joined by another friend, Tom Vallance. He quickly became the skipper of the fledgling outfit after early matches on Glasgow Green.

 

McBeath and Campbell were only 15 when they set up their new team.

 

Moses McNeil and Vallance were 16 and Peter McNeil the elder statesman at 17.

 

These teenagers had founded a sporting dynasty known the world over.

 

But the lives of almost all the founders were touched with terrible sadness.

 

Peter McNeil died in 1901 at the Hawkhead Asylum near Paisley as a result of insanity brought on by business worries.

 

Former SFA treasurer Peter owned a sports shop in Glasgow with another brother but was so down on his luck towards the end of his life that his wife was forced to apply for Poor Law relief.

 

Scotland winger Campbell died at sea in 1883, aged just 26, when his ship, the Saint Columba, went down in the Bay of Biscay in a storm as it ferried coal from south Wales to Bombay.

 

Perhaps worse still was the fate of William McBeath, who lies buried in a pauper's grave in a Lincoln cemetery after his death in a poorhouse in 1917.

 

McBeath had moved to England but his marriage collapsed and he even stood trial near Bristol in 1897 for fraud, although he was cleared of falsely selling advertisements for a newspaper that was never distributed.

 

He wed again soon afterwards, most likely bigamously, and was cast as a certified imbecile soon after his arrival at the Lincoln poorhouse in 1910 where he lived out the final years of his life.

 

His life was so anonymous, no photograph of him has ever been found.

 

Ralston said: "The story behind the formation of Rangers is one of the most romantic and inspiring in sport and yet many of the personal stories of the founders were filled with such pain and suffering.

 

"In effect, these were five teenagers who decided to form a club for no other reason than to feed their appetite for the new craze of association football.

 

"It's such a shame the lives of Peter McNeil, McBeath and Campbell ended in such a harrowing fashion. Cruelly, McBeath was cast as an imbecile.

 

"He was showing signs of what would probably be diagnosed today as dementia and McNeil's mental torment would also be better managed in the 21st Century.

 

"Thankfully, there are other, happier tales from the time and I'm sure all the founders would look back with pride on everything Rangers have achieved over the years."

 

Moses McNeill, an international winger, was 82 when he died in 1938.

 

He is buried in the village of Rosneath on the Clyde peninsula, where he saw out his final years.

 

Former Scotland defender Vallance lived to 78 before his death in Glasgow in 1935. He was a successful restaurateur, a poet and an artist, whose paintings were displayed by the Scottish Academy.

 

His grand-daughter Betty married legendary Stoke, Blackpool and England footballer Stanley Matthews.

 

They met at a golf match in Girvan and married at Bonnyton Golf Club in Eaglesham. Matthews even guested for the Light Blues during World War II.

 

Ralston added: "Sir Stanley was football aristocracy, but Rangers also boasted royal links going back to its earliest days."

Queen Victoria's honorary surgeon Sir James Jenkins was the uncle of founder, tragic seaman Peter Campbell.

 

Queen Victoria's son-in-law, the Marquis of Lorne, later the Duke of Argyll, was the fledgling club's first honorary president.

 

Gary said: "It was quite a coup as he had only recently married Princess Louise, Victoria's daughter, and he soon went on to become governor of Canada and one of the best known figures in British society."

 

Rangers' rise is all the more remarkable because of their humble beginnings.

 

Gary said: "They didn't even have kit when they first started and turned out in their civvies.

 

"Peter McNeil was forced to pitch up at Glasgow Green in the early days several hours before kick-off and stake a claim to a patch of land on which to play.

 

"They quickly won an audience for the style of football they played, which attracted working class fans who could not afford to watch the powerhouses of Queen's Park at Hampden.

 

"However, within five years of their formation they were Scottish Cup finalists and already establishing themselves as one of the best clubs in the country.

 

"Rangers were basically established as a boys' club and the fact they reached the final in 1877 against Vale of Leven was seen at the time as astonishing.

 

"They lost but took the much more experienced side from Alexandria to three games, all the time winning more and more supporters.

 

"They also quickly organised behind the scenes and within a couple of years had taken out a long-term lease on a ground at Kinning Park, where they played until their move to the first Ibrox Park in 1887.

 

"It's amazing to think their move to Ibrox was considered an enormous risk at the time as it was considered quite far out in the country."

 

The book also outlines how the overwhelming evidence suggests the club was formed in 1872, not 1873, as many fans believe.

 

It also reveals Rangers were most likely named after a rugby club in Swindon.

 

Gary said: "The last in-depth history of the early years of Rangers was published in 1923 so it was worth taking a fresh look at the subject.

 

"For most football fans, including Rangers, the present is all that matters but it's also important to get a perspective on the past."

 

. Rangers 1872: The Gallant Pioneers by Gary Ralston is published by Breedon Books, �£14.99.

 

Shock at link to tragic Peter

 

HEATHER Lang's grandfather was one of Rangers' founding fathers - and she knew nothing about it.

 

Heather and sister Doreen Holland were stunned to hear how their grandad Peter McNeil formed the Light Blues with his brother Moses and his friends in 1872.

 

Gary broke the news as part of his research, helping solve a family mystery that stretched back decades.

 

Peter died in the Hawkhead Asylum near Paisley in 1901.

 

Their mum Gertrude Grace was 10 at the time of her dad's death - and never mentioned his suffering to them.

 

Heather, 82, of Glasgow, said: "The news about our connection with Rangers came as an absolute shock, a bolt from the blue.

 

"My sister was speechless on the phone. We didn't know a thing about it.

 

"Peter was never, ever discussed and maybe, in many ways, it was a result of the 'shame' they felt at his mental decline.

 

"Mother lived until the age of 93 and when asked about her father and other events of her family past, saying: 'Och, I can't remember.'" Heather, left, is sad about his death, saying: "He probably wouldn't have died today. He'd have been diagnosed earlier and treated.

 

"He was only in his mid-40s when he passed away.

 

"However, I'm very proud of my grandfather's achievements, even though his life ended so sadly.

 

"Rangers Football Club is quite a legacy to leave behind."

[Gazza_8 233]

Also can somebody let me know why the date 1981 is also in there? Thanks.

 

That's the year I was born.

[pete 2,499]

The first game was against Callendar fc in May 1872 at Flesher's Haugh,Glasgow Green which ended in a goalless draw. Shortly after this game the club was set up and office-bearers chosen The second game also in 1872 was against a team called Clyde( not the same as now) and they wore light blue strips for the first time.

In that time the players changed behind a clump of tree's and payed young kids to watch their clothes.

[Zappa 0]

Timeline explained here - http://www.rangersfchistory.co.uk/images/album/timeline1.html

[54andcounting 0]

Timeline explained here - http://www.rangersfchistory.co.uk/images/album/timeline1.html

 

Thanks for that - very interesting mate....shows you how much I know - I always thought Notts County were the oldest football club.

Can u find out why 1873 - 1981 is on that that Ibrox shield, cheers bud.

Edited May 16, 2011 by 54andcounting

[Zappa 0]

Can u find out why 1873 - 1981 is on that that Ibrox shield, cheers bud.

 

I think it's because the Centenary Stand was ripped down in 1981 -

 

1978 saw the building of the Copland Road stand, in place of the East Terrace. Three years later, the Centenary Stand was ripped down and replaced with the Govan Stand, which had 10,300 seats. This was the start of the building of the modern Ibrox that we all recognise today, at a cost of �£10million to the club.

 

http://www.rangerspedia.org/index.php/Ibrox_Stadium

 

Please correct me if that's wrong anyone....