160 Years Ago Today.

[The Moonlighter 387]

On the 27th May 1856 the Rangers great that was Tom Vallance was born.

 

 

His Rangers team-mates from the 1870’s said “The whole of Rangers loved him like a brother”

 

Over the years of our research into the formation of our Club one name kept popping up time and again and that’s the name of Tom Vallance who has on reflection been sadly overlooked.

 

Tom was born at a small farmhouse known as Succoth near Renton in the Parish of Cardross in 1856.

 

When young he moved with his family to the Old Toll House at Shandon on the Gareloch.

 

He came to Glasgow in the early 1870’s following the path taken by his friends from the Gareloch ,the brothers McNeil and Campbell .

 

Tom Vallance had an astonishing 60 year association with the Club, and his is an incredible CV.

 

He was a master oarsman, a champion athlete (he set a Scottish long jump record of over 21 feet), he studied at the Glasgow School of Art, had paintings accepted by the Royal Scottish Academy and was Rangers Club Captain and President for many years.

 

We have recorded details of Tom Vallance being present at the ceremony held on 1st January 1929 which saw the opening of the Main Stand at Ibrox and also at a dinner which was held in the St.Enoch’s Hotel after a Rangers match in 1933 when we faced Sporting Club of Vienna.

 

So, the lad who was present at Fleshers Haugh in 1872 was still attending Ibrox some 60 years later where the Club that he’d helped form and nurture were now playing in front of crowds in excess of 100,000.

 

Tom was a very successful business man. He had The Club restaurant at 22 Paisley Road West which today is the Viceroy Bar, The Metropolitan which stood on Hutchison Street in the Merchant City area of Glasgow and the Lansdowne which was at 183 Hope Street.

 

Tom would actually have the Rangers results wired to his restaurants for the benefit of his patrons as early as 1890.

 

When Rangers moved to First Ibrox in 1887 it was said that it was common for Club President Vallance to be working the turnstiles on matchday.

 

At the opening of the Main Stand in 1929 Tom Vallance recalled the facilities being so cramped at the Rangers ground at Kinning Park that the players would have to wash in basins of cold water in the open air.

 

It was the teenage Tom Vallance who helped lay the very foundations upon which our Club was built, hard-work, discipline, honesty, integrity and fair play.

 

Mr. Struth said during that famous speech “No matter the days of anxiety that come our way, we shall emerge stronger because of the trials to be overcome. That has been the philosophy of the Rangers since the days of the Gallant Pioneers”

 

Tom was paid the ultimate accolade by the Club in May 1898 when he was made a life member.

 

As a lasting tribute to the incredible contribution he made to our Club we had Tom put on to canvas by way of a painting by artist Helen Runciman.

 

 

Tom Vallance has now taken his rightful place at the top of the Marble Staircase alongside his friends and fellow Founders.

 

 

Tom died on 16th February 1935 aged 78 at 189 Pitt Street Glasgow.

 

He is buried in Hillfoot Cemetery in Bearsden and his funeral was attended by Mr. Struth, Chairman James Bowie and his old team-mate James McIntyre who both took a cord. Incredibly, players from the Vale of Leven team whom Tom had faced 60 years earlier in 1877 were also in attendance.

 

That will give you an indication as to how highly regarded Tom Vallance was.

 

Today we celebrate the life of Tom Vallance.

[Frankie 8,150]

Brilliant stuff mate!

 

Tom was a true pioneer and it's fantastic that we're still acknowledging his efforts well over 100 years later...

[The Moonlighter 387]

Mr Struth tipped his hat to our Founders when he spoke about the '' philosophy of the Gallant Pioneers'' .

 

Here's an example.

 

Back in the early years of football both competing teams would put forward an individual to act as umpire, this was before referee's were established in the game.

 

On one such occasion before a tie at Dumbarton Tom Vallance’s Rangers team-mates asked him to step down from the role as they felt he’d be too honest.

 

Tom stepped down alright, he immediately resigned from the Club.

 

At a Club meeting a few weeks later he was given a full apology and returned .

 

This was not only his, but more importantly the Club’s integrity, being put to the test.

 

.

[Scott7 5,161]

A man for all seasons.

[The Moonlighter 387]

Tom Vallance and the opening of our Main Stand 1929.

 

http://blog.thegallantpioneers.co.uk/wp/?p=419

[The Moonlighter 387]

This was penned today by a fellow Bear and sent to us.

 

Tom Vallance

 

A star shone over Succoth , in the Parish of Cardross

The moon lit up the Glasgow Green just down from Bridgeton Cross

In a farmhouse a child was born whose destiny was fame

A Messiah of the Rangers, Tom Vallance was his name

 

From the Old Toll house in Shandon to Glasgow town he came

To a city that will never ever see his likes again

For 60 years he served the club he helped to form

The club he named The Rangers whose shirt he proudly did adorn

 

A life member of the Club he loved since 1898

So steeped in blue Tom Vallance was a legend and a great

Loved by all who knew him, respected by his peers

That love has never faded over all those years

 

Tom I just want to thank you for all that you have done

You gave so much , you gave your all , I view you as a son

A son , a friend, a father, a man unlike no other

Tom the Family of the Rangers all love you like a brother

 

Your atop the Marble stairway, it’s just where you belong

Your in our hearts your in our souls, the love is oh so strong

The love for our first Captain , the love for one so true

Tom Vallance of The Rangers we owe so much to you

 

I wished that I had met you, to have warmly shook your hand

To have applauded as you opened up our dear main stand

But I rejoice that one great day my wish will come to pass

When we will meet upon the Master’s hallowed grass

 

So rest in peace my Brother , we are back where we belong

The club is free from tyrants, the club is now so strong

We will honour your tradition, the morals you embraced

The Integrity and Valour which defined the life you graced

 

ItsInTheNet

[The Moonlighter 387]

The final resting place of Tom Vallance at Hillfoot cemetery in Bearsden, fittingly it overlooks Auchenhowie.

 

The plot is part of the Rangers Graves Restoration project.

 

[pete 2,499]

Moonlighter, I read Tom Vallance voted for the name Rangers, do you have any idea if any other names were considered or voted on?

[The Moonlighter 387]

Moonlighter, I read Tom Vallance voted for the name Rangers, do you have any idea if any other names were considered or voted on?

 

Not in any articles relating to that meeting that we've found.

 

Teams choose dynamic names such as Wanderers and Rovers and this is possibly why the name of Rangers won the vote.