Campaign launched to safeguard site of first home of Scotland’s national football team

Fans of Scotland’s national football team may not have had many reasons to celebrate in recent years, but that hasn’t always been the case. Almost 150 years ago, in 1878, the team moved into their first home in a Glasgow ground known as First Hampden and promptly won every game they played there.

As well as being celebrated as Scotland’s “tartan fortress”, First Hampden, about half a mile from where Hampden Park sits today in south Glasgow, is widely considered the world’s first purpose-built international football stadium. Many features now commonplace in grounds around the world – including season tickets, turnstiles and pavilions – have long been thought to have originated there.

Now, a campaign has been launched to safeguard the site and turn it into a community hub and heritage space after it was put on the market when the previous tenant, a bowling club, closed its doors earlier this year.

“We want to see it become a multifunctional community space,” says Calum Cameron, 37, one of the founding members of First Hampden community interest company (CIC). “Somewhere vibrant and usable for the community but that also upholds and develops this amazing footballing history through storytelling and heritage.”

Before becoming the national ground, First Hampden was home to Queen’s Park FC, who are also credited with inventing many features of the modern game, including the passing style of play, as opposed to a more rugby-like kick-and-charge approach that was common at the time. A key generation of players nicknamed the “Scotch professors” went on to export the invention around the country and the world, including to nations such as Brazil that dominate the international game today.

A striking black-and-white mural on the back of what was previously Hampden Bowling Club on the site commemorates a famous 5-1 victory over England in 1882 and depicts the then national team captain, Andrew Watson, the first Black international footballer.

“There are all these little pieces of social history and I think there’s more to be uncovered,” Cameron says. “When you start talking to people about the site, there are so many stories and connections that come out – but a lot of people don’t know it is even here, which I hope will start to change as we do this work.”

Today, there is little visible evidence of the original structure, but a 2021 excavation by Historic Environment Scotland uncovered remains of the pavilion, earning one part of the site, which now exists as a small public park, protected status as a national monument. The section up for rent, comprising the former bowling club building and lawn, sits on the other side of a fence and is not covered by the protection.

The footprint of First Hampden is one of 21 historic footballing sites in the south of Glasgow that have been curated into Football’s Square Mile, a project set up to promote and celebrate the nation’s footballing heritage. While the legends of First Hampden have been passed down in folklore for generations, it was Football’s Square Mile’s engagement director, Graeme Brown, who proved its existence once and for all in 2017, through archival railway maps.

“[First Hampden] is arguably the world’s most important football heritage site,” Brown says. “And you can just come and stand on it – you don’t need to go to a museum and pay an entry fee. You can come and stand on [what was] the pitch and say: ‘This is where Scotland played.’

“It always makes me tingle to walk around this area. You can kind of feel the ghosts of First Hampden all around you.”

Attempts by First Hampden CIC to acquire the site have so far been unsuccessful, with a request for a community asset transfer rejected by the owners, City Property Glasgow, an arm’s-length company owned by the council.

A spokesperson for the company said it was “obliged to obtain commercially reasonable terms for the sale and lease of our assets” and that the site was considered to have income-generating potential.

They said there was no intention to sell for redevelopment and that bids would be assessed “on their individual merits, including but not limited to community benefits, heritage consideration, deliverability and financial value”.

First Hampden CIC is exploring other options, Cameron says, including a full feasibility study and community consultation for its plans, and submitting an official bid through the lease process. So far, almost 1,000 people have signed up online to show their support.

Cameron has become a bigger football fan since living in the area and learning more about its rich footballing history. But he says the campaign is about more than just sport.

“Affordable, accessible public spaces are becoming fewer and further between in Glasgow and in general, and this is another that’s at risk of being lost,” he says. “We need places where people can come together. The city’s slogan is ‘people make Glasgow’, so let’s give those people places to go.”