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The Glasgow Charity Cup – or the Glasgow Merchant’s Charity Cup to give it its original title – was a popular tournament which dates back to the very earliest days of football.
The idea behind the trophy came from a group of Glasgow businessmen and the original final in 1876 should have been played between Vale of Leven and Queen’s Park – the two strongest sides in the west of Scotland at that time.
Indeed it had been hoped that the charitable principles of the new cup would help mend relationships between the sides after Queen’s accused the Vale players of wearing illegal spikes on their boots during a controversial Scottish Cup tie earlier that season.
Vale, who had won the tie, were furious at the slur and as a consequence of these accusations relationships between the two clubs had become difficult. The organisers had hoped the expected Vale of Leven and Queen’s Park final would result in the reconciliation of the two clubs but instead Vale of Leven refused to play. Rangers stepped in and were duly thrashed 4-0.
An end of season tournament, which was originally open to clubs outside the Glasgow area, the charity cup was regarded as an entertaining and exciting finale to a season. It may not have been the most prestigious honour to win but it was an impressive looking cup and a popular tournament nonetheless.
In the best charitable traditions of the club Celtic would field the strongest side possible to ensure maximum gate receipts for charity. In the early days of the competition it was also common that the players from every team not only played for free but would also pay the admission fee for the match.
Although long past the heyday of the competition, perhaps the most famous Charity Cup final was in 1950 when a crowd of 81,000 watched Celtic defeat Rangers 3-2. While the action on the pitch was exciting enough the match is best remembered as the ‘Danny Kaye Final’ after the American comedian and actor was introduced to the players and the crowd before the game.
But the Hollywood glamour of that occasion could only temporarily disguise the fact that the Charity Cup was a trophy from a different age and the pressure put on the fixture list by European football and additional international games meant extinction was inevitable.
The tournament was to end in its original format just 11 years after the Danny Kaye final when Celtic and Clyde shared the honours in a 1-1 draw before just 12,000 supporters. Due to gradually diminishing returns to charities through the tournament in 1961-62 the format was changed to a night game played under floodlights with the winner of the trophy holding on to it. The Charity Cup name would briefly live on in the form of a challenge game between a Glasgow select side and an English league club after 1962 but that format was short lived and the last game played in 1966 when Bobby Lennox scored in a 1-1 draw between the Glasgow XI and Leeds United.
The magnificent trophy then was 'lost' for 30 years after being placed in a massive walk in safe at the SFA's offices at Park Gardens in Glasgow. The cup was forgotten about, presumed missing, until it was uncovered in the safe after a hunt to find it was launched to coincide with the new Scottish Museum of Football at Hampden.
Celtic won this beautiful trophy 27 times – including a run of seven triumph between 1912 and 1918.
A full list of the winners and games is available on the Scottish Football Historical archive site here.
Tournament Victories
- 1891-92, 1893-94, 1894-95, 1895-96, 1898-99
- 1902-03, 1904-05, 1907-08, 1911-12, 1912-13,
- 1913-14, 1914-15, 1915-16, 1916-17, 1917-18,
- 1919-20, 1920-21, 1923-24, 1925-26, 1935-36,
- 1936-37, 1937-38, 1942-43, 1949-50, 1952-53,
- 1958-59, 1960-61 (joint with Clyde)
External links
The Celtic team receive the Charity Cup in the City Chambers in the summer of 1938.
Above: Celtic take on Queen's Park at Hampden in the 1908 Charity Cup final which the Bhoys won 3-1 to take a clean sweep of trophies.
25th May 1895 – Glasgow Charity Cup Final Cathkin Park. Celtic 4 Rangers 0
McMahon (3) Kelly
