This week sees Hawks head for the Greenyards to play Melrose a club formed in 1877

The Borders have long been regarded as the heartland of Scottish rugby but that might have not been the case if Queens Park had fulfilled their missionary tour of 1872

This great institution had committed to spreading the gospel for the "association" code through the Borders towns and villages.Unfortunately for devotees of the soccer code they were unable to undertake this tour owing to a clash with the Spiders appearing in the F A Cup semi final against Wanderers and a subsequent replay both held at what in modern marketing parlance is known as the Brit Oval but then the Kennington Oval
Sadly the bold Queens had to scratch from the replay owing to the travelling costs so effectively they did not win the FA Cup but returned to Scotland unbeaten but because of this they did not manage to carry their fiery cross through the Border strongholds and the "rugby" code prevailed

We are left to wonder what might have happened as Queens Park held enormous influence at that time after all this was the "amateur" Club that was to introduce to the game of football such innovations as crossbars-half-time and free-kicks -turnstiles -press boxes -all ticket matches and even car parking and was the club that was about to embark on the building the largest stadium in the world-- Hampden Park

Queens contribution to rugby did not stop then as in 1896 they hosted Scotland v England with Scotland winning 11-0 and in 1906 they played hosts to Scotland's only win over the might of the Springboks

The magnetism of Queens at that time extended to A list celebrities like Buffalo Bill who turned up to see them beat Rangers and so enthused by this performance that he raised a team of cowboys from his Wild West Show which was based in Dennistoun and sent them to play a match at Celtic Park
Queens Park had a deft touch for in their original constitution they included the rules of both soccer and rugby to keep their options open and their stadium on the southside of the Second City went on to set record attendances such as 149,415 to see Scotland play the Auld Enemy

Queens Park have retained their amateur status to this day a remarkable situation since they play in a professional environment and they even spawned that iconic slogan seen at Shawlands over many years "Queens Park Motors -there are no amateurs at the Queens we are all professionals here"

“Ludere causa Ludendi” - to play for the sake of playing.--the motto of Queens Park F.C.

The attendance at the Greenyards on Saturday will be slightly less but the passion for the contest will be undiminished when Hawks travel to play Melrose

This article was originally posted on 21-Sep-2010, 14:15 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 21-Sep-2010, 19:02.