History records that Ned Haig and Melrose gave birth to the short game in 1883 in the form of the Melrose Sports

However it would appear that Rangers were also involved in a similar venture at that time as part of the Rangers Sports in the 1880s

Newspaper reports from 1880s show that at the Rangers Sports jointly organised with Clydesdale Harriers held at the newly opened Ibrox Stadium the hosts beat Queens Park by a touchdown to nil in a four aside football tournament
The fact that their president at that time was John Mellish a Glasgow Academical may have some bearing on the issue

It is worth remembering that at that time the term football applied to both rugby and soccer after all the two oldest football clubs in Glasgow are rugby clubs namely West and Glasgow Accies and Queens Park included rugby in it's early constitution

This could be significant with the Commonwealth Games Sevens arriving at Ibrox in 2014 or could it be Sevens returning to Ibrox after 130 years

This article was originally posted on 5-Apr-2011, 06:32 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 5-Apr-2011, 06:54.