Introduction

Following a report in today’s press I went off this morning to photograph Hampden Bowling Club in Glasgow’s Southside. This site has now been confirmed as the world’s first international football stadium.

In Britain, a bowling club usually refers to the game of lawn bowls which is a somewhat sedate sport. This leisure activity tends to be patronised by seniors although there are no official age limits.

Importance of the Hampden site

Superficially, the Hampden club is undistinguished, being surrounded by social and other housing, roads and a railway. However, archaeologists have now conformed suspicions that the bowling club once formed part of the World’s first international football stadium. In this context football is synonymous with soccer.

Today, there is another Hampden Park nearby which is Scotland’s national football venue. However, the first Hampden Park was active between 1873 and 1884. It’s closure having been caused by the encroachment of a new railway line.

The first Hampden Park was home to Queens Park FC (which still exists) and the Scotland national team.

Special features:

• At this site Scotland celebrated a 5-1 win over England in 1882.
• The Scottish teams of 1881 and 1882 included the world’s first black international footballer, Andrew Watson.
• It was at First Hampden that the modern, passing game of football was invented. This version of the game is now watched by billions of people around the world.
• The methods and techniques developed at First Hampden cement Scotland’s reputation as the home of football.
• The First Hampden stadium acted as the blueprint for every football stadium ever built.
• The bowling club pavilion illustrated above is thought to include the original roof from the First Hampden pavilion.
• The archaeologists found tantalising evidence of the original playing surface sealed under earth and grass. Also found were artefacts dropped by supporters such as beer bottles, juice bottles and clay pipes.

Latest Position Oct 11th 2025

The Glasgow Herald reported that the financial position of the bowling club is increasingly precarious. This is due to dwindling membership and losses running at about £5000 p.a. GBPT, a historic buildings charity, has raised funds to conduct a feasibility study into future use of the site. However, there remains a £13000 funding shortfall to be bridged. Time is pressing. Failure by the bowling club to appoint three new trustees and a new committee by the end of February 2026 will result in a winding up of the club. In the event of the bowling club ceasing to exist then all bets are off on the future of the site. A likely outcome is sale for property development which will be a sad end to a site of global historic importance.

More information for visitors

The bowling club site can be viewed from adjacent roads but is not open to the public. The current Hampden stadium is nearby and provides tours for visitors. Also nearby is the site of the Battle of Langside (13 May 1568) where Mary, Queen of Scots suffered a major defeat.

A wide range of information can be found in the Visitors’ Guide to Scotland the ISBN of which is 978-1-9161332-0-4. This publication is also available via Kindle.