Saturday 10th June, 1893 saw the commencement of a 2 day tournament at Blantyre’s relatively new ground of Castle Park.
Organisers were the Lanarkshire Amateur Athletics Sports and Five Aside Football Tourney (under the S.A.A.A Rules). The tourney was divided into 2 sections, one open to all juniors and the other open to second eleven juniors. Three prizes were attached to the former, two to the latter.
Other events included racing in a 300 yards, 440yards and 880 yard events. There was also a one mile flat event and three legged race. To attract some interest in the competition, the prizes, which were both valuable and useful were put on display in the shop window of Moses M Hamilton at High Blantyre Cross.
From my notes, I can see that Moses was heavily involved in Blantyre football, not only a coach but a sponsor too. This was all 132 years ago.
There had only been a small interest in the five asides so when advertised, the wording made mention that anybody entering stood a very good chance of getting “in amongst the prizes”. The events were held to music, provided by the brass band.
AI imagines the shop window with the various prizes.
