Celtic’s Crusaders and the story of Celtic’s smallest trophy win

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The Celtic Star

·7 Juni 2025

Celtic’s Crusaders and the story of Celtic’s smallest trophy win

Celtic’s Crusaders and our smallest trophy win…

One of the pleasures and occasional hazards of working on the stadium tours at Celtic Park is that guests will often test your knowledge with a question. The pleasure is in learning new information, whilst the ‘hazard’ element kicks in if you don’t know the answer!

I enjoyed a tremendous night in the best of Celtic company on Saturday, as the Johnstone No.1 CSC celebrated their 80th anniversary at the home of the Peter Scarff CSC in Linwood. I was there as a guest speaker, delivering a presentation on the unique connections between the town of Johnstone and surrounding areas and Celtic, which stretch back to the very origins of our club.

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My presentation included a slide on Celtic’s first-ever trophy win, the 6-1 victory over Springburn outfit Cowlairs at Barrowfield Park, the home of Clyde in Dalmarnock, on Saturday, 11 May 1889. Johnstone-born Peter Dowds played and scored in that match, as did Willie Maley.

After the presentation, several people wandered over for a chat, one of whom commented…

“Did you know that Celtic’s first trophy was actually won in Kilsyth…and it wasn’t the North-Eastern Cup. It may have been the reserves who won it, right enough.”

Well, no I didn’t know that, and I love a challenge, so over the past few nights I’ve had a look through the newspaper archives from May 1888 onwards to see if I could find anything to support his theory. Absolutely nothing, month after month, until I come across a tiny snippet in the Stirling Observer of Thursday, 2 May 1889, mentioning a Celtic 2nd XI playing King’s Park, a forerunner of Stirling Albion.

“In the competition instituted by the Kilsyth Wanderers for a challenge cup, which is to become the property of the winner, the King’s Park have been drawn against the Celtic Crusaders, Glasgow, a team which forms the reserves for the well-known Celtic combination. The tie is to be played at Stirling on Saturday, 11th May.”

Bingo x 2!

Firstly, I now know for the first time that such a competition did exist, and I have a trail to follow, and secondly, as the first-round tie in Stirling was scheduled to take place on exactly the same day that the Celtic First XI won the Glasgow North-Eastern Cup at Barrowfield Park, then such timing will dictate that no re-writing of history will be required regarding our first-ever trophy success. Result.

The Falkirk Herald expanded on that initial media information 48 hours later, with details of the draw and the clubs involved.

“The Kilsyth Wanderers have arranged a competition for a silver challenge cup, which has been presented to them. The competition is limited to twelve clubs [there are actually 13 clubs listed below], and the cup becomes the property of the winners, while gold and silver badges are to be presented to the winners and runners up respectively.

The drawings in connection with the tournament took place on Friday night. The ties are to be played on the 11th inst., first-named club to have choice of ground:

Kirkintilloch Athletic v Smithstone Hibernians (Croy) Northern Strollers v Central (Kirkintilloch) Denny v Laurieston Partick Thistle Swifts v 2nd Renton King’s Park (Stirling) v Celtic Crusaders

Byes – Campsie, Kilsyth Wanderers and Kirkintilloch Rob Roy.”

Note that like ‘Crusaders,’ the terms ‘Strollers’ and ‘Swifts’ were used to reflect that teams selected were not the First XIs of those clubs. Smithstone was the village where the young Jimmy Quinn would learn his craft before signing for Celtic whilst Northern was a Springburn-based club who would be Celtic’s opponents in the Glasgow North-Eastern Cup final of 1890.

Whilst many of those names may be unfamiliar to readers today, all of those clubs competed in the Scottish Cup at that time. Indeed, on Saturday, 6 September 1890, as Celtic were beating Rangers 1-0 in their first-round tie, Kilsyth Wanderers pulled off one of the greatest shocks in the competition’s history, defeating 1888 winners Renton 2-1 at Garrel Gardens Park, Kilsyth. That would lead to Renton having a free Saturday, on which they arranged a friendly against St Bernard’s. As the Edinburgh club was suspended by the SFA for ‘concealed professionalism’ at that point, both clubs were refused permission to play the game. As a consequence of it going ahead, Renton and St Bernard’s were duly expelled from SFA membership and their players suspended for the rest of the 1890/91 season.

That decision had historic implications for Celtic. A few weeks earlier, Renton had been our first-ever Scottish League opponents, beating the Bould Bhoys 4-1 at the original Celtic Park on Dalmarnock Street on Saturday, 16 August 1890. That result was subsequently voided, meaning that, officially, our first League game became the 5-0 victory at Tynecastle seven days later, the infamous occasion where the Celtic directors were thrown out of the pavilion for celebrating an early opening goal from Johnstone-born winger Pat Gallacher!

Back with the Kilsyth Cup competition, whilst some of the details are sketchy at best, we do know the scores or outcomes from those first-round ties.

Kirkintilloch Athletic 2 Smithstone Hibernians (Croy) 2 (Smithstone qualified] Northern Strollers v Central (Kirkintilloch) [Northern qualified] Denny 7 Laurieston 2 [Denny qualified] Partick Thistle Swifts 3 2nd Renton 3 [Renton qualified] King’s Park (Stirling) v Celtic Crusaders [Celtic qualified]

The five qualifiers above plus the three clubs granted byes should have produced four second round/quarter-final ties, however information on some of those has also proved difficult to secure. We do know that Northern claimed their tie, as Campsie refused to play, Denny and Smithstone Hibernians drew 4-4 in Denny on Saturday, 1 June 1889, and the Scottish Referee records on Monday, 10 June 1889 that “The Celtic Crusaders met the Renton (2nd XI) at Celtic Park in the Kilsyth District Cup competition and won by 4 goals to 2.” As there were only two other ties to be played, and Kilsyth Wanderers progressed to the final – so logically would have been paired with the remaining team, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy – it appeared that Celtic v Renton may have been the other tie in that round rather than a semi-final, as I had first assumed.

But confusion then arises when the Callander Advertiser reports on Saturday, 22 June 1889 that “Campsie and the [Kilsyth] Wanderers engaged in a match on [the previous]Saturday on the ground of the latter in the district cup ties, when the home team were the winners by 3 goals to 2. The gate was the largest ever obtained here. Smithstone and Denny have still a tie to play, and in the final the Wanderers play the winner.”

What happened next brought the competition into a degree of disrepute, as recorded in this letter reproduced in the North British Daily Mail on Thursday, 27 June 1889.

“SMITHSTONE HIBS F.C.

– Sir, We, the Smithstone Football Club, having played two matches for the Kilsyth District Cup with the Denny FC, and twice with the Kirkintilloch Athletics FC, and on the 22nd June played a protested match with Denny FC, after getting Mr Cunningham’s, S.A., the referee, decision. The second match we played with the Denny FC we got the referee’s decision in favour of Smithstone FC of one goal to nil.

The committee of the Wanderers FC, Kilsyth, protested against the decision of the match on account of a player in the Smithstone FC not being registered in time. We played the first match with this man. The same committee gave us sanction to play with this man, and after the match was won by the Smithstone FC the same committee protested against the referee’s decision.

The Kilsyth Wanderers FC produced the cup to play for, and they were to get one third of the gate money, and all protested ties were to be played on Kilsyth ground. The following clubs withdrew on account of the Kilsyth committee decision: – The King’s Park, the Northern Strollers, and the Rob Roy, and after playing the third match with the Denny FC, the referee’s decision was in favour of the Smithstone Hibs, by three goals to one. Seeing the injustice that we were dealt with after playing the fifth match, we thought it was small enough recompense to keep the gate money to cover the expenses of the foregoing matches. Hoping this will meet an approval in your valuable columns – We are, &c., THE COMMITTEE OF THE SMITHSTONE HIBS. F.C.”

The Falkirk Herald added to that debate 48 hours later.

“In the third round for the Kilsyth Cup, which was played on the Wanderers’ ground on Saturday, Smithstone Hibs. defeated Denny, and at the close of the game they claimed the whole of the “gate.” which would amount to something like £8 or so. Their contention was that the Wanderers, on whose behalf the cup was got up, and their opponents were only entitled to a third of the money in the first and second rounds. The Hibs, who had a representative at the gate, were in possession of the money, and after some heated words on both sides, they latterly walked away, leaving the Denny team and the Wanderers to take what recourse they could to get further satisfaction. Not only was the cup got up for the benefit of the Wanderers, but on this occasion they printed the bills announcing the match, and lent them the use of their field, and from what we hear more will be heard on the matter ere long. Strictly speaking the game was only a protested tie in the second round.”

Whatever the outcome of this matter, the only game I can find detail on beyond that is the final, Celtic Crusaders beating Kilsyth Wanderers 5-0 at Garrel Gardens Park, Kilsyth on Saturday, 27 July 1889.

The Falkirk Herald reports on that victory seven days later.

“Well done, Celtic Crusaders, for winning the Kilsyth Charity Cup and gold badges on Saturday last. The cup and badges will be presented to the winners on Friday at Kilsyth. The best thanks of the team is due to the secretary of the Crusaders for bringing this cup to Celtic Park.”

The Bridge of Allan Reporter makes mention of the final and also, perhaps, supports my belief that the scheduled first-round tie between Celtic and King’s Park never actually took place.

“The final for the Kilsyth Cup takes place today at Kilsyth between the Celtic Crusaders and Kilsyth Wanderers. Mr Murphy, Camelon, is referee. It will be remembered that King’s Park entered for this trophy but afterwards withdrew from the competition. The Crusaders is the reserve team for the famous Celtic combination.”

There was a report of the trophy presentation in x on y.

“The Kilsyth District Cup was last night presented to the Celtic Crusaders at a social gathering held in the Commercial Hotel. Gold badges were also presented to the winners, and the Kilsyth Wanderers, who were the runners up, was each awarded silver badges. The presentations were made by the hon. president, Mr Wilson, and acknowledged by Mr Curtis for the Crusaders and Mr H Brown for the Wanderers.”

James Curtis was one of Celtic’s Founding Fathers, who carried out the role of match secretary for the club’s 2nd XI, with Willie Maley doing likewise for the first team.

We also know some of the men who won the trophy for the Bould Bhoys that day. In goal was James McLaughlin, a Springburn Celt who had played at left-back in the club’s first-ever game, a 5-2 win over Rangers or Rangers Swifts at Celtic Park on 28 May 1888 then in goals as they won the Glasgow North-Eastern Cup 12 months later. McLaughlin replaced Tommy Donnelly, who had appeared for the Celtic Crusaders in earlier matches, as per this snippet from the Scottish Referee on Monday, 5 August 1889.

“Tommy Donnelly, last season’s goalkeeper of the Elmpark, and who has on several occasions done duty for the Celtic Crusaders, was to have officiated again for the latter team at Kilsyth in the final round of the Kilsyth Charity Cup, but McLaughlin at the last moment turned up. The Crusaders won by 5 to 0. Donnelly has to get a gold badge.”

James McLaughlin was born just a few hundred yards from where I grew up in Springburn. I wrote this article about him previously in The Celtic Star.

The incredibly versatile James McLaughlin – Celtic’s first Springburn Bhoy

Two goalscorers from Celtic’s North-Eastern Cup-winning team of May 1889 lined up in front of James McLaughlin in Kilsyth, Willie Maley and Peter Dowds, as did full-back Jerry Reynolds, according to Maley’s own later article “The Bould, Bould Celts.”

“We won another Cup that year [1888-89]. We got entered somehow in a second XI competition for the Kilsyth Charity Cup, in which we met Renton, Kilsyth Wanderers, and one or two other teams. We had a fairly strong team, strengthened by Dowds, Jerry Reynolds (from Carfin) and myself, and won by five goals in the final, in which I nearly got finished by the (tough) centre-half of the Kilsyth Wanderers, in which I think Patrick (later to join St Mirren) played goal against us.

This cup was a great joke with us for a long time. The cup had never been seen by any of us until the presentation, and quite proudly John Glass came out with us to the ceremony. The joke will be understood when I say Glass carried the cup home in his jacket pocket. I believe it was stolen out of Glass’ house not long after that, and I am afraid the thief would get as big a disappointment as we did then. It was another cup, however, Glass used to say.”

It was indeed stolen as described, as per this from the Glasgow Herald on Tuesday, 16 March 1897.

“BURGLARY IN THE EAST END.

– On Saturday afternoon the house of President John Glass, of the Celtic Club, was broken into. The house is situated at 597 Gallowgate, and entrance was obtained by forcing the door. Among the articles stolen were a silver cup, won by the Celtic Reserves on the first year of their inception; two gold watches, and various football trophies, amounting in the aggregate to about £50. Mr Glass was in Paisley with the team at the time of the burglary, whilst Mrs Glass has been for some time at the coast. The son had gone up to see that everything was secure, when he was surprised to find the door open and the house in confusion. Previously he had jostled against some suspicious characters in the close, but when he hurried down there was no trace of them. The matter is being investigated by the Eastern police.”

I suspect the whereabouts of the cup remained unknown and any reference to it would have dwindled in the decades which followed. However, in The Celtic View of September 1965, a letter was published from the owner of Willie Maley’s medal from the final, citing it as Celtic’s first trophy success and including a photo of the medal, which was inscribed “Kilsyth Cup 1889, won by Celtic FC” on the front and “W. Maley” on the reverse.

In March 2017, it was reported that Willie Haughey had bought a collection of five early Celtic medals, one of which being Willie Maley’s gold badge from the Kilsyth Charity Cup final of July 1889. The medals were duly loaned back to the club, so a small but vital piece of Celtic’s early history survives to this day.

And perhaps just as important from a historian’s perspective, there is no need to change any references to the Glasgow North-Eastern Cup being the first trophy won by Celtic.

With grateful thanks to The Celtic Wiki for some of the photos featured.

Hail, Hail!

Matt Corr

Follow Matt on X/Twitter @Boola_vogue