On 9 July 1867, in a house on the south side of Glasgow, a group of young gentlemen held the first formal meeting of a new football club. Queen's Park turn 160 on 9 July 2027. It is Scotland's oldest club, and without it Scottish football would look very different.

A park, a group of friends and a rulebook

The first president was Mungo Ritchie, aged 27, and the first captain Lewis Black. The secretary, William Klingner, was just 18.

The name came from the Queen's Park Recreation Ground in Crosshill, the park where the first players played. The club's Latin motto, "Ludere Causa Ludendi", means "to play for the sake of playing".

And they meant it. Queen's Park stayed amateur for 152 years, and only on 14 November 2019 did its members vote, by 91%, to turn professional.

All eleven of Scotland

On 30 November 1872 the first official international match in history took place, Scotland against England. All eleven of Scotland's players were from Queen's Park.

They played in their club's blue, and that is how the dark blue still worn by Scotland's national team was born.

From blue to the Spiders' hoops

In the early years most players wore blue jerseys. In 1873 the rules set out a red cap, blue jersey and white knickers, but the outfit did not please everyone.

On 26 September 1873 member D. Wotherspoon proposed something else: a jersey and stockings with narrow black and white hoops. They were first worn on 25 October 1873, in a cup tie against Dumbreck, on the very day Hampden Park opened.

Many teams wore stripes, but only Queen's Park kept the narrow horizontal hoops for more than 130 years. Because they look like a spider's web, the players are called "The Spiders", and the crest arrived on the shirt in 1928.

Ten Scottish Cups and two finals in England

Queen's Park have won the Scottish Cup ten times, third in history, the last in 1893. They are also the only Scottish club to reach the final of the English FA Cup, in 1884 and 1885, losing both times to Blackburn.

They refused to be founder members of the Scottish League because they opposed professionalism, and joined only in 1900. For decades they owned Hampden, which passed to the Scottish FA in 2020, and since 2025-26 they have played at the small Lesser Hampden.

From Andrew Watson to Alex Ferguson

The hooped shirt was worn by Andrew Watson, the first Black footballer in Britain. Charles Campbell collected eight Scottish Cup medals, while R.S. McColl scored 13 goals in 13 games for Scotland and founded a well-known chain of newsagents.

In 1958 a 16-year-old made his debut and scored in a 2-1 defeat at Stranraer. His name was Alex Ferguson.

In 2022 Owen Coyle led the team into the Championship, where they finished 6th in 2025-26 and still compete.

Celebrate with us

From the eleven of 1872 to hoops that look like a spider's web, Queen's Park are the grandmother of Scottish football. Happy 160th birthday, Spiders!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Queen's Park's team in 1890 with the Scottish Cup – Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.