150 years of Hibernian: Scotland's original Irish football club

RTÉ News​

21 hours ago

This weekend sees the return of the Scottish Premiership and Wednesday, 6 August marks the date 150 years ago that the first Irish community football team was formed in Scotland.
Glasgow Celtic might be the most famous Irish team in Scotland but the honour of the first Irish club goes to Hibernian Football Club in Edinburgh.
The club was formed in the Cowgate area. In those days it was a slum area stricken with poverty. In the 1800s, the Irish were widely regarded as among the lowest in Scottish society. They were seen as carriers of diseases like typhus, which became known as "Irish fever".
As more and more Irish came to Edinburgh, the Cowgate area became "Little Ireland", but with little employment many of the Irish would become soldiers. In 1850, there was a community of 25,000 in Little Ireland, with a further 2000 based around Leith docks, where the conditions were marginally better.
There was little improvement in conditions for the Irish in Edinburgh by 1875, when Hibernian was formed, with the community isolated and unwanted by the wider community.
At the centre of the Irish community by this time was St Patrick's Church established in 1856 on High Street and still standing today. From St Patrick's, a Christian Young Men's Society was formed and from that CYMS was the origins of Hibernian Football Club. At the heart of the creation were Fr Edward Hannan and Michael Whelahan.
Fr Hannan was from Limerick and made a visit to Scotland during his time in the seminary. He vowed to return once he had finished his studies. His uncle Dean Richard O'Brien was instrumental in forming the CYMS movement and Hannan replicated the idea in Edinburgh.
One of those to join the movement was Whelahan, who was from Roscommon. His family had moved to Edinburgh after being evicted from their farm. At age 10, Michael was working in a foundry in the city.
Both Hannan and Whelahan understood that the Irish needed an outlet to integrate into the wider community. Both began to recognise that football could provide that means. The CYMS organised a meeting to set up a football team for people from the Little Ireland community.
Fr Hannan became the first manager and Whelahan the first captain. The colours of green and white were quickly adopted and after some debate the name Hibernian was chosen in reference to the Latin name for Ireland.
The new club immediately encountered obstacles. Their advances to join the Edinburgh Football Association and the Scottish Football Association were rebuffed, with neither wanting to include the immigrant Irish in their sport.
Hibernian were one of the first working class clubs to be established in Scotland at a time when football was a gentlemen's game, so this was unsurprising.
The Irish in Edinburgh were used to being knocked back, so unperturbed they carried on training and trying to organise games. For a while they mainly had to play among themselves but eventually, of all the teams, Hearts of Midlothian agreed to play them.
This friendly entente with Hearts would unfortunately not last for long as their relationship would quickly sour, with the teams facing off in local cups and then establishing themselves as the top two teams in the city.
That game with Hearts did open the door, with other teams agreeing to play Hibernian. From there the Scottish Football Association and Edinburgh Football Association had no choice but to accept the club.
Whelahan would be a leading figure for the club as they spread their wings and began to play games against teams from western Scotland, including Queen's Park, one of the strongest teams in Scotland.
Hibernian won their first Scottish Cup in 1887 to jubilant scenes in Little Ireland and across Irish communities in Scotland, for whom the victory marked a pivotal moment in their integration to Scotland.
Hibernian would advance the Irish cause further by defeating one of the top English teams, Preston North End, in a game dubbed "Association Football championship of the world decider".
While Hibernian won the cup in 1902 and league in 1903, they wouldn't see a high point again until the late 1940s/early 50s when they won the league three times and finished second three times, aided by the skills of the Famous Five – Bobby Johnstone, Willie Ormond, Lawrie Reilly, Gordon Smith and Eddie Turnbull.
Hibernian were the first British team to play in European football. Although they finished fifth in 1955, they were asked to participate as they were still seen as a leading team in Scotland and they also had floodlights.
Hibernian reached the European Cup semi-final but lost to French team Stade Reims, who in turn lost to Real Madrid, who won the first of their five European Cups in a row.
The European Cup as a competition grew quickly to become the preeminent trophy in European club football. In 1967, it was won by a team from Glasgow who became one of the reasons for Hibernian's decline after 1887.
In 1887, Glasgow Celtic inspired by the Hibernian model, was set up by Brother Walfrid from Sligo to cater for the Irish Catholic community in Glasgow.
The number of Irish in Glasgow was much higher than Edinburgh as most Irish tended to settle in and around where they landed, not having the money to move further.
The Irish would do the physical, strenuous labour jobs in the factories, docks and mines and, like in Edinburgh, lived in appalling conditions.
Given the number of Irish in Glasgow and the early success of Hibernian, it was inevitable that an Irish club would be formed in Glasgow.
Hibernian would be there to assist, only too happy to see another Irish club on the scene.
Hibernian at this point was a charitable organisation, with all the funds they raised going back into the Irish community in Edinburgh. Brother Walfrid envisaged the same idea for Glasgow.
Their allies in Edinburgh would be their first visitors playing a fundraising match game against Cowlairs. Hibernian also made a donation to their Glasgow counterparts.
Some members of the Celtic board had other intentions and saw the potential profit from professional football. John Glass and Pat Welsh were Glasgow businessmen and, unbeknown to the other board members, they were looking at Celtic as a business instead of a charity.
Football at this time was evolving from amateur to professional. Hibernian was often accused of paying players under the table. If they were, they weren't paying them enough, as many of the Hibernian players would join up with Celtic thanks to Glass and Welsh. This started the rise of Celtic, with them quickly overtaking Hibernian as the team of Irish people.
The first manager of Celtic was Willie Maley, who was born in Down to a father in the British Army from Clare and a mother born in Canada to Scottish parents. Raised in Scotland, Maley became interested in athletics and football. He became one of Celtic's first players. At just age 29, he was appointed manager of the team. While he was a hands-off manager, he certainly achieved much success with the club.
He changed the policy of spending big to blooding in young local talent, something that worked to great effect. During his 43 years in charge, the club won 16 league titles and 14 Scottish Cups, while they also won six in a row from 1905 to 1910, and between 1915 and 1917 they won 62 games in a row, then a record.
This time saw many Irish-born and Irish-heritage players prominent on the teamsheet, such as Jimmy Quinn, Jimmy McMenemy, Patsy Gallacher, Jimmy Delaney and James McGrory.
Hibernian and Celtic both clearly have Irish heritage, but there is another team in the Scottish Premiership with Irish roots.
Dundee might not immediately spring to mind, yet the city has a strong Irish link. In 1851 the city's population was 19% Irish, in particular the area of Lochee, where the Irish heritage can still be found today.
Many of the Irish were single women drawn to the city by the textile industry. Like their kin in Edinburgh, the Irish in Dundee would also take to the football field. Just four years after Hibernian was founded, Dundee Harp was founded.
Harp became one of the best teams in the city, often winning local cups and along the way developing a rivalry with Arbroath.
Harp tried their hand at the Scottish Cup and in 1885 they were involved in a bizarre situation. In the first round they faced Aberdeen Rovers and recorded an incredible victory of 35-0. Full in the belief that they had just created a record, they telegrammed their rivals at Arbroath to let them know.
Little did Harp know that Arbroath had scored 36 goals in their victory over Bon Accord to grab the record that Harp thought they had won. Worse still, the referee in the Harp game believed that the final score was 37-0, only to be told by Harp officials that they counted only 35 goals. The referee took their word and Arbroath had the record for most goals scored in a match.
Harp were suspended by the Scottish FA in 1894 and stopped playing. Just a few weeks later, a new team emerged called Dundee Hibernian. This team would change back to the Harp name before again going defunct.
The Harp name would reemerge once again through Lochee Harp, which started in 1904. Lochee Harp is still competing at a junior level, with a notable history of success.
Such is the Irish influence in Lochee or "Little Tipperary" as it was nicknamed, Lochee Harp would have competed against Lochee Emmet, named after Irish patriot Robert Emmet, in their early years.
The biggest impact was a later Dundee Hibernian who formed in 1909. They played their first game in August that year against Hibernian from Edinburgh. Dundee Hibernian joined the Scottish Football League the following year.
In 1923, the club nearly went bust and it was decided to widen the appeal of the team by changing the name to United. The colours changed from green and white to white and black.
The orange and black associated with Dundee United today was adopted in 1969 as the club looked for a modern, vibrant future. The club enjoyed its greatest era in the 1980s under Jim McLean, when they reached the European Cup semi-finals in 1983-84 and in 1987 lost the final of the UEFA Cup. Their city rivals are Dundee FC, but they've never had the sectarianism of Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Football was a popular social outlet for working class Irish Catholics. The game allowed the Irish to maintain their Irish identity but also integrate into Scottish society. There were many examples of Irish-named football clubs across all levels of Scottish football. For example, Dumbarton Harp was set up in 1894 in the town northwest of Glasgow on the River Clyde.
They enjoyed junior cup success in the late 1910s and played junior leagues until the mid-1920s when they joined the newly formed third division of the Scottish Football League. They disbanded just a year and half later.
Blantyre Celtic were a junior club, now amateur club, where Glasgow Celtic legend Jimmy Johnstone gained valuable experience before becoming a 'Lisbon Lion'.
Duntocher Hibernian were a village team in west Dumbartonshire. It's here that Pat Crerand, with his Tyrone father and Donegal mother, got his playing start before moving on to Celtic and later Manchester United in a career that saw him capped 16 times for Scotland. There are many other examples.
The journey of the Irish in Scotland is a story of remarkable resilience. While sectarianism does still raise its ugly head at Old Firm games, the Irish are now well integrated into Scottish society.
Celtic has grown from strength to strength to become a global team with supporters clubs around the world. Yet it must be recognised that it was Hibernian who paved the way for the Irish teams in Scotland.