New Photos Unearthed!!

Thanks to Jeff Holmes for sending in this amazing photograph emailed to him recently. In colour this shot from an unknown photographer presents a wonderful moment frozen in time from when the ground was in it's heyday and the advertising boards are fascinating. Good to see Frosties still going strong 40 years later ! This was the main entrance to Cathkin Park and the old Club Gates can be seen on the bottom left of the photograph. Hopefully there are more of this series around but I am so grateful to Jeff for sending in another piece of the Cathkin Park jigsaw.One can easily now see the strain on these gates when over 45000 turned up determined to get in to the Rangers game! If you have any photos of Thirds or of Cathkin Park from 1884 to 1967 please email them in and I'd be delighted to upload them.We are trying to reconstruct the ground as it was and need every photo of every angle of the ground that we can get!

Official Club Sponsors

We are delighted to report that the Official Shirt Sponsors for Third Lanark are GREAVES SPORTS. The oldest family run sports retailer and one of the oldest names in world football have joined together and is the start of what we both hope will be a long and happy union. The First XI and Under 16s have their new jerseys already and we have ordered the new Second XI shirts too. Made by Adidas, the new kits home & away look fab and the lads are delighted with them.

Many, many thanks to Stephen McCrainor and to

Sandy Greave for this wonderful sponsorship and

we are entering into our official Centenary year of 2012 now in some style. Interestingly Lumleys, now a part of Greaves were the kit suppliers to 3rds in the last days of Cathkin Park and were one of the creditors at the close! Mercifully this was settled out of court at the time, otherwise we could have had a big bill to settle ! The Club hopes that these jerseys will be available on request to buy in Greaves stores and so if you would like to get your hands on one please email the Club on thirdlanarkrv@hotmail.co.uk and we will pass on all request to the store. The perfect Christmas gift! We have some new merchandising on it's way too and the Supporters Club is now up and running. Check out the 3rd Lanark Supporters Club on Facebook for updates. Membership worldwide is only £10.00 per year. Further sponsorship opportunities are also available on the Club Website http://www.third-lanark.co.uk so please get in touch as lot's happening now with Third Lanark and our quest to return to playing at Cathkin Park.

Cathkin Latest....

Frustrated by bad weather for the past four weeks as too much rain has made the repainting of the ground impossible, so we have been busy simply clearing the rubbish from the terraces and pitch area. Very disappointed to note that cars have been driven over our revered pitch and deep scars remain despite the Council's attempts to fill the holes with sand and soil. The pitch looks unplayable at present and desperately needs replaced and the drainage repaired on the South wings and corners. The Council Community Safety vans have been round regularly and succeeded in reducing the gang activity this autumn and winter so far in the park, however there is still drug dealing and taking going on regularly. This, allied to the joy-riders on the pitch just stresses the need for the park gates to be locked-up at night and for a decent long-term plan for the regeneration of this old ground to be worked out. We hope that ours will be the way forward. At the moment 3rds remain scattered around the West Region, in Cambuslang, Netherpollock & Huntly...the Third Lanark diaspora continues!

Official 3rd Lanark Website Now Live!!

Third Lanark are now online ! The Official Club website will be launched this week and we'd like to thank Mark Downie for his months of hard work on this. If you want to check out the new 3rds website, it can be viewed here: http://www.third-lanark.co.uk This blog will of course continue with updates from all developments relating to Cathkin Park and our fight to return to the ground.Get in touch to let us know what you think of the new site ! And don't forget if you would like to support the Club you can join the Supporters Club for £10.00 per season !

New Training Kits !!!

We were delighted to receive a wonderful donation from our Italian 'Thirds Man' Michele Palilla of a full set of Training Kits in Glorious 3rd Lanark scarlet ! Here's the lads of the 2nd XI at training today at our home ground this season at Netherpollock. Michele has been helping us restore Cathkin inch by inch and asked his brother to assist his favourite team in Scotland with some kits as he is the UK rep for Italian sportswear giants MACRON. The kits are of top quality and is usually sported by the likes of West Ham United FC. We cannot thank Andrea & Michele Palilla enough for this marvellous and timely gift and our new team are very proud to wear the kits. The Club are hoping this will now lead to improved performances on the field ! However things are improving with the reserve team, with a 3-0 win (on paper!) versus Sheddens FC today in the League Cup.Now for a return fixture with our friendly local rivals Southside Select AFC in the second round next month! Back to League action next Sunday and John Browns once again...a tough fixture indeed. Michele, you can get a game for 3rd Lanark whenever you fancy it, consider yourself signed!

Latest Press ...

Many thanks to BACKPASS MAGAZINE for this wonderful coverage in this month's edition. The response already has been overwhelming and we cannot thank Ken Gaunt enough for travelling up from Manchester to meet at Cathkin Park a couple of weeks ago on a rain-soaked Saturday morning! If you can get your hands on this month's edition it's a great read and so much care and research goes into every page. It's a big favourite with all of us at 3rds and it was a real honour to be featured. Available from WH SMITH & SAINSBURYS now.

We are still clearing weeds from the ground at weekends and evenings but yet more wet weather has stopped the painting at present. A battle with falling leaves is about to begin for a second winter in a row...More updates to come soon ! PS. We are still awaiting a definite date for the Queens Park match at Lesser Hampden so stay tuned !

The 3rd Lanark Supporters Club

The Third Lanark Supporters Association ran officially from 1946 until 1971, even outlasting the football club by 4 years! Now that's devotion for you. Many of you will have fond memories
of the old Association, events and memorabilia produced.

Well, we have good news...it's back !!! In an effort to keep
all of our fans old and new abreast of all the current and
exciting developments at the reborn Club a Committee has been formed to deal with the avalanche of interest recently in all things Third Lanark. On the 15th of September 2011 the 3rd Lanark Supporters Club Limited was incorporated at Companies House in Edinburgh. This is an independent fans club who will have a representative on the Executive Committee of the Third Lanark Athletic Club at all times. This will ensure that the rebirth of 3rds will always include the voice of the fans in all dealings and in perpetuity and will be written into the Club Constitution at the next Executive Meeting later in the month. This is the perfect opportunity to join the story of the rise of one of Scotland's most famous football & athletic clubs. The membership fee is set at £10.00 per season and this entitles each member to a Membership Certificate, Members Badge, Quarterly Club Newsletter and discounted offers on Official Club merchandise. All cheques to be made payable to: 3rd Lanark Supporters Club Limited. For further details please email the Supporters Club directly on : thirdlanarkclub@yahoo.co.uk

3rds on Facebook & Twitter

Keep up with the very latest from the Club on both our Official Third Lanark Facebook Page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-Third-Lanark/158301014194881 and on the new Official Third Lanark Twitter Page here: @Third_Lanark and don't forget we have the Official Club Website launching this month and some big sponsorship news to come...so stay tuned..!!

The Hi Hi's...

We are delighted to announce that our good friends at FantasyFitba.com in Australia have sponsored our Official Website !!! We are adding the finishing touches to the new site which will be finally up and running mid-September ! Please check out http://www.fantasyfitba.com/ to join the World's biggest fantasy football sweepstake. You simply choose 5 teams at the beginning of the season,then follow them throughout the year..!Choose one team from each English Division and the Scottish Premier.You have a £50 budget to pick your teams with!! If all of your 5 teams win on a Saturday you automatically win £50!! So join up next season and become a part of the phenomenon...Never has watching the football results been more fun! Our thanks to Christian and his Team for becoming involved in the rebirth of Third Lanark.

Ups & Downs...

Three weeks into the new season now and the Club is in good shape, with the First XI holding their own,the Second XI improving weekly, the Under 16s now finding their feet. The 5 -a-side league has also begun and we have a new Third Lanark side competing Thursday nights at Goals in Shawlands, under Gary Smith.

Training has been really encouraging toowith new players joining every week, fitness trainers coming along and most importantly decent players all just really wanting to train!Last night at the Queens Park Recreation Ground was just such an occasion. Muddy,wet,windy and horrible, but the lads got stuck in to a feisty 7-a-side game. Afterwards however we were dealt a real blow as all of our training kit,match balls, cones,bibs,goal markers,boots,net pegs,First Aid kit as well as subscriptions & lottery cash were stolen from my car parked near Victoria Road. We had ammassed a decent amount of kit,our skipper Donald Reston and the First XI having donated a lot of this to our fledgling 2nd XI, so it has absolutely sickened all of the Players,Coaches and Committee Members that this has happened, especially considering the price of Match Balls !Whatever happens,we go on but this has been a cruel blow. It really does hammer home the need for us to return to our old ground of Cathkin Park...

Queens Park FC v Third Lanark - September 2011

Ladies & Gentlemen, we have some rather exciting news ! Third Lanark First XI will be playing our illustrious neighbours Queens Park FC in September 2011. The two oldest and most famous Amateur football teams in the world will clash at Lesser Hampden in a fixture that we hope will become an annual early season fixture following our previously successful Challenge Matches over the past 130 years. Our first major tournament finals encounter was in Season 1875/76 in the Scottish FA Cup, when a replay was needed to separate the teams. Queens were the victors in the replay, following a 1-1 draw. Challenge Matches between the Spiders and various 3rd Lanark RV select sides have taken place regularly since the Club went out of business in 1967 and every one of these has greatly helped keep both the name alive and the local interest in both clubs bubbling along. As many of you will remember our Committee Members Matt Curry & Pat McGeady were behind the "40th anniversary of Third Lanark's demise "match at Cathkin in 2007.Well, this is the long-awaited return..! In fact, Thirds owe their very existence to QPFC as the majority of our soldier founders and their Officers were present at the 1872 Scotland v England International match which prompted the founding of our football club in December of that year. We have had some memorable tussles with the Club since our inception and took over their 2nd Hampden Park in 1902/1903, a ground known nowadays as Cathkin Park. We will post the date & time as soon as we have it confirmed and hope to see you all at Lesser Hampden for a very special evening. Following the success of our cup match with St Bernards, there really does seem to be a resurgence in interest in Scotland's footballing origins and the founding of our modern game. We had a great turn out in Edinburgh for that one and would hope to attract as many real Scottish football fans as we can down to this unique annual fixture.We will be playing for a trophy named after Cathkin Park 1884-1903, our mutual home ground. In September of 2011 both sides will contest the 'Old Hampden Cup'. We are looking for companies and individuals to become sponsors of this match, both in the match programme,new website(going live at the end of August!!)and pitchside advertising banners,so please get in touch,if interested. This promises to be a memorable event, so stay tuned!

Sponsorship

The new season is almost upon us and we have three teams primed and ready to begin league and cup business from this Tuesday coming. The Third Lanark Diaspora tradition continues with our teams being scattered around the regions due to the 'unavailability' of our beloved Cathkin Park. We will have teams based in Cambuslang. Netherpollock & East Renfrewshire with training at Toryglen, Knightswood & The Queens Park Recreation Ground whilst the fight to win back our home continues. We have some new people involved in the Club on The Committee and some really special events coming up. We have a wonderful new website going live this month,c/o Mark Downie and are looking for businesses and individuals to sponsor this. We have secured a Shirt Sponsor already(details to come!) but this website is going to be really busy when it goes live and would make a great advertising tool. At our 'Challenge Matches' this season we will be doing trackside advertising and match programme advertising with lot's of press and publicity opprtunities and the Website will have it's own dedicated Sponsors Page. If interested, email The Chairman at thirdlanarkrv@hotmail.co.uk

The Rifle Volunteers Cup 2011/2012

...has been won by Third Lanark by 3 goals to 2 this afternoon in Edinburgh. This historic encounter was played out in blistering sunshine and was a real cracker, easily the best match in the Capital today - including the Royal Wedding happening nearby! We brought through a hardy bunch of fans old and new in the coach from Cathkin Park and were treated to a warm welcome from our brother club in Edinburgh and a full page spread on the game and John Ferguson in today's Scottish Daily Mail. The game was a proper cup final and we were delighted to bring it back to Glasgow. Well done to all involved and a huge thank you to the players and staff of St Bernards Football Club for staging this inaugural event.See you guys next season at Cathkin for the return!!

2nd XI Training Wednesday Nights!

As the First XI gear up for their historical epic on Saturday at Lethem Park,Edinburgh in the inaugural Rifle Volunteers Cup, the 2nd XI and Under 16s will be training hard at the Queens Park Recreation Park from 7pm tomorrow. We are still on the lookout for players for both teams, the perfect club for fathers and sons to join up with ! We will be training in the middle pitches at the Queens Park end so come along and bring your boots! The season kicks off next month and we have some great days to look forward to in 2011/2012.

An Historic Friendly Challenge Match In July !!!

UPDATE!!!!

Match to be played at Lethem Park,Pollock Pavilion,227 Ferry Road, Edinburgh, EH6 4SP.

The ground is near the old St Bernards ground at Logie Green. Kick off 3.30pm. If you wish to travel through to Edinburgh on the Supporters Bus, Tickets can be purchased from Pat on Tel: 0141 427 9317 ot Matt on Tel: 07834 641258. The match has featured in today's press in both The Scotsman & The Daily Record and our thanks go to Craig for the mention on the Scottish Football League's excellent website.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ladies & Gentlemen I am delighted to report that the two most famous Rifle Volunteers are set to do battle once again...Edinburgh's St Bernards FC are to play Third Lanark FC on July 30th 2011. Both clubs were born out of the Territorial Army in the 19th Century and have had a long and close relationship throughout the last hundred and twenty years, St Bernards from the 3rd Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers and Thirds from the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers. Both were founder league members, Scottish Cup Winners and shared many,many players over the years. One such player was Inside Right, John Ferguson, a popular University student at the time who would still guest for Saints during his 3rds career. Sadly John was to be the first professional footballer killed in the First World War. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. This historic match will be an 'away game' in Edinburgh and will hopefully become an annual Summer event. There will be a Supporters Association bus leaving from Cathkin Park at 1pm on Saturday 3oth July, with a pick up at Finlay's Bar in Cambuslang at 1.30pm. Venue in Edinburgh TBC but will have news soon. So if you are in the East Coast and want to see a bit of history being made, kick off will be at 3.30pm. More details to follow...!

Restoration Latest - July 2011

This month's word is...'weeding'. All the terracing is overgrown again with bright green shoots bursting through the concrete again. Nature wants this place back but am determined to fight on! Have restarted on the East End track and pitch wall, which already needs a second coat and took advantage of the good weather to start clearing up the place again. Still, it's in better shape than this time last year !! There have been more bonfires on the East Terracing and the pitch wall written on again!

Thirds Under 16 side launching soon !!!

We are pleased to announce that Davie Henderson

has joined the Club as Head Of Youth Development and will be taking charge of our new Under 16 side in Season 2011/2012.Davie comes highly recommended and knows the game inside and out and will be ably assisted by his son, Andy. The team will be joining the ERSDA, the East Renfrewshire Soccer development Asociation and we are looking for players in all positions.So if you are under 16 and looking to don the famous Hi Hi jersey, please call Davie on 07909 733592 or email him on: daviethirdlanark@hotmail.com and leave your contact details and preferred playing position. Training and coaching sessions will begin in a couple of weeks so come along and get involved. We have had lots of interest already and we at Third Lanark are really excited at the prospect of the season ahead. The 2nd XI still have vacancies available as well so if you're free on a Sunday, are reaching (or at!!) the veteran stage of your fitba' career and you fancy one more go, email us at : thirdlanarkrv@hotmail.co.uk and w'll get you in for summer training in the next couple of weeks.

Latest Restoration Work - May 2011

A major landmark has been reached. The pitch wall has now been completely cleared of moss and grafitti and painted white once again ! This is only the first coat but has transformed the place from a players point of view. Once again the pitch seems enclosed and somehow tighter. We are now restarting from the East Terracing and painting the second coat. By the end of the summer we will have the walls shimmering bright again ! A full season has left the pitch threadbare in places but we'll be reseeding the bald patches and fencing the goal areas off to give the grass a chance to regrow. Meanwhile we have once again turned our attention back to the West Terrace and more moss and rubbish clearance over the past week or so. We painted another two terrace steps and cleared away a lot of the damaged branches last week's storms left behind. We have had a lot of support recently from the local dog walkers and neighbours training at Cathkin Park and I'd like to thank them for their kind words. They have honestly kept me going when I have become disheartened about the huge task ahead and inspired me to continue doing everything I can to save this old stadium.

Want to Play For Third Lanark ???????

Great News ! We are launching another Adult team next season to play in the Sunday League.

We'll be holding trials and training sessions throughout the summer and would like to hear from anyone of any age who just fancies playing 11-a-side old skool football on grass parks with nets...the REAL game. If you are dying to get the boots back on then get in touch on: thirdlanarkrv@hotmail.co.uk regardless of talent or fitness. Football should be fun, first and foremost and our whole ethos is about encouraging an active and healthy lifestyle and just getting out there and playing !If you fancy coming along we will be playing and training in Glasgow. Don't forget we have a good standard in the First XI and there will always be room for good players to rise through the ranks. So if you would like to wear the famous scarlet shirt of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers Football Club, and play in the shadows of the likes of Harley, Hilley,Gray,Goodfellow,Brownlie,Wilson,Robertson,MacLeod,Mason,Dewar and Tom Maley,now your chance has come...

Collect Kit Tokens for The Thirds !!

HIGHLAND SPRING have launched a marvellous scheme for community clubs such as ours, New Balls For Britain. By collecting enough tokens (typically 35) and paying £2.99 postage the Club will be sent Footballs, Rugby Balls and Cricket Balls, so get behind the Thirds and Start collecting Tokens !! The offer ends on the 31st of December 2011 so we hope to have amassed quite a collection of kit for 2011 and 2012. We will be announcing details of our Rugby and Cricket coaching sessions soon and introducing you to our excellent and enthusiastic new coaches. But first..we need kit, and lot's of it ! If you wish to collect for us, please peel off the labels where you see the New Balls For Britain logo, and email the club directly on : thirdlanarkrv@hotmail.co.uk .We'll tell you where to send them on to then. This is a great scheme, one which will encourage a healthy sporting lifestyle as well as supporting grassroots level sports clubs like Third Lanark to develop. Thank you to all at Highland Spring for their involvement.

New Team Photos !!

A small selection of recently unearthed Third Lanark team photos from the past 98 years. These are courtesy of Bert Bell's excellent website on the club, a website that has kept the online presence alive over the years. This splendid site can be found here: www.thirdlanarkac.co.uk and all of these photos can be viewed in their full glory on his photos pages.

Restoration Latest Update!!

The First XI versus Jordanhill last month !!

Despite the showery weather here over the past few weeks the work has continued. Doing about 7-8 hours every week still and finally getting somewhere! There is only 20 feet left of the pitch wall to clear and paint which I expect to have completed next week. This will be a major milestone, but will immediately begin on the second coat as already it's needing done again ! But at least a base protective coat has been applied and will ensure that no more rot gets into the concrete. Summer is in full bloom now and the terracing and trees have turned Cathkin olive green again. Picturesque but makes one aware of how much work we still have to do !
We will also be fixing up the breaches in the walls with concrete during this summer which will radically improve the look of the walls,which look like a series of broken teeth at present !

These are a selection of shots taken in late April and May 2011, showing the progress we have made in turning the old place around. A big hello to all the fans from Manchester United, Celtic, Motherwell, Queens Park and Partick Thistle I have met down at Cathkin recently, all of whom were on their very own pilgrimage to the REAL home of Scottish football. All of them had read of our plans for the ground and wished us the best of luck. And a special mention to Chic Mackie who is one of Scotland's best - known Cycle Speedway racers. He has been working away on the track at the Myrtle Park Road Entrance and it is looking great again. He has just returned from the Over 40s World Championships in the USA, where he came 9th. Not bad going considering he's over 70 !! We are planning a joint event in October 2011, which will bring back this exhilirating old sport to it's original home of Cathkin Park. Chic will be the focus of a special interview nearer the time, so watch this space. We have some great news coming up regarding sponsorship and will feature an overview on our First XI season in the 2nd Division. Promotion has eluded us but the lads deserve a lot of credit for more than holding their own in their first season in this league and most importantly to the Board, by playing attractive football. The new website is being put together and is looking great. Thanks to Mark Downie at http://www.markdevelopment.co.uk/ for his sterling work so far.

New Website....Coming Soon !!!!

We will be launching our new Club Website at the end of the month, which will be (of course!) linked to the Restoration Blog, Petition and all of our Fan Sites and will be the first port of call for everyone interested in our wonderful ground,club and history

from now on. We have some great stories coming up, fascinating facts and exciting news to come, so please watch this space. We are launching our new Youth Teams, Community Coaching and even a 2nd XI, the 3rd Lanark Strollers in the coming season and have some wonderful and talented coaches joining our ranks in the weeks ahead. All will be revealed by the end of May.

Congratulations also to the Third Lanark Under 14s who won the Easter Cup recently, following a successful season. We wish them all the best in the future and hope that all involved enjoyed their time as a part of Third Lanark.

Thirds help Thistle !

Vice Chairman Matt Curry has been beavering away recently collecting Irn Bru bottle tops which he donated to Partick Thistle FC on Saturday. Two months rooting around bins and picking up discarded tops wherever he went, 'Midgie-Raker Matt' managed to amass a fine haul which will go towards helping grass roots football.

Simon & Pat have also swelled the Irn Bru coffers at Lesser Hampden recently, donating all of the bottle tops found at Cathkin Park and the Queens Park Recreation Ground to our old friends Queens Park FC. Good work fellas, and a great campaign by Irn Bru.

A special thanks also to the ladies at BeCogent and Teleperformance in Glasgow for saving up their bottle tops and donating them to Third Lanark FC. Much appreciated !

The Proposal For Third Lanark's Return To Cathkin Park

Our Proposal for the Club's long awaited return to Cathkin Park has now been submitted to the current owners Glasgow City Council. Along with this 300 page document we handed in the first draft of the Online Petition which amounted to 3500 signatures when added to those already on paper. Many thanks to STV News, Scotland On Sunday, The Daily Record, The Evening Times, The Glasgow Herald,The Southside Extra,The Scotsman, BBC Radio Scotland's 'Off The Ball' and 'Beyond The SPL', The Courier,The Metro and The Sunday Mail for the wonderful blanket coverage they all gave us...much,much appreciated by all of us at Third Lanark Athletic Club. And thanks to the Chairmen of all the senior football clubs for the letters of support and for all of you who were kind enough to sign the Petition thus far. The online petition will continue as we seek to prove just how much public support we have behind our plans to move to Cathkin Park again. We have exciting times ahead in the upcoming months, so watch this space !

Blue Monday 2..!!!!!

Returning to the ground on Sunday this was what greeted me...more vandalism and this time they really went to town ! Thanks to the Gorbals Young Team for this unwanted 'artwork'. Still, won't put us off and despite hundreds of pounds worth of paintwork damaged we have already begun painting over it all. Here's a few photos of the latest idiocy at Cathkin.