The summary and report below cover a football match between the Rangers and Clydesdale Harriers in 1889 in which Rangers had the good fortune to win a game which by all accounts should have been a draw. Home advantage was really no advantage since the Harriers trained at Ibrox on a year round basis. In Victorian times, men (and it was almost entirely men) joined several sports clubs and the Harriers had members who were also members of football, cricket, cycling and other clubs so having a number of football players in the team was not strange. Rangers players who turned out for the Harriers all paid their annual subscription of five shillings – even Tom and Alex Vallance had to pay – while anyone joining the Rangers had to pay a sub of fifteen shillings. We might say more about the Rangers/Clydesdale arrangements in a future post.
