Football For All

As part of the Scottish FA’s 150th anniversary celebrations, the Scottish Football Museum launched a new website, featuring a digital archive. At the time of the launch, the archive features a full run of the Scottish FA’s minutes from 1879 to 1969, Scottish Football Annuals from season 1875-76 to 1899-1900 and John Lowe’s private archive relating to the Tommy Walker Touring XI, a team of professional footballers which played a series of exhibition match in India during the Second World War.

With the Scottish FA turning 150 in March 2023, their collection is of particular significance but many other archives relating to Scottish football will be added in the coming months and years.

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A new set of reminiscence cards has been created for the Football Memories Scotland project. Covering the 1960 to 1990 period, 60 Scottish football legends were selected and are being distributed amongst the national network of Football Memories groups. As of March 2023, Football Memories has over 460 registered groups running from Stranraer in southwest Scotland to the island of Unst far to the north in the Shetland Isles. The images for the cards came from the collection of the Museum and from the collection of our project media partner, SNS Group. 

The Scottish Cup competition enters its 150th season in 2023-24, to mark this occasion we have opened a permanent gallery and associated online educational workshop. The gallery is befitting of the status of the Cup and allows for better interpretation and explanation. The Scottish Cup is the oldest existing trophy in the world for the code of Association football. Notable dates over the course of this historic season are 18 October 2023, the 150th anniversary date for the first round of the inaugural Scottish Cup, and 21 March 2024, the 150th anniversary date of the first ever Scottish Cup Final. The Gallery is open to visitors and included in the cost of admission, the learning resources can be accessed here 150 Years of The Scottish Cup | Learning Through Football (scottishfa.co.uk). 

Hampden Park will host a photographic exhibition celebrating the contribution of players from black and ethnic minority backgrounds to our national game. A selection of dramatic action shots from a host of matches will highlight the diverse nature of the game in Scotland. An associated educational workshop will also feature on the Scottish FA’s Learning Through Football website.

A virtual exhibition celebrating the origins of football in Scotland is scheduled to launch on the Museum website in May 2024. As well as showcasing some early artefacts held by the Scottish Football Museum, the vast majority of items will come from other collections and highlight more than 450 years of recorded football activity up to March 1873 when the Scottish Football Association and Scottish Football Union (Scottish Rugby) were established as the governing bodies for the two main football codes.

The Football For All project will culminate with a series of local projects in different parts of Scotland. 20 grants of up to £1,000 will be allocated to a host of community groups so that local football heritage can be researched, highlighted and celebrated. The applications process is due to launch in May 2024 so watch this space for more information!