Benburb F.C.

Did You Know?

• Benburb won the Scottish Junior Cup twice, in 1933–34 and 1935–36.
• The last match at the original Tinto Park was a 2–1 victory against Johnstone Burgh on 29 March 2014.

History

The story behind the club’s name is a bit of a mystery. Some think it points back to a village in what is now Northern Ireland, where a famous battle was fought in the 1640s, and that the club was started by Northern Irish immigrants in Glasgow, but none of this is certain. The first side to be called Benburb seems to have been set up around 1885 in the Govanhill area, which was its own burgh back then. In 1895, a planned merger with Crown Athletic from the Gorbals fell through, and a reformed Benburb FC then played in the nearby Oatlands district until June 1898. That was when their ground, Braehead Park, was taken over by Glasgow Corporation to make way for the new Richmond Park. That team broke up, but a new Benburb FC started playing later that same season, and it is believed there is a strong link between the two.

This new Benburb FC eventually settled in the Govan area, about five kilometres northwest of Oatlands. In 1900, they took over Govandale Park, which sat between the south bank of the River Clyde and Govan Old Parish Church, from the now-defunct Linthouse club. As industry gobbled up land in central Govan, they moved south: first in 1911 to a park on Broomloan Road owned by the Govan Police Force, then in 1925 to an open plot at Craigton Park in Drumoyne, just north of the Inverclyde Line railway tracks. Through all this moving, they stayed in the various Junior leagues covering Glasgow without a break from 1905.

From 1932 until 29 March 2014, Benburb called the purpose-built Tinto Park home. At its peak, the ground could hold 10,000 fans, but it eventually fell into serious disrepair. The last match there was a 2–1 win over Johnstone Burgh in a Central League Division 1 game, after which the land was cleared for housing. The 2014–15 season saw the club ground-sharing with Neilston Juniors while a new stadium was built right next to the old one, on the same land that had once been Craigton Park. New Tinto Park, now just north of both the railway and the M8 motorway and fitted with a 3G artificial pitch, opened in summer 2015, though the facilities weren’t fully finished until a few months later. This new ground has also hosted Rangers W.F.C. from 2015 to 2019, and Rossvale (originally from Bishopbriggs) since 2019. Harmony Row Juniors now share the ground at New Tinto Park.