{"id":8457,"date":"2012-07-13T23:48:32","date_gmt":"2012-07-13T23:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stadiumguide.com\/?p=8457"},"modified":"2012-07-13T23:48:32","modified_gmt":"2012-07-13T23:48:32","slug":"cathkinpark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stadiumguide.com\/cathkinpark\/","title":{"rendered":"Cathkin Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Key facts<\/h3>\n

Clubs: Queens Park FC and Third Lanark FC | Opening: 1884 | Closing: 1967 | Maximum capacity: 50,000<\/p>\n

Description<\/h3>\n

Cathkin Park was in the late 19th century one of the prime football stadiums of Scotland. It was for most of its existence the home of Third Lanark FC.<\/p>\n

The stadium got built though to serve as the new home for Queens Park FC, who had been forced out of their previous one because a railroad line was planned to run through the site.<\/p>\n

Cathkin Park opened in October 1884 with a match between Queens Park and Dumbarton (0-0). At that time the ground was still called Hampden Park, just like Queens Park\u2019s previous ground.<\/p>\n

It soon became one of Scotland\u2019s major grounds, regularly hosting Scottish Cup finals and the occasional international.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most famous of all was the \u201cChampionship of the World\u201d match between Scottish Cup winner Renton and English FA Cup winner West Brom, won 4-1 by the Scottish. Another highlight includes the first ever Celtic-Rangers cup final in 1899 (2-0).<\/p>\n

It, however, did not take long for the ground to become too small and Queens Park therefore requested more land to get the stadium expanded. These requests were refused though, and as a result the club started looking for a new site to move to.<\/p>\n

They found this site just south of Cathkin Park and in 1903 moved to their third Hampden Park<\/a>, which would also be the final Hampden Park.<\/p>\n

After Queens Park had left the ground, Cathkin Park found a new occupant in Third Lanark FC. As soon as the new club moved in, they renamed it Cathkin Park (more precisely New Cathkin Park as they had previously played at a different ground with the same name).<\/p>\n

Because over a disagreement on the take-over fee, Third Lanark almost completely rebuilt Cathkin Park. It is estimated that at that time about 50,000 people could pack the terraces.<\/p>\n

Over the next decades the club remained a steady force in Scotland\u2019s top leagues, but suddenly from the mid 1960s trouble and infighting started, the club relegated, and in 1967 it was declared bankrupt.<\/p>\n

The last professional match played at Cathkin Park had been a 3-3 draw against Queen of the South on the 25th of April 1967.<\/p>\n

In the next decades the ground slowly fell into disrepair, but has never been completely demolished. There are currently still a few terraces left standing, though largely overgrown and in poor state. In recent years a group of volunteers<\/a> started the task to renovate the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t