THE WORLD’S BIGGEST ‘OPEN AIR’ FOOTBALL MUSEUM IS NOW OPEN
The Hampden Collection creates the World’s Biggest ‘Open Air’ football museum in Glasgow, Scotland, following the discovery of the foundation stone of the World’s first enclosed purposefully built international football ground.
This discovery completes ‘Football’s Square Mile’, and is the World’s most important football heritage site. Our ‘Open Air’ Museum stretches across Glasgow from Glasgow City in the North, Cathcart in the South, and runs West to East across Queens Park, Crosshill and Mount Florida. Our Square Mile encompasses the most important footballing sites in the World, and is the ‘cradle’ of the modern game.
Watch the original launch film (73 seconds) to find out more:
Facts You Need To Know
Queens Park Football Club and Hampden Park
Queens Park Recreation Ground, and the Three Hampden Parks (soon to be four), are the grounds where the modern passing and running game of football was born, and provided the template for every football ground ever built.
Four Glasgow Titans
Celtic’s held their first meeting at St Mary’s Church, Rangers played their first game at Fleshers’ Haugh, Third Lanark’s first ground was Cathkin Park and Shawfield was the home to Clyde FC. When combined with Queens Park, these five ‘Glasgow Giants’ are synonymous with football around the world, and have stadium attendance records totalling 455,000 between them.
Cradle to Grave
And it wouldn’t be Scotland without the Tennents’ Drygate Brewery, home to Scotland’s best-loved beer, and Cathcart Cemetery, which is the Scotch Professor Burial Ground of the final resting place of Hugh McColl, RS McColl, George Patullo, Willie Malley and William Wilton, to name but a few. These were the grand architects of the ‘Scotch Game’, which transcended international boundaries, and taught the world to play football.
The Scotch Professor brand of Football, developed by generations of Scots over six centuries, is now enjoyed by over 3.5 billion people around the World, and was invented at 1st Hampden.
Everything You Know Today About Football Is Scottish
Yes, Scotland did indeed teach the World to play football. Ah, you want to talk about that annoying song by Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds from Euro 96? Unfortunately, these musicians and comedians were sucked into believing England’s Charles Alcock’s mischievous writings, who peddled a story about England being the inventors and masters of Football at the start of the 20th Century. This is complete nonsense. The joke is entirely on them.
The Scotch Professors created the passing, running and inclusive game of Football, and transported it to every corner of the planet.
The Scotch Professors built the World’s first purposefully built, enclosed international football ground at 1st Hampden. The Queens Park FC Master Stadium Builders perfected the football stadium with two later incarnations of 2nd and 3rd Hampden. Every stadium builder since has copied this template.
And, of course, Football is today viewed by a global audience? Would this audience have 24/7 access to football without the inventions of the Television and Telephone? Both invented by the genius of Scots.
Our first brick in this new ‘Open Air’ Football Museum was a marvel from our Artist In Residence, Ashley Rawson. Ashley designed the 1st Hampden Mural for Hampden Bowling Club’s Pavilion in September 2019 – Charles Alcock could never explain this victory of SCOTLAND 5 – 1 ENGLAND in 1882, at the dawn of football. He just ignored it.
After this game, Scotland would teach England how to play football, as England imported the Scotch Professors by the dozen to teach them the ‘Beautiful Game’. These Scotch Professors would traverse the globe, taking their baw, and showing the locals how to play the ‘Scotch Game’.
Recently Archaeology Scotland found the foundation of 1st Hampden, artefacts from the period (including beer bottles), and the wire fence from the old ground, which provides our starting point for this story. This is the centre of the Footballing universe.
Open Air – For Everyone To Enjoy
The beauty of our ‘Open Air’ Museum is that it’s completely free of charge. No queues, no opening or closing times, and accessible for all. You don’t need to book, and of course, it’s Covid-Safe with social distancing integrated into its design. All you need is a pair of comfortable shoes, and off you go.
Our mission is to bring Scotland’s footballing heritage back from those who have either re-written it, or done nothing with it. Football is the ‘Peoples’ Beautiful Game’, crafted and created in Scotland for the World to enjoy. And finally, when there is a major tournament, Football is indeed ‘Coming Hame’ to Football’s Square Mile, Glasgow, Scotland.
This is the most important football heritage site on the planet. Not what you would expect, but it is exactly ONE SQUARE MILE.
As we have said this is an ‘Open-Air Museum’ and open to all. However if you would like to upgrade and hear first hand about this incredible, cart upending and trailblazing story, then why not go on tour with The Glasgow Football Tour and Hampden Collection? We will tell you in detail this story on how the 3 Hampdens were lost to the world, and how now it is now at the forefront of the Scotch Professor story.
Our first tour covering the middle of ‘Football’s Square Mile’.
Click this link to find out more and find out our next Tour Dates to book with our Partner Glasgow Football Tour:
The Hampden Collection 