Cathkin Park is recognised as one of the most significant football heritage sites in the world. Home to the second iteration of Hampden Park and Third Lanark’s old stomping ground, it is a Mecca for football enthusiasts, and a cradle for the sport as we know it today.
But as with many other sacred sites around the globe, its significance sees it at the centre of a dispute over its ownership and future direction. An ongoing hallowed turf war has reignited this week, and it is in Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday, rather than on the field of play, where battle lines have now been drawn.
A fresh bid to permanently fence off the football pitch in Cathkin Park has been mounted by the Jimmy Johnstone Charitable Trust, who hold a 20-year lease on the pitch there from Glasgow City Council, granted on the proviso that public access to the pitch was to be maintained for local community sports group whenever their teams aren’t using it.
Investing funds into the maintenance of the pitch, however, has provoked a desire to protect it. A decision by the council three years ago to grant planning permission for the erection of a boundary fence with a lockable gate was however reduced by Lord Sandison after a judicial review in 2024, on the grounds that it failed to consider a mandatory duty to maintain access to the land under the section 13 (1) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
Citing concerns over potential damage to the surface where their youth teams play due to alleged misuse by local residents, though, the Trust are now seeking an exemption to the Act, sparking fresh resistance from the community around Cathkin Park as well as from those, such as Scottish football historian Ged O’Brien, who believe that the area is of such national and global significance due to its role in the advent of the modern game that free access to it must be protected.
“I have been convinced since the day that this all blew up years ago that it was an attempt to privatise a public space,” O’Brien said.
“It gives me no pleasure to now say I told you so.
“From what I am aware of at the moment, they are looking for an exemption to the 2003 Act, which gives access rights. My understanding is that the wiggle room here is that access rights existed, but Lord Sandison did not make a definitive judicial determination on the existence of access rights because he thought that belonged to another court.
“So, I guess this is where we are and they have been beavering away and have chosen a lovely dead time in the middle of the summer when loads of people are away to do this. We just have to see where we go.
“I am sure on Friday morning we will all be surprised at whatever the argument is because it is a public park. People have had access to that pitch for many, many decades. It now will have a big fence around it.
“The Trust has forever come up with all sorts of accusations regarding people on quad bikes and whatever else. I spent four years asking people in the area if they have ever come across these people on quad bikes. I think they would notice people coming up and down the road on a quad bike.
“I am also yet to find a member of the community that the Jimmy Johnstone Charitable Trust have consulted. When I ask if they were consulted, everyone stares at me blankly and says they have no idea what I am talking about.
“There is a principle here; we are losing public space to private ownership. This has to be protected for the good of the community and for its historic importance of Scotland.
“It is a terrible thing that is happening. What has happened now is that public place has become a private place. If you can tell me somebody else who uses those public changing rooms, I will be very surprised, because there is no access.
“Over and above that though, we have a point of principle here; this is a Glasgow park, and parks allow access to the public. We cannot afford for that to be changed because I fear the floodgates will open."
If the Trust does succeed in their bid to erect a permanent fence, O’Brien also fears the physical damage that will be done to a site which in his view, should instead be mined to reveal its full historical significance.
“There is a so-called temporary fence that is still there and a new fence foundation will go into the important remains which we need to look at,” he said.
“Archaeology Scotland needs to do a dig. I have been asking for years, but it requires funding.
“I am certain that the corner flag in the southwestern corner - of what is, remember, the Third Lanark pitch, about 15 metres north of the Queen's Park second Hampden - underneath the corner flag are the foundations of the second Hampden brick pavilion, which is as important in its way as the first Hampden pavilion which has just been designated by Historic Environment Scotland, 300 metres west in Kingsley Gardens.
“I am coming at it from the point of view that Scotland invented modern world football. All football goes back to the first and second Hampden where the way of playing, the way of having a club, the way of building stadiums goes back to those two sites.
“Even though what has been designated is the terracing of Third Lanark's ground, this is an exceedingly, internationally, historically important place because everybody can trace their history back to it, no matter what country you are from.
“More importantly, it is a public park and the citizens of Glasgow and the citizens of Scotland are entitled to use that park.
“We are only just now pushing around the world the fact that Scotland invented modern world football. I had a piece a couple of weeks ago in L'Equipe about the world's oldest football pitch in southwest Scotland. We should not be dealing with this just as a local issue. We should be dealing with this as an issue relating to a major international world importance sporting site.
“If the Jimmy Johnstone Charitable Trust is allowed to make this a private place, where are we going to go from here? You might ask the legal people in Glasgow City Council what their argument will be on Friday because I am struggling to see how this can go ahead.
“I expect to be surprised by whatever is said on Friday morning, but this cannot be allowed to pass. We have to do what we can to protect a historically important site and the right for people to walk on it."
While O’Brien questions the veracity of claims that the park has been damaged or even vandalised by other users, Jim Simonette of the Trust maintains that the fence is a necessary measure in order to protect the playing surface.
“This project is designed to help kids play football, to protect a pitch so it becomes a showcase for all kids to go and play on,” Simonette said.
“Why are we doing all this? To help the future of Glasgow to have a showcase for kids to come and play their cup finals, for kids to come and have an environment where it's beautiful to play and to represent the Cathkin Park and Lesser Hampden history.
“The pitch can’t be protected under this current ruling. Nothing can be protected. Anybody can go on and play cricket, play golf, have a picnic, drive motorbikes or whatever else on there and just tear it up. So, how do we develop our facilities without protecting them?
“The park was a mess when we came across it. So, we started funding it from there, and since 2010, 2011, we’ve had roughly 40,000 kids play on there. So, the point is, by protecting this pitch we can have so many more kids from Glasgow playing on it in organised teams than if it is just left open for anyone to come down and go on there.
“They were going to shut Cathkin down altogether. We applied for an asset transfer and that didn't happen, but they gave us the lease. I said to the SFA, 'Look, the SYFA (Scottish Youth Football Association) and the Glasgow District Youth Football League, they don't have a showcase park to play and bring the kids to. I'll take on the lease, we'll put money in.’
“The pitch is now of the same standard as that required to play in the Championship. We just want to protect that.”
Given the historic significance of the site to the Scottish game though, and the fact that one of the country’s wealthiest men, Lord Willie Haughey, is a trustee of the Jimmy Johnstone Academy, critics have long questioned why the Trust do not simply construct a purpose-built facility elsewhere.
“The history of the site is the whole point,” Simonette countered.
“It's where Jimmy Johnstone played as a youth for Glasgow Celtic. Jimmy McGrory made his debut for Celtic on this park. John Thomson played his last game here three days before he died. Celtic won two Scottish Cup finals on here, Rangers won three Scottish Cup finals, Hibernian too - all the Hibees came there before they won the last one at Hampden. Hearts won it here too, so it’s very historical. Then we found out as we go along that it’s actually the site of the second Hampden.
“There is no monetary gain here for us. There's no financial gain for anybody other than for the kids and the people of Glasgow. We’re putting the money in a property that we don't own.
“Yes, I can go and build a pitch anywhere I want, of course I can. But this is part of the legacy and in years to come, I’m not going to be here. God willing, he keeps me here as long as he can, but for the future, for our grandkids, our great grandkids, let’s keep our history. Let’s keep it good. Let’s make sure that they’ve got somewhere to come to play.
“By managing it, more kids will be able to play on it for years to come.”
