Announcement - 15th November 2023
On Saturday 11th November, The Hampden Collection Team attended East Kilbride Cricket Club’s Annual awards night to celebrate the shared history of cricket, football and the power of teamwork. A magical evening was spent at the Club Awards Dinner recognising the club’s sporting success and its work of the ladies with the development of children, girls, and women into the playing of cricket, irrespective of gender, race, colour, creed or ability.
Richard Young, Author of As The Willow Vanishes, said, “We were honoured to attend this special event and share our experiences and opinion about being part of a team. The Glasgow Football Tour, As the Willow Vanishes, the Scottish Football Poets and many others, are all members of The Hampden Collection Team, which allow the public to ‘walk’ back through time along the paths of the past. The individual echoes, and some of the little-known historical sites within ‘Football’s Square Mile’ have a set of stories which forever change your opinion of cricket, and celebrates how cricket and football collided in the 19th century to create the beautiful game.”
In 2023, two new walking tours were launched celebrating the links between cricket and football. The ‘As The Willow Vanishes Walking Tour’ starts in Glasgow City Centre and walks to Clydesdale Cricket Club, where tourers experience the journey of how the cricket clubs of the 19th Century were essential to the explosion of football in Glasgow. The Subway Footy Tour is a whistle stop tour round Glasgow’s underground, and explains the story of how international football was created by Queen’s Park Football Club at the West of Scotland Cricket Ground.
Lindsay Hamilton, Founder of the Glasgow Football Tour, explains, “The atmosphere at East Kilbride on Saturday night was magical. There was a special energy in the room. People celebrating, catching up, sharing ideas, supporting one another, like any good team does. This team effort has been essential to the growing success of the tour business, as we invite the footballing world of 3.5 billion to hear Glasgow’s story as The Spiritual Home of World Football.”
The evening showcased the wonderful efforts of Moon Mughis and Nayma Shaikh who have both been nominated for the Scottish Women in Sport awards on 24th November.
Julie McNeil, The Hampden Collection’s Poet-In-Chief, explains, “What a warm welcome we received at East Kilbride Cricket Club. It was a great honour to be asked to come along and share the work of the Hampden Collection and celebrate the rich shared history of football and cricket. I read an original poem I wrote in dedication to two East Kilbride superstars Moon Mughis and Nayma Shaikh both of whom are nominated for Scottish Women in Sport awards for their services to cricket.”
“Given the fact that I was inspired to start writing football poetry because of my own daughter watching the Women’s National Team it was fitting that this poem celebrated another mother-daughter team. East Kilbride Cricket Club is a warm and welcoming place where women have brought fresh life and energy into the throng. It was a real privilege to play a small part in their celebrations and to gift them a poem on behalf of the Hampden Collection team in recognition of our shared histories and values.”
We would like to thank East Kilbride Cricket Club for allowing us to take part in their celebrations and being part of their team for the evening.
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