Two Fabulous New Signings for Football's Square Mile

Tonight at 8:30pm in 1867, a group of gentlemen met at 3 Eglinton Terrace to form a football club. They sat around the table and elected their first Committee, and decided to name themselves after the local park, Queen's Park, where they first played football.

For us at Football's Square Mile, we celebrate this minute every year, commending and celebrating these trailblazers, or as we would say, the original Scotch Professors, for their ingenuity, enlightenment, and most importantly their foresight to create the world's most important and influential football club.

They became Scotland's first Association football club, Scotland's Senior club, and would lead the way for Scottish Football, and pave the way for international football, setting the template for how we play, watch, and most importantly taught, the game around the world.

You can visit the birthplace of Queen's Park Football Club - Site No. 11 of Football's Square Mile https://www.footballssquaremile.com/3eglintonterrace

In time honoured fashion, we love an announcement to mark this moment, and we are delighted to announce two fabulous signings to our Football's Square Mile Team.

John Daly is our new FSM Deployment Director, and Barry Kirk is our new FSM Communications Director. Both appointments bring a wealth of knowledge, skills, contacts, and expertise to drive our 5 Year Game Plan, and beyond.

John Daly, FSM Deployment Director, explains, “I was bitten by the “Scotland Gave Football To The World” bug when I went on one of the Glasgow Football Tour’s “Three Hampdens” guided amble. I was astonished that I knew none of that history. Or of those Scotch Professors. Or of the cricketing association. To be able to help take 'The Greatest Story Never Told' to a wider audience, and assist the achieving of UNESCO World Heritage status, will be a privilege."

John reciting football poetry on the site of the 1st Hampden Park

Barry Kirk, FSM Communications Director, said, "Since the first time I went to a Scotland game at Hampden Park — our historic home and our cathedral — I’ve been devoted to following the national team far and wide. That lifelong passion has grown and allowed me the privilege of working with this brilliant team on projects, amongst others, like the 150th Anniversary celebrations of the first international match.

This journey has also led to recent invitations to the FIFA Museums in Zurich, New York and Miami to share Scotland’s story and its global significance to the origins of the modern game of football.

I’m absolutely honoured to join Football’s Square Mile as Communications Director, helping to tell what we call The Greatest Story Never Told and supporting our ambition to secure UNESCO World Heritage status for this remarkable part of Scotland’s sporting history."

Barry explaining to Andreas Alf, Head of Communications of the FIFA Museum in Zurich, on the first international football match held on St Andrew's Day, 1872 at West of Scotland Cricket Club

The Football's Square Mile Board now has its own 'Magnificent 7' with John and Barry joining Graeme Brown, David Coutts, Richard Young, Julie McNeill and Ashley Rawson. This cart-upending bandwagon started in 2017 and has evolved over the last 9 years, and will soon celebrate its decade of pushing the Scotch Professor message. This was heard loud and clear at the Men's World Cup:

No Scotland. No Party.

And we are on a mission to build the biggest party of them all, where the world recognises Scotland for its pioneering and trailblazing beautiful game, which over 4.5 billion people watch and play today.