Rangers FC will celebrate its 150th anniversary this year. What is its history?

In March, the famous Scottish club Rangers FC will celebrate 150 years since its foundation. Although it has not been the most popular in our country in recent months, the Rangers name is still a big phenomenon and a club with a rich history. Let’s take a brief look at the historical development of this famous club.

The beginnings of Rangers FC

The whole Rangers story began in March 1872 on a grassy patch somewhere in West End Park (now known as Kelvingrove Park), where brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, along with their friends Peter Campbell and William McBeath, agreed to form a football team.

By May that year, their team had already played their first friendly match against a team from the Scottish town of Callander, one of the founding members of the Scottish Cup. The match took place on a pitch in Glasgow Green Park and ended in a 0-0 draw.

The club was originally called Glasgow Argyle. However, at one of its first meetings it was renamed Rangers. The team was also nicknamed “The Light Blues” due to the blue colour of their jerseys or also “The Moonlighters” as their training sessions often stretched into the night.

In 1877, Rangers reached the final of the Scottish Cup for the first time, a competition that had been played since 1873. In the final match, they faced Vale of Leven. The match ended in a draw, after which Rangers refused to turn up for the rematch. The cup was awarded to their opponents. A year later Rangers won the Merchants’ Charity Cup final against Vale of Leven 2-1. It was their first major trophy.

The emergence of a hated rival

In 1888, Celtic FC was founded by the Irish community in Glasgow and became Rangers’ arch rival. Behind this rivalry was not only a footballing comparison of the two teams’ qualities, but also religion. Celtic, thanks to its Irish founders, is a Catholic club, whereas Rangers have been Protestant from the start.

Celtic won the first match between these two age-old rivals in 1888 5-2. However, several players from Hibernian FC of Edinburgh, also a Catholic club, were to play for Celtic.

The formation of the Scottish League and the tragedy at Ibrox Stadium

In 1890, the Scottish Football League was founded. Rangers were one of the ten founding clubs of the competition.

Rangers won their first match 5-2 against Heart of Midlothian. After jumping up in the table with Dumbarton in a share of first place, they played that team in the title match. The match ended 2-2, the first and last time the Scottish League had two champions. In 1894 they won the Scottish Cup for the first time, beating Celtic 3-1 in the final.

Since 1899 Rangers have played their matches at their stadium, Ibrox Park (since 1997 Ibrox Stadium). Tragedy struck in 1902 when the wooden stand collapsed. 25 people died and 500 were injured.

Another tragic event happened here in 1971 when the barriers on the steps collapsed as fans were leaving the stadium. 66 people died and more than 140 were injured.

Rangers have won success not only in Scotland but also in Europe

From 1899 to 1954, only two coaches, William Wilton (1899-1920) and Bill Struth (1920-1954), sat on the Glasgow bench. Under the first coach in history, William Wilton, the Rangers won 10 titles before he tragically died in a boating accident. Under Bill Struth they won 18 Scottish League titles and 10 Scottish Cup victories. In total, Rangers footballers won 55 Scottish League titles and 33 Scottish Cup successes.

In the 1971/1972 season they beat Dynamo Moscow 3-2 in the Cup Winners’ Cup final under coach William Waddell. They won this European trophy at the third attempt. Prior to their success in 1972, they had lost the 1961 Cup Winners’ Cup final to Italy’s Fiorentina 1:4 (0:2 and 1:2), but became the first British team to reach the final of a European competition.

In 1967 they lost 0:1 in extra time to Bayern Munich in the final of the same competition. Forty-one years later, Rangers failed to beat Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Cup final (0:2).

Another memorable victory for the club was the 2-1 win over its eternal rival Celtic Glasgow in January 1939, which was watched by more than 118,000 spectators.

The club’s legends include players such as founding brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell, William McBeathem, John McPherson, Andy Cunningham, Sandy Archibald, David Meiklejohn, Dougie Gray, Ian McColl, Bobby Shearer, John Greig, Derek Johnstone, Barry Ferguson, Paul Gascoigne and many others.

The Fall and Rise

In 2012, Rangers went into insolvency due to tax irregularities. The club was officially liquidated and re-formed as a different company. However, it had to enter Scotland’s fourth highest competition the following season.

However, it was promoted three times in the next four years and from the 2016/17 season Rangers are once again playing in Scotland’s top competition. In the 2020/21 season they were Scottish champions again.

Despite possible differences of opinion between our cultures, let us wish Rangers FC of Scotland well on their momentous anniversary.

Sources: FootballHistory, Britannica, RangersFC, Rangers, Wikipedia, Transfermarkt