Carrington Football Club was a Scottish association football club based in Dennistoun, in Glasgow.
A Carrington F.C., based at Wilton Park in east Glasgow, existed from 1874 to 1876, but this club was first noted in the 1883âÂÂ84 season. By 1886 the club had become the leading Junior club in the east end, winning the North-Eastern Junior Cup from 1886âÂÂ87 to 1888âÂÂ89 consecutively, having been runner-up in 1884âÂÂ85 and 1885âÂÂ86. Even in 1887 the club had a decent following, 2,000 seeing the club's success in the final over Towerhill at Beechwood Park; earlier in that season's tournament, the club earned its biggest competitive win, 15âÂÂ1 over Easthorn.
It took the step up to Scottish Football Association membership in August 1889. It entered four senior tournaments (the Scottish Cup, Glasgow Cup, North-Eastern Cup, and Graham Cup) in the 1889âÂÂ90 season; the step-up to the senior level was by now so great that the club only won one tie in any of them, 2âÂÂ0 against Clydesdale in the Graham Cup. It did originally beat Rutherglen in the North-Eastern but the match was re-played after a protest, to Carrington's detriment.
Its Scottish Cup bow was a 3âÂÂ0 home defeat to Maryhill, and it also lost in the first round of the 1890âÂÂ91 Scottish Cup, albeit only by 2âÂÂ1 to the more experienced Albion Rovers; Carrington equalized when Stuart "banged through" a cross from M'Millan, but late on Bryson won the game for the Rovers. However, in the first round of the 1890âÂÂ91 Glasgow Cup, Carrington lost 12âÂÂ2 at Rangers; it was the club's biggest competitive defeat, the Carrington spirit shown by the team scoring its goals "at a time when some teams would not have had the heart to raise an aggressive rush", albeit allegedly when the Rangers goalkeeper "was seeking shelter in the pavilion".
From the 1891âÂÂ1892 season, the Scottish FA introduced preliminary rounds to the national competition, but despite the bigger sides being exempted from qualifying, the club still lacked any success in the tournament. In 1891âÂÂ92, the club at least got past the first round, after Cambuslang St Bride's scratched, but lost in the second 7âÂÂ2 against Burnbank Swifts.
Carrington gained its one and only win in the competition in the first round in 1892âÂÂ93, beating Dykehead 3âÂÂ2 at home in the first preliminary; Dykehead protested that one of the corner flags was missing and that the pitch markings had been erased by heavy showers, but Carrington proved it had gone over the touchlines with lime and goal-lines with sawdust, and the referee gave evidence confirming the position, so the protest was dismissed. Carrington lost 10âÂÂ3 at Annbank in the second, although it startled the home side with a goal inside two minutes, against the wind and the slope. Its last tie, in 1893âÂÂ94, was a 6âÂÂ1 defeat at Cambuslang, and in the wake of that defeat Carrington scratched to the 3rd Lanark in the Glasgow Cup.
With Celtic as one of the dominant powers in the Scottish game, plus neighbours Cowlairs, Northern, Clyde, and Thistle all being Scottish League members in period, there was no room for Carrington. It never won a tie in either the Glasgow or North-Eastern Cups, and in its last three entries in the latter competition, it was the only entrant which never made it to the Scottish League. Carrington never joined any of the alternative leagues, its application to join the Scottish Football Federation for the 1891âÂÂ92 season not succeeding, and, with the few available friendlies too thin a gruel on which to subsist, the club gave up the ghost before the 1894âÂÂ95 season.
The club's earliest recorded colours are black and white striped jerseys. From 1889 the club wore dark blue jerseys, knickers, and hose.
The club played at Hanover Park.