Drumchapel RFC was an early twentieth-century East Dunbartonshire-based rugby union club; the town – after being annexed in 1938 – now resides in Glasgow.
The population was spread between the village, the Peel Glen mining rows, the hamlet of Townhead[5] and the ancient baronies of Garscadden and Drumry.
A Drumchapel youngster, a W. Finnigan, is noted as winning a juvenile place-kicking tournament at a Knightswood Brass Band event on 24 June 1896.
At the start of the 1907–08 season Charles Stuart, C. L. Vermont, T. Inglis and C. H. Stewart stood out in a game against Hillhead HSFP 2XV.
They were up against Old Larchfieldians, Stirling HSFP, Bellahouston Academicals FP, Lenzie, Kilmarnock, Bishopbriggs, Falkirk and Uddingston.
[24] The improvement was noted on the opening league day of the 1908–09 season; Drumchapel were beaten away by Bellahouston Academicals at Norwood by a slender 3 points; but it was reported that they were due at least a draw from the match; that they didn't have all their usual first team players in the matchday squad; and that Bellahouston had won last year's match at Thirdpart by 20 points.
[25] However, despite seeing an improvement in performances, the side ended up bottom of the table – from 12 league matches played, they recorded only 2 wins, 2 draws and the rest were losses.
Nicknamed 'the black squad',[30] the Rowans side that day was:- D. Dunlop (Glasgow Academicals), J. Murray-Campbell (West of Scotland).
[34] Drumchapel's half-back R. Cuthbertson made the front page of The Scottish Referee, a sports newspaper, as a player to watch for the season.
Considering a population of only 750,[17] it seems remarkable that the club could attract around 50 men to fill three XVs sides to consistently play throughout the season.
[227] Fifteen Drumchapel men died in the Great War; their names marked at the St. Andrews Church cenotaph.
[228] In rugby terms:- by the end of the War, Drumchapel had not enough men that were fit to play in a single XV team.
Lance Corporal, 17th Battalion Highland Light Infantry Lance-Corporal Cruickshank (1888-1916) was the eldest son of the late Mr. A.
On leaving School he kept up his interest in games, and for several years he was a prominent figure in Drumchapel Rugby team, and later in Clydesdale.
He did not take long to decide where the path of duty lay, and was one of the first to join the newly formed Chamber of Commerce Battalion.
The deepest sympathy is felt for his widowed mother [Isabella Cuthbertson Cruickshank], who had another son wounded in the same engagement.