The Olympics: Glasgow University Athletics Club

By rachaelegan on July 27, 2012 • ( 0 )

Glasgow University Athletic Club membership card from 1924-25 (DC71/3/1/1)

With the Olympics 2012 Opening ceremony beginning tonight at 9pm, we thought we would have another look through the archive collections for some more memories of the University of Glasgow’s sporting past.

The Glasgow University Athletic Club (GUAC) was founded in 1881, for the “promotion of all forms of Athletic Exercise” and made provision for students and recent graduates of the University to play sports like tennis and cricket and get involved in running and athletics. The original sections of the club were: rugby, athletics, cricket, tennis, association football, shinty, golf, hockey, cycling and fives.

There was already a gymnasium by the foundation of the club, built in 1872 following a petition signed by about a third of the student population, and in 1882 its interests were amalgamated with those of the GUAC. The University playing fields were situated at Gilemorehill until 1913 when the grounds were purchased at Westerlands, Anniesland and so, from an early date, provision was made for sports at the University.

We hold the records of the GUAC and the collection includes: documents relating to its foundation and constitution; minutes of meetings, membership cards and sports programmes; and photographs of the athletes and sportsmen involved. If you would like to view the GUAC collection or find out more about sport at the University, please contact us.

GUAC Women’s Athletic Team c.1950s (UP8/31/1)

You can read all about the history of the GUAC in: ‘GUAC: The Story of the First Hundred Years’ (DC71/9/1).

The GUAC was a very popular club with good membership figures for each sport from the beginning and the love of athletics lives on at the University today in its sporting clubs. As with the Olympics, the range of sports on offer has expanded with over 35 sections nowadays, including sports such as: aikido, boardsailing, fencing, mountaineering, and weight-lifting.