| Clubname: | Southern Athletic |
| Fullname: | Southern Athletic Football Club |
| Nickname: | the Athletics[1] |
| Founded: | 1884 |
| Dissolved: | 1894 |
| Ground: | Moray Park |
| Chrtitle: | Hon. secretary |
| Chairman: | John Christie Jr. |
| Mgrtitle: | Match secretary |
| Manager: | James Kirkland, Hugh A. Mackay |
| Pattern La1: | _thinnavyhoops |
| Pattern B1: | _thinnavyhoops |
| Pattern Ra1: | _thinnavyhoops |
| Pattern So1: | _hoops_navy |
| Shorts1: | 0000FF |
| Socks1: | _hoops_navy |
Southern Athletic Football Club was a 19th-century football club based in Strathbungo, in Glasgow.
Southern Athletic F.C. was founded in 1884 out of a cricket club[2] and had 35 members by the end of its first season,[3] when it joined the Scottish Football Association.[4]
Its first Scottish Cup entry was in 1885–86, and it lost to Cambridge, but protested about the non-registration of several Cambridge players, and the Scottish FA ordered a replay to take place at Moray Park.[5] It was to no avail as Cambridge won the second tie as well.[6]
It set the scene for the club's record in competitive football. In 9 Scottish Cup entries, until its final entry in 1893–94, Southern Athletic never won a tie. Its one appearance in the second round, in 1887–88, was down to the luck of the draw, and getting a bye in the first round; in the second, the Athletic lost 9–1 at Cowlairs, despite the "excellent goalkeeper [Fotheringham, also a star batsman], who saved many a well-directed shot".[7] Indeed, the club scratched from 4 of its final 5 entries.
The club did however win one match in the Glasgow Cup, a competition the club only entered from 1887–88 to 1889–90; in 1888–89 it won 3–2 at Temperance Athletic in the first round.[8] In the second it lost 8–0 at Clyde.[9] Its last appearance in the competition was its heaviest competitive defeat, 12–0 at Cambuslang.[10] The club also entered the Govan Jubilee Cup from 1887–88 to 1890–91, again losing in the first round in each.[11]
The Athletics' last Scottish Cup tie was a 6–1 defeat at home to Royal Albert in the first qualifying round in 1891–92.[12] The last recorded matches for the club are from the 1892–93 season;[13] it did enter the Cup for the following year but scratched to the Black Watch.[14]
The club originally ore one-inch hooped navy blue and white jerseys with blue knickers.[15] In 1890 it changed the colour of the hoops and shorts from navy to black.[16]
The club's ground was at Moray Park, 3 minutes' walk from Strathbungo railway station.[17]