the beginnings
founded in 1878, poloc cricket club spent its first season on the site of the old pollokshaws race course and in 1880 moved to our unrivalled location here at shawholm where play has continued for the last 122 years! the editor of a local newspaper wrote in 1887; "their ground is a beautiful one hardly to be matched in scotland for its surroundings".
a pavilion was acquired by the club from the now-defunct pollokshields athletic club, also located on pollok estates, and the building was moved to shawholm on rollers! in the same year, the main avenue from pollokshaws road to pollok house was opened, running past the north side of the ground in what is now pollok park. this avenue still provides a beautiful tree-lined approach to shawholm to this day with the river cart to the left.
our club's golf section was formed in 1889 and with bowls, putting and archery, poloc became a sporting club possibly unique amongst cricket clubs in scotland.
growth and development
full tenancy of the six-acre site was granted to the club in 1888 by sir john stirling maxwell who continued to be involved in poloc's affairs until his death in 1956. he is remembered by older members as an outstanding and generous laird and landlord.
by 1890 poloc sides had become strong enough to match their cricketing adversaries, in particular our nearest and fiercest local rivals, clydesdale. the titwood side play only a mile or so away from shawholm and our rivalry continues to this day as both sides battle for supremacy in the scottish national cricket leagues. home or away, "derby" matches remain highlights of any season's fixture card.
interestingly, in 1908 the pollokshaws working lads club decided to form a football team from amongst their ranks. when their ambitious plans reached the ears of sir john stirling maxwell he allotted that club an area of land on the estate, rent-free. the footballers, in turn, to show their appreciation, took the name of pollok juniors fc, and sir john became their first honorary president. the ground allocated became known as haggs park and was adjacent to poloc cricket club; in fact, the different spellings of the two names "pollok" and "poloc" were adopted at this time, deliberately, to avoid confusion.
membership at poloc reached a peak of 600 in the late 1940's, including a healthy waiting list. and, in 1955, shawholm played host to the first televised cricket match in scotland when poloc entertained our other principal glasgow rivals, west of scotland, who play on the city's north side at hamilton crescent.
membership has come down a bit since the heady days of the 1940's and 1950's but numbers remain healthy and new members are always welcome! members need not be serious sportsmen or women with many gladly falling into the category of "social" members. with its idyllic and extremely safe setting as well as facilities and well appointed clubhouse, membership of poloc remains a hugely enjoyable proposition.
historic moments
shawholm played host to poloc versus the mcc in june 1965. the ground was fully decked out with marquee and commissionaires.
the clubhouse and its gardens had never looked better! the game was a three-day match played between the 23rd and 25th.
scotland's first televised cricket match took place at shawholm on 7 May 1955 when west of scotland were poloc's visitors. poloc batted first making 110 for 9 in brilliant sunshine. in reply, west made 120 for 6. unfortunately poloc's own historical record of the day notes that "the viewing was tedious"!
notwithstanding the cricket on view however the day was enjoyable with, again, a marquee being erected in front of the tennis courts for teas.
bringing things right up to date, the ground was invited to host three internationals as part of the 2005 ecc european championships. the matches (the netherlands versus italy, jersey versus germany and the netherlands versus denmark) saw white ball/black sightscreen cricket at shawholm for the first time and yet again demonstrated club members' willingness and ability to host such matches.
