‘Blueprint for stadiums’: Fears 'world's first international football stadium' in Glasgow could become flats

The original Hampden Park in Glasgow was the home of Queen's Park from 1873-1883 and hosted Scottish Cup finals and Scotland internationals.

It was the first to build toilets, turnstiles and grandstands and has been described as a 'blueprint' for all football stadiums since.

It has been home to a bowling club since 1905 but its future is now in doubt as the club is facing financial difficulties that could open it up for commercial development.

Campaigners say urgent action is needed to protect and 'celebrate' its historical significance before it's too late. The Hampden Bowling Club's current committee is due to stand down in February next year, and if no replacements are found beforehand it will be 'wound down.' If this happens the land will be handed back to Land Property Glasgow - a body which handles land for Glasgow City Council.

David Coutts, a trustee at the bowling club, told the BBC: "There's no grand building there and you have to use imagination - but there's a social history there, and a working class history there. It's from this site and this green that the biggest sport in the world developed."

Before Queen's Park built the stadium the previous year, teams would typically play on converted cricket pitches. Scotland and England had played the world's first international a decade earlier on one of these pitches in 1872.

Four years ago, an archaeological excavation found remains of the original football stadium - where Scotland famously thrashed England 5-1 in 1882.

Lindsay Hamilton runs a walking tour company and takes customers around the three different Hampden Park sites built over the decades. She believes the original set the template for football venues since then.

She told the BBC: "This ground is the blueprint for every football stadium that was built. Queen's Park built grandstands, toilets, turnstiles for it and it was the first purpose built international football stadium in the world. It was the first place where season tickets were first used, or members books as they called it then. How we experience football today was all built at first on that site - it's of huge significance to football."

Queen's Park moved to another purpose-built stadium in 1884, carrying the Hampden name with them.

But Ms Hamilton says the site allows people to remain connected to the early days of football before it became a huge global game.

She said: "A lot of early football landmarks in other cities have become supermarket car parks or things like that, but here you can still step on it - it's tangible.

"If you lose that, you lose the magic and the spark, because having the green there brings it to life. Being able to ask if you want a pint on the grounds of the original Hampden Park is something special.

"It doesn't look like a pitch now, but the foundations of the original stadium are there - what else can we discover? If this was in London or Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires it would have its own museum there. It needs to be protected, and celebrated."

Hampden Bowling Club has used the area since 1905, but is on its 'last legs' due to a declining membership and is only on a rolling monthly lease with City Property. It is now holding an emergency general meeting to try and form the basis of a rescue plan and attract community interest in the site.

Mr Coutts said: "We can't get any funding because we need a much longer lease than what we have, and the lease offered seems to be a standard commercial lease - we're not a commercial organisation. We've seen other bowling clubs become commercial sites after closing and that usually means blocks of flats or car parks."