The seven founders of the organisation at a meeting on 6 March 1883 (formed to compete with the older – 1877 – rival
Edinburgh Association) By the end of 1883, thirteen clubs were members: the initial six plus
Battlefield,
Cowlairs,
Luton, Partick Thistle,
South-Western, Third Lanark and
Thistle. The obvious absentee from the list is Celtic, which was first conceived in 1887 and began playing the following year; in contrast,
Clydesdale were one of the leading clubs who had provided players for
Scotland in the 1870s but were defunct by the time of the association's founding. Glasgow had a representative team which took part in challenge matches against other associations, most notably a series against the
Sheffield Football Association which ran from 1874 to 1960, The fixture fell out of favour in the late 1940s with new tournaments such as Scottish and English League Cups taking precedence, but was temporarily revived when floodlights were installed at more grounds to accommodate evening matches. Other matches were played by Glasgow against the
London XI in the 1880s, and against Edinburgh/East of Scotland for charity fundraising, particularly in the 1920s, (a one-off match between them as part of the
George VI coronation celebrations in 1937 drew 40,000 spectators to
Hampden Park) as well as occasional fixtures such as the last editions of the
Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup against English clubs in the mid-1960s, and a one-off match against a
Football League XI for the
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977. The
Scottish Football Association (SFA) handled the selection for matches that involved Glasgow before 1883, but the Glasgow Association inherited management of the team after its formation. ==Glasgow v Sheffield==