Glasgow United YMCA A.C.

In the summer of 1883, the University of Glasgow football club, which had existed since 1877,[6] and which had been a regular entrant of the Scottish Cup from 1878 to 1882, allowed its subscription to the Scottish Football Association to lapse.[7] The YMCA football club - to which the media habitually referred as G.U.Y.M.C.A.A.C. - effectively took its place; it played 12 matches in the 1883–84 season and remained unbeaten, with 8 wins.[8]

The club therefore joined the Scottish FA for the 1884–85 season,[9] which entitled it to enter the Scottish Cup, and it did so for the competition that season. The club went down 6–4 to Northern at the latter's Hyde Park ground, having ceded the home advantage the draw had given the club.[10] By the end of the season, the club was attracting friendlies against sides such as Alpha, which later became Motherwell.[11]

For 1885–86, the club had expanded enough (with membership doubling to 120,[12] making it one of the biggest clubs in Glasgow in terms of membership, with only Queen's Park, Rangers, and the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers boasting larger memberships) to join the Scottish Second XI Football Association.[13] It also entered the Scottish Cup a second time, gaining a walkover victory against Eastern Athletics,[14] but being drawn in the second round at home to the 3rd L.R.V., who, as well as being one of the few bigger sides, also had significantly more Cup experience. The Hi-Hi duly won 8–1.

Although the club still boasted 120 members in 1886,[15] it did not enter the Scottish Cup, suggesting that competitive football was no longer within the YMCA's objectives. The club did not disband (and continued to take part in other sports[16]) but simply stopped playing football. The Glasgow University side re-formed for 1887, and the club's ground was taken over by Kelvinside Athletic for footballing purposes.[17]