It shares the distinction with Dean F.C. of Kilmarnock and Angus F.C. of Forfar of having played 4 Scottish Cup ties, all in the main competition stages, and having lost them all. Its results were:
1879–80: 1–2 at Excelsior; a second round tie as Bellshill were admitted to the competition after the first round.
1883–84: 0–8 at Cambuslang; six goals came in the first half, when Cambuslang was kicking against the wind and the sun.[6]
Four months into its first season, in November 1879, Bellshill was one of the 16 clubs which founded the Lanarkshire Football Association.[7] Bellshill duly entered the first Lanarkshire Cup, but lost in the first round at Shettleston, a Bellshill protest being dismissed.[8]
In its first season, Bellshill had 30 members, which put it on a par with clubs like Excelsior and Cambuslang. However, it did not take part in the 1881–82 season, its players (including captain William Moody) and committee members having mostly been part of the junior Bellshill Daisy club,[9][10] and the Scottish Football Association recording the club as "dissolved",[11] although on Bellshill's return in 1882 it still claimed a foundation date of 1879.[12]
That seems to have stalled the club, as, by 1883, Bellshill had not grown at all, but Cambuslang had 70 members and Excelsior (now called Airdrieonians) had 40. The size of the gap was shown by a 10–0 friendly defeat at Royal Albert in February 1883;[13] four years earlier the clubs had been similar sizes, but the Royalists now had double the membership. The club did not pay its subscription to the Scottish Football Association for 1884–85, being struck from the membership before the season started.[14]
Colours
Bellshill originally played in cardinal and white, with white trousers.[15] In 1882 it changed to 1+1⁄2-inch black-and-white hooped jerseys and white knickers.[16]
Grounds
The club originally played at Bellshill Park, 15 minutes' walk from Bellshill railway station,[17] gaining its own place in 1880 at Viewhill Park, Muirmadkin Road.[18][19]
