R is for Regattas

The word regatta sounds Italian – and like so much with sports history, disputes exist about its origins! It probably means 'competition or struggle', referring to the teams in 17th-century Venetian boat races. Venice had a long tradition of staging grand, theatrical ceremonies. When British royals visited Venice in 1764, their hosts laid on extravagant boat races (a 'regatta') to celebrate George III's birthday. London copied the idea in 1770 - vast crowds lined the Thames, the wealthy hired decorated barges and professional 'watermen' (ferry and cargo operators) in colourful coats competed for fully-equipped boats as prizes.  

Regattas became a popular entertainment nationwide. Several wealthy textile merchants held Glasgow's first regatta by Glasgow Green in 1829. Cheering crowds on bridges, floating bands, aquatic sports and liquor stalls on the Green, combined to create a new, exhilarating experience. Boats from Gourock and Largs, as well as from specially-formed rowing clubs, entered. 'Gentlemen' and 'seamen' were strictly divided by holding separate races, with trophies for gents and money prizes for the sailors.  

The same businessmen founded the Glasgow Regatta Club, and from 1830-53, they used a course from Hutchesontown Bridge to Rutherglen Bridge and back. In 1853, Saturday afternoons became official time-off for male workers, allowing many to play sports, including rowing, for the first time. The Regatta Club's annual Glasgow Regatta was reorganised that year. James Banks McNeil, a champion rower (though classed as 'professional'!), became the 'indefatigable' club secretary. A clubhouse and modern gymnasium (the 'Clutha' Boathouse) opened in 1854, and the course was changed so it was visible from the boathouse – starting at Nelson's Monument, towards Jenny's Burn/Polmadie Burn and back.  

More rowing clubs were founded, both 'select' (the Clydesdale Gentlemen ARC, 1856) and 'artisan' (Glasgow ARC, for tradesmen, in 1868), and races were either amateur, professional or 'open to all'. From merely sponsoring separate prizes (Engravers or Licensed Victuallers' stakes), trades groups began holding their own regattas. A general Trades Regatta was launched in 1871, and the Letterpress Printers' Regatta in 1872. Newspaper, publishing and print workers had long been keen supporters of aquatic competitions, and within the decade, the Printers' Regatta had 'grown in importance till they are … the best on the Clyde'.   

The events became ever more elaborate – fireworks, swimming matches (from 1857), English competitors, and novelty contests, like 'hunting the punt', 'fancy natation' and 'duck hunts', and the boats more technically advanced. The Glasgow Regatta Club first held races for outrigger gigs in July 1851, and began listing special 'rowlock gig' matches that same year. Spectator numbers were high - even small events pulled in crowds of around 10,000, and regattas often exceeded 30,000 attendees.

Transporting people and equipment to regattas and events was usually done by rail, or steamship for coastal events downriver. In 1853, the Perthshire Advertiser recorded 28(!) special carriages had left Perth, laden with spectators bound for races on the Gairloch. For the same event, The City of Glasgow Regatta Club chartered the steamer ‘Reindeer’ for its own members. The boats were strapped to the roofs of the carriages. Latterly, boats were transported on the back of flatbed trucks, and clubs now use special trailers. 

Rennie Witt, a former Clydesdale ARC member, recalled that in the 1950s ‘the club had the use of a flatbed lorry from an ink company, owned by an ex-president of the club, Kit Hall. The flatbed had been drilled to allow a purpose-built pair of trestles to be bolted firmly to the lorry. These trestles could hold two fours, the oars being stacked between the legs of the trestles. Two benches were tied with ropes to either side of these structures. The occupants sat on the benches on either side of the flatbed with nothing more than a rope stretched over their laps. It may not have stopped them from falling off but it would have at least kept them attached to the lorry till it came to a halt!' The same benches have been restored and are reinstated in the West Boathouse, though unlikely to see such mobile (and dangerous) usage again!