The Harry Wraggs
15 December 2023
Unashamed book plug time: I'm delighted to report that a second photo book under the An Ordinary Place banner has been published. Kit Bags, Flags, and the Harry Wraggs is an ode in photographs to the venerable 1920s-vintage Colin Weir stand on Glasgow's Firhill Road, wherein that equally historic and revered institution, Partick Thistle Football Club (aka The Jags, or the Harry Wraggs) ply their trade.
Most football clubs aspire to be centres of their community, but not all of them achieve it. However, Partick Thistle's stadium sits, literally and culturally, at the heart of Maryhill in Glasgow, nestling in between the Forth and Clyde canal and Maryhill Road itself. The old main stand has been a landmark on Firhill Road since 1927.
Kit Bags, Flags, and the Harry Wraggs aims to convey a sense of place in one of Scottish football's most iconic locations. It comprises a warts-and-all collection of photographs taken over the season 2022-23, capturing the stand as a whole, its various component parts, and its immediate environs, together with the people who work within and around this grand structure.
The book is 12" square (think vinyl LP cover size...) hardback, and runs to 106 pages. As well as more than 100 original photographs, there are quotes from past and present members of the playing and coaching teams, with additional contributions from the backroom staff and volunteers that keep PTFC's wheels turning season after season.
This publication is available only from Partick Thistle FC, priced £35. Be you a Jags fan, or just a lover of football stadium icons and idiosyncrasies, follow this link to bag yourself a copy:
https://ptfc.co.uk/product/kit-bags-flags-and-the-harry-wraggs/.