Football.
The Beautiful Game has always played a major role in the sporting life of the village. Before the Parish of Holy Cross came into being there was Smithston Hibernian, a team to be reckoned with in the early days of Association Football. For instance, in the 1892-93 season they beat Raith Rovers by three goals to one in a Scottish Cup match. Before the turn of the 20th century Smithston Albion had replaced the Hibs. The greatest player of the latter team was Jimmy Quinn, remembered for his distinguished career as a Glasgow Celtic 'great' between 1900 and 1915. The Albion team he played for once famously defeated Celtic 6 -1.
Although Auchinstarry was not as renowned as Smithston for its football, it too had a team, the Collegians, around the 1920s. After Croy village was born in the 1930s, it founded a team of its own - Croy Emerald. Next, although chronology is a little vague, came junior team Croy Celtic which, by the 1929-30 season, had won the Scottish Junior League Cup. Croy Juveniles also came into being after World War II. Throughout the history of these teams, from about 1924 right through to the 1960s, Boys' Guild training and football flourished under the enthusiastic coaching of parishioners like Bill Clinton, John MacDonald, James Nash and Johnny McNelis. Many now aging 'boys' will also remember 'Wee Bill's' recitals of the Robert W Service poem Dangerous Dan Magrew and another verse with the mysteriously engaging title of Step-and-a-Half Purdy, at Boys Guild training sessions.
The Boys' Guild was a breeding ground for many professional football players including many of the parishioners and former parishioners named below.
Professional Footballers of the Parish
Bolan, Patrick - East Fife, Brechin City
Mooney, Rab - Sligo Rovers
Broadley, Patrick - Sligo Rovers
Morrison, John - Glasgow Celtic
Canavan, James (Nicky) - East Fife
Morrison, Tom - Aberdeen
Crainie, Christy - Hamilton Accies
Morrison, William - Portsmouth, Queen of the South
Crainie, Cob - Motherwell
Mulholland, William - Newcastle United
Culley, James - Glasgow Celtic
Nash, Willie - Sligo Rovers
Friel, Philip, - Third Lanark
Quinn, Jimmy - Glasgow Celtic
McAtee, Andy - Glasgow Celtic
Quinn, Jimmy III - Glasgow Celtic
McAtee, Anthony - Glasgow Celtic
Quinn, Philip - Hamilton Accies
McAteer, Tom - Glasgow Celtic
Reynolds, Tommy - Dumbarton, East Stirling
MacDonald, John - Airdrie
Waters, Pat - East Stirling, Stirling Albion, Portadown
MacDonald, Martin - Portsmouth, Bournemouth
Waters, Sam - Third Lanark Sligo Rovers, Halifax Town
McMahon, Pat - Glasgow Celtic
Weldon, Tony - Airdrie, West Ham, Everton
Meechan, Frank - Glasgow Celtic