A VISIT to Queen’s Park this week resulted in me being both schooled and scolded.

Firstly, what I now don’t know about this historic and important football club, which celebrates its 150th birthday tomorrow, is not worth knowing, and as this institution helped give birth to the beautiful game, there is a lot to know.

Meet any supporter of Queen’s Park and they do tend to get incredibly defensive about their team. Especially on the subject of Hampden Park. More of that in a bit.

Let’s begin by saying this is one football anniversary which should be celebrated by all.

At No.3 Eglinton Terrace in Glasgow, close to the Gorbals, a meeting took place on July 9, 1867, at 8.30pm, when a group of gentlemen met for the purpose of forming a football club.

And 150 years later, Scotland’s first association football club survives, remains amateur, and plays still in the country’s senior leagues. How on earth are Queen’s still here in 2017?

I meet Jim Hastie, present director and past president in the JB McAlpine Pavilion at Lesser Hampden, to talk about the past, present and future of his club.

His passion for Queen’s shines through during the hour we spend together as I get a history lesson and a tour of the Hampden museum which for the next few months will house a temporary exhibition about Queen’s Park.

So, Jim, explain to me why a small, amateur football club is still going in a world, it could be argued, in which they have no right to live in.

“I suppose it’s because we are unique,” he tells me. “We have remained a members club so we are non-profit.

“That doesn’t mean we want to run at a loss, it just means we don’t want to distribute profits every year.

Everything goes back into football.

“There have been two major decisions past committees have taken which has been fundamental to the development of the club.

“Firstly, the building of the three Hampden Parks and the campus of 33 acres in which the stadium sits.

“ Our forefathers deserve great credit for that because although it has always produced scheming and uncertainty, it has provided the club with a fantastic home ground. We are very fortunate in that aspect.

“We have kept Hampden, modernised it and it remains Scotland’s National Stadium with co-operation from the SFA.

“The second thing is we have kept true to our motto, Ludere Causa Ludend, which means to play for the sake of playing.

“We remain amateur but only really in terms of we don’t play players. We have modernised the club in how its run, the training and playing as a senior club. We are at the top level of part-time football in Scotland.”

Ah, Hampden. Queen’s Park own the old lady which, and let’s be honest here, is not everyone’s favourite stadium.

It’s either too big or too small, the pitch is played on every second week, the atmosphere isn’t great and try buying a pint at a concert and you’ll be gone for longer than Captain Oates. Jim has heard this all before. He says: “It is our home ground. We are proud to own the National Stadium and I think it’s good for Scotland to have a non-profit making club as the owners.”

Not everyone agrees. The SFA’s current lease runs out in 2020. It is not inconceivable that they decide to move away from Hampden.

I put the argument of Queen’s moving to Lesser Hampden to Jim, which gets given short shrift. He says that it is better to have a National Stadium where Scotland play their games, a neutral venue for finals, but no agreement with the SFA will take place which would see Queen’s Park not playing home games there.

After all the stadium belongs to them. Around 600 hardy souls go to the home matches these days, which is pretty normal for a part-time team in League One and Two.

I get a tour of Lesser Hampden which is a real education. The history of the club is told in pictures, from players lost in war, to the legends of the past.

“The formation of Queen’s Park and the contribution of Scotland to develop the global game is something which unfortunately is unrecognised,” said Jim.

“It is not widely recognised that Queen’s Park were instrumental in developing the rules of football, including free-kicks, changing ends at half-time, introducing crossbars.

“We sponsored the first international, hiring West of Scotland cricket ground in Partick, selling out making almost £100. We provided the entire Scottish team. It was the first international football match in the world and all 11 players came from our club.

“Do people know Queen’s Park played in the FA Cup? Do they know we reached the final twice?”

This weekend sees a number of events taking place to mark 150 years, including a dinner held last night with former player Sir Alex Ferguson in attendance.

“The future is not in our own hands,” Jim admits. “I would hope with the quality of the National Stadium we have now, which we didn’t have from the 1980s to 2000, that we get another 20-year lease.

“I am pretty certain the government agencies want that. I am also certain not everyone in the SFA and wider football community wants that because they are rival stadium operators.”

Something tells me that this fine old football club will be just fine.