93rd Highland Regiment F.C.

93rd Highland Regiment F.C. was a British football club, formed from the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders Regiment of Foot. The club played at a senior level in England, Scotland, and India, depending on where it was stationed; it is the only club to have played in both the FA Cup and the Highland Football League, doing so 20 years apart.

History

English football

The regiment had been playing a form of football as early as 1851, but as an organised club, it was founded in 1872; originally as a rugby football club, when the regiment was called the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, and its home ground depended on where the regiment was based.

Its best achievement in football came in 1890–91, when the regiment was based in Aldershot and entered the FA Cup. The club won through the qualifying rounds - beating four future Football League clubs ( Luton Town, Watford, Swindon Town, and Ipswich Town) - to reach the first round proper, or the last 32. Drawn away to Sunderland Albion the regiment narrowly lost 2–0, in front of a crowd of 2,000. The Highlanders had been accompanied to the match by the regimental pipers and the two teams dined together after the match at the Empress Hotel in Sunderland. Goalkeeper Robertson - a replacement for the injured Urquhart - impressed the home side so much that he signed for Albion for 1891–92. However the Highlanders were unable to follow up their exploits the following season as the regiment was sent to India in October 1891.

Scottish football

The club continued football in India, but now calling itself after the "new" regiment title, the 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders; it lost 3–1 in the final of the Indian army tournament to the King's Own Scottish Borderers. A club from the 1st Argyll and Bute Artillery Volunteers, a company in the Volunteer movement based in Dunoon, was also in existence by now.

In 1893, the regiment returned to Edinburgh, and the football side entered the Scottish football system. It was a member of the Scottish Football Association in 1893–94, 1897–98, and from 1909–10 to 1911–12. It entered the Scottish Cup and Scottish Qualifying Cup in those seasons, plus the relevant regional competition; the East of Scotland Shield in 1892–93 and 1893–94, and the Stirlingshire Cup from 1908 to 1912.

Football had moved on enough to make the club uncompetitive against non-army sides; it lost every one of its Qualifying Cup ties, and it only won once each in the regional competitions. Its only win in the East of Scotland Cup was a 6–1 victory over Portobello of Edinburgh in the first round in September 1893, but in the 1908–09 Stirlingshire Cup it caused a major shock in beating King's Park 3–0, despite missing a penalty.

Highland League

Between 1912 and 1914, when the battalion was based in Fort George, the club played in the Highland League, finishing 7th in 1912–13 and 8th in 1913–14, both times out of nine clubs.

Colours

The club wore the following colours:

* 1870s: blue jerseys with a yellow St Andrew's cross on the left breast.
* 1893–95: black and yellow
* 1897–98: scarlet jerseys with yellow collar
* 1909–10: dark blue shirts with white collar, and shield bearing the letters "D. A. and S. H." (the D standing for depot)
* 1910–12: dark green shirts with white collar

Ground

The club's ground was dependent on where the company was stationed. Its locations as a senior club were:

* 1872–73: Aldershot
* 1873–74: Woolwich
* 1890–91: Aldershot
* 1891–93: Simla
* 1893–95: Edinburgh
* 1897–98: Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow
*1909–12: Stirling Castle
* 1912–14: Fort George

Records

FA Cup:
*Best FA Cup performance: 1st round – 1890–91

Army FA Challenge Cup:
*Winners: 1889–90, 1897–98
*Runners-up: 1890–91 Successor clubs after regimental mergers also reached the Army Cup final.

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed

Defunct football clubs in Scotland
Military football clubs in Scotland
Defunct football clubs in England
Military football clubs in England
Association football clubs established in 1872