Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team from the town of
Ayr
Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...
.
History
Founded in 1872, out of a cricket club, Ayr Thistle originally played the
rugby football
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league.
Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...
code, but switched to
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
thanks to the influence of Queen's Park. The earliest recorded match for the club was in October 1874, a 3–0 defeat to Mauchline at Low Green. The club was the biggest in Ayr in 1876, with 52 members, and one of the biggest in the county.
The club first entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1875–76, losing 1–0 to
Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie ( Gaelic: ''Cill Bhraonaigh'') is a small town of 7,280 (as of 2001) inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around southwest of Glasgow and approximately from Paisle ...
. The following season, Thistle reached the semi-final. All of the club's victories were 1–0 wins; the second round saw revenge over Kilbirnie and the third round a surprise 1–0 win over
Dumbreck
Dumbreck ( gd, An Dùn Breac, lit, the Speckled Fort) is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated south of the River Clyde.
Dumbreck is a conservation area.
The district is served by Dumbreck railway station. The only church i ...
, after an Aitken cross was only half-cleared by M'Geoch and Henry "cleverly shot it through". The club's fourth round tie with
Partick
Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to t ...
ended 1–1, but Partick was disqualified for "neglecting to take advantage of the dates fixed by the Association for playing their tie" - presumably not agreeing a replay date. That put the Thistle into the quarter-final, and the club secured a replay win over
Lancefield
Lancefield is a town in the Shire of Macedon Ranges local government area in Victoria, Australia north of the state capital, Melbourne and had a population of 2,743 at the 2021 census.
History
The area was used by the indigenous aborigin ...
, Hugh Cunningham scoring the winner with a quarter of an hour to go, after the original tie in
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
ended 2–2.
The run ended with Thistle being defeated 9–0 by
Vale of Leven
The Vale of Leven (Scottish Gaelic: ''Magh Leamhna'') is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning '' ...
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
. Thistle did not concede until the 32nd minute, and the score was still only 2–0 at half-time, the second of which had been a Vale counter-attack; Vale's superior fitness told in the second half and two further Vale goals were counted as disputed.
After Ayr Eglinton and
Ayr Academy
Ayr Academy (Scottish Gaelic: ''Acadamaidh Inbhir Àir'') is a non-denominational secondary school situated within the Craigie Estate area at University Avenue in Ayr, South Ayrshire. It is a comprehensive school for children of ages 11–18 fro ...
merged to form Ayr Academicals in 1876, Thistle was briefly only the second largest club in town. Thistle was much the more active club, playing nearly three times as many matches, and in April 1878 being the first club in the town to play an English club, hosting
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
- the game unfortunately affected by Aitken breaking his collarbone early on and Forest running out 3–0 winners. However Thistle suffered a blow before the 1878–79 season when captain Archie Hunter was "poached" by
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
, and the club only won one more Cup tie (against Auchinleck Boswell in the first round in the
1878–79 Scottish Cup
The 1878–79 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the sixth season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Defending champions Vale of Leven met Rangers in the final but, afte ...
). Its final competitive match - a 3–1 defeat to
Beith
Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court ...
in the second round of the Cup - had a bizarre aftermath with a hoaxer convincing one paper that the referee had agreed to chalk off one of the Beith goals.
After the Thistle was drawn to play the Academicals in the 1878–79
Ayrshire Cup
The Ayrshire Cup was an annual association football regional competition in Scotland. The cup competition was a knockout tournament between football clubs in the historic county of Ayrshire. The Ayrshire Cup was first held in 1877–78, with t ...
, the two Ayr clubs agreed to form the Ayr Club, the new club's secretary being the Academicals' secretary Robert Highet. In 1910, Ayr merged with Ayr Parkhouse to form Ayr United.
The Ayr Thistle name was twice revived in the 1880s for unrelated clubs.
Colours
The club's colours were blue and black jerseys with white knickers.
Grounds
The club played at the Low Green, before moving to Thistle Park in 1875 and eventually Robbsland Park in 1876.
Notable players
*
Archie Hunter
Archibald Hunter (23 September 1859 – 29 November 1894) was a Scottish Association football, footballer who was the first captain of Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa to lift the FA Cup, in 1887 FA Cup Final, 1887. He was one of Victorian football' ...
, later an
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
winner with
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
, played as a back for Thistle in the 1876–77 season