Galabank is a

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 ...

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in the town of

Annan, Dumfries and Galloway Annan ( ; gd, Inbhir Anainn) is a town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Historically part of Dumfriesshire, its public buildings include Annan Academy, of which the writer Thomas Carlyle was a pupil, and ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is the home ground of

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As ...

club Annan Athletic, who have played there since 1953. The ground has been shared by non-League teams Mid-Annandale (2012–2014) and Edusport Academy (2015–2019).

History

Annan Athletic, who were then playing in the Carlisle and District League, moved to Galabank in 1953. They had previously been based at Mafeking Park since the 1946–47 season. The club rejoined Scottish football in 1977, playing in the

South of Scotland League The South of Scotland Football League (SoSFL) is a senior football league based in south-west Scotland. The league sits at level 6 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Founded in 1946, it i ...

and later the

East of Scotland League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Fo ...

. This enabled the club to attempt to qualify for the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; gd, An t-Sròn Reamhar ), also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of L ...

on 15 December 1979. On 3 July 2008 Annan Athletic were accepted into the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

for the first time, to replace defunct club Gretna. Consequently, Galabank began hosting Annan's games in the

Scottish Football League Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

in the 2008–09 season. A party from the SFL inspected Galabank before Annan were accepted into the league. They deemed it to be of the required standard, with the provision that Annan install

floodlights A floodlight is a broad-beamed, gas discharge lamp#High-intensity discharge lamps, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is Night game, being held during low-li ...

, which the club did before the start of their first season in the lowest tier of the

. Galabank has a capacity of . The grass pitch was removed and a new 3G artificial surface was installed for the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. Between 2012 and 2014, Galabank was shared by South of Scotland League club Mid-Annandale, whose previous ground in

Lockerbie Lockerbie (, gd, Locarbaidh) is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland. It is about from Glasgow, and from the border with England. The United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town ...

had become unusable. Edusport Academy, playing in the South League and latterly the

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...

, shared the ground from 2015 until opening their own Alliance Park ground within

Strathclyde Country Park Strathclyde Country Park is a country park located on the outskirts of Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, named after the former Strathclyde region of Scotland. It is often commonly referred to as Strathclyde, or simply Strathy. De ...

in 2019.

Records

The highest ever official attendance to watch a match at Galabank was 2,517, set in a goalless draw between Annan Athletic and

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 ...

on 15 September 2012.

References

External links

Football ground guide
Annan Athletic F.C. Football venues in Scotland Sports venues in Dumfries and Galloway Scottish Football League venues Scottish Professional Football League venues Sports venues completed in 1953 Caledonian Braves F.C. 1953 establishments in Scotland Annan, Dumfries and Galloway {{Scotland-sports-venue-stub