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 ...
club from
Ayrshire
Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...
in
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 ...
.
History
On 5 May 1877, the Kilmarnock Cricket Club hosted a charity match between an Ayrshire select and a Glasgow select, in order to raise funds for a statue in honour of
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
, on its Holm Quarry ground. The match was a success, and, in the aftermath, the K.C.C. took over the Winton club in order to continue hosting football.
For its first season the club was known as the Kilmarnock Cricket and Football Club and its first competitive match was a 4–0 win over Maybole Thistle in the first round of the 1877–78 Scottish Cup, with players such as goalkeeper M'Lelland, plus Whyte, Smith, Cunningham, Goudie, Ferguson, and captain Kennedy having been part of the Winton regular XI. The K.C. & F.C. lost 1–0 to
Mauchline
Mauchline (; gd, Maghlinn) is a town and civil parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. In the 2001 census Mauchline had a recorded population of 4,105. It is home to the National Burns Memorial.
Location
The town lies by the Glasgow and South Wes ...
in the second round.
The following season, the club joined the
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...
under the new name of Kilmarnock Athletic. The club was quickly successful, winning the
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 ...
in 1878–79. From 1881 to 1884 the club was one of the top clubs in Scotland. In 1881–82, the club reached the semi-final of the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Queen's Park.
In 1882–83, the club had an annus mirabilis, winning two of the Ayrshire trophies; the Ayrshire Cup and the Kilmarnock Merchants' Charity Cup, the latter of which was awarded to the club when Hurlford F.C. walked off the pitch in protest at going 2–1 behind in the final. The Athletics also repeated the previous year's feat of reaching the Scottish Cup semi-final. The club was drawn to play
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 ' ...
away, and held the
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
side to a draw, only to lose 2–0 in the replay at home. The club did however win one national competition; the Second XI Cup, beating
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
2–0 in the final at
Boghead Park
Boghead Park was a football ground in the town of Dumbarton, Scotland. It was owned by Dumbarton F.C., who played there for 121 years between 1879 and 2000. By the time the ground closed in 2000, it was the oldest stadium in Scotland that had b ...
, and the Athletic retained the trophy against the same opponent with a 3–1 replay win at Holm Quarry the following season, thanks to goals from Murray, Hay, and Mair, after a 1–1 draw at Boghead.
The club's Cup runs paradoxically caused the club's demise. The club was now an attractive friendly fixture for English clubs, and the Athletics went on tour of England over the following winter. The legalisation of professional football in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
meant the players were susceptible to offers of professional contracts south of the border. The club had started the 1884–85 season with its record win, 14–0 over Stewarton Cunninghame F.C. in the Scottish Cup, but the club's leading player,
John Goodall
John Goodall (19 June 1863 – 20 May 1942) was a footballer who rose to fame as a centre forward for England and for Preston North End at the time of the development of the Football League, and also became Watford's first manager in 1903. He ...
, plus two other players (Hay and Walkinshaw), left the club during the winter; the
Great Lever
Great Lever is a suburb of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is south of Bolton town centre and the same distance north of Farnworth. The district is served by frequent buses running to Bolton town centre, Farnwo ...
club persuaded them not to return home with the Athletic after a friendly in Bolton. The club also lost three other players to
Halliwell
Halliwell is a surname. It may refer to:
People
* Bryn Halliwell (born 1980), English football goalkeeper
* Danny Halliwell (born 1981), rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s
* David Halliwell (1936–2006), British dramatis ...
.
A month after defeat to
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 Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...
in the Merchants' Cup in 1884–85, the club was wound up.
Later clubs
The name Kilmarnock Athletic was used for two clubs in the years afterwards; a junior club formerly known as Kilmarnock Britannia, who used the name in the 1886–87 season, and a senior club originally known as Rosebank, who used the name from 1889 to 1900.
Colours
As the K.C. & F.C., the club wore navy. After changing name to Athletic, the club's colours were crimson shirts (until 1880), scarlet shirts (until 1883), and maroon shirts (until dissolution), with white shorts. In practice the shades of red may have referred to the same colour.
Ground
The club's ground was Holm Quarry, which was briefly shared by
Kilmarnock F.C.
Kilmarnock Football Club, commonly known as Killie, is a Scottish professional football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire. The team is currently managed by Derek McInnes, who was appointed in January 2022. The club has achieve ...
until the rent forced Killie to find an alternative pitch.
Notable players
*
John Goodall
John Goodall (19 June 1863 – 20 May 1942) was a footballer who rose to fame as a centre forward for England and for Preston North End at the time of the development of the Football League, and also became Watford's first manager in 1903. He ...
, Double winner with Preston North End
*J. Inglis and R. Brown, both earning Scotland caps while with the Athletic
* Alec Dick, later an Everton player