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, an ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
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 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 on 15 December 1979.
On 3 July 2008 Annan Athletic were accepted into the Scottish Football League 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) fr ...
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, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions. More focused kinds are often used as a stage ...
, which the club did before the start of their first season in the lowest tier of the Scottish Football League. 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 had become unusable. Edusport Academy, playing in the South League and latterly the Lowland League, shared the ground from 2015 until opening their own Alliance Park ground within Strathclyde Country Park 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 on 15 September 2012.
