Inverness Thistle Football Club was a football club playing in the city of Inverness in northern
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 ...
.
Formation and timeline
They were members of the Highland Football League, winning the championship eight times, including its inaugural season: 1893–94.
They set a postwar record for the heaviest scoring in a Highland League season, with 124 goals (an average of 4.13 per game) in the 1969–70 season, which stood for 45 years before being beaten in 2015 by
Brora Rangers
Brora Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club from the village of Brora, Sutherland, in the Highland council area of Scotland. They play in the Highland Football League, of which they have been champions four times, having won their ...
. They wore black and red stripes and played their home games at Kingsmills Park. Like many clubs featuring the name "Thistle", they were often known as ''the Jags''.
Thistle applied for membership of the Scottish Football League for the 1973–74 season, but the club lost out to Ferranti Thistle by one vote. It was felt that this was due to clubs in the
Central Belt
The Central Belt of Scotland is the Demography of Scotland, area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in ...
being unwilling to travel to Inverness.
They occasionally qualified for the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Kilmarnock by a 3–0 scoreline in season 1984–85.
When two vacancies were recorded in the Scottish League in time for season 1994–95 Thistle decided to again apply for membership. However to improve their chances they decided to merge with city rivals Caledonian who also wanted to apply, as they felt it unlikely both clubs would get both places, and perhaps neither would gain entry if they both applied. This decision was not without controversy. Fans of both clubs bitterly opposed the merger and many tried to stop it. In this they were unsuccessful, and the new entity, Caledonian Thistle (subsequently renamed
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...
) were elected along with Ross County to membership of the Scottish League's Third Division for season 1994–95.
The last game of Inverness Thistle Football Club was against
Lossiemouth
Lossiemouth ( gd, Inbhir Losaidh) is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over ...
on Saturday, 14 May 1994. The club was 110 years old.
Part of Inverness Thistle lives on at the Harmsworth Park, home of Wick Academy, as the floodlight pylons from Kingsmills Park were relocated there for their admission into the Highland League. However, their status is currently unknown, as they were replaced with higher quality floodlights in 2011 in order for Wick to keep their Licence to host games.
In 2016, the club name was revived at amateur level. Although unrelated, Inverness Thistle AFC were part of the Inverness and District Football Association and played at Bught Park. However, their existence was short-lived, with the club folding in July 2018.