Ailsa F.C. Explained

Clubname:Ailsa
Fullname:Ailsa Football Club
Founded:1874
Dissolved:1880
Ground:Buckingham Park
Owntitle:President
Owner:A. Dunlop
Chrtitle:Secretary
Chairman:David Dunlop
Mgrtitle:Captain
Manager:W. Dyet[1]
Pattern La1:_thinwhitehoops
Pattern B1:_thinwhitehoops
Pattern Ra1:_thinwhitehoops
Pattern So1:_hoops_white
Leftarm1:87CEEB
Body1:87CEEB
Rightarm1:87CEEB
Shorts1:ffffff
Socks1:87CEEB

Ailsa Football Club was a 19th-century association football club originally based at Pollokshields, in Glasgow.

History

The club was founded in 1874 and took its name from the rock of Ailsa Craig, and its first reported matches come from the 1875–76 season.[2] It was one of the smaller Glasgow clubs, with a membership of 30 in 1876, more only than Shawfield and Union at the time.[3]

The club first entered the Scottish Cup in 1877–78, losing 2–0 to Lenzie.[4] Ailsa also lost in the first round the following year, 7–0 at Govan, although the North British Daily Mail report incorrectly referred to Ailsa as "Woodburn".[5]

In the 1879–80 Scottish Cup, the club reached the third round; after a walkover in the first, Ailsa beat Rosslyn 3–1,[6] but lost 6–0 at Clyde in the third, even though Clyde played with ten men for the second half.[7]

It was the club's last Cup fixture. Although it did enter the 1880–81 Scottish Cup, it scratched to the Good Templars Harmonic.[8]

A new Ailsa club, with no known link to the original, played in Anniesland in the 1892–93 season.[9] [10]

Colours

The club's colours were pale blue and white 1-inch hooped shirts and stockings, with white knickerbockers.[11]

Ground

The club originally played at a private ground in Pollokshields.[12] In 1878 the club moved to Buckingham Park off Copeland Road, Govan.[13]

Notes and References

  1. Ailsa club . North British Daily Mail . 13 August 1878 . 3.
  2. 2nd Standard v Ailsa . Glasgow Herald . 27 November 1876 . 7.
  3. Book: Dick . William . Scottish Football Annual 1876–77 . 1876 . Mackay & Kirkwood . Cranstonhill . 84.
  4. Association Cup ties . North British Daily Mail . 1 October 1877 . 6.
  5. 30 September 1878, p. 7
  6. Scottish Association Ties . Glasgow Herald . 22 October 1879 . 7.
  7. Association Cup ties . Glasgow Evening Post . 3 November 1879 . 4.
  8. Web site: Mathers . Stewart . Season 1880–81 . Beautiful Dribbling Game . 3 April 2023.
  9. Western Thistle v Ailsa . Glasgow Herald . 5 December 1892 . 3.
  10. Gourock v Ailsa Reserves (Glasgow) . Glasgow Herald . 16 January 1893 . 10.
  11. Book: Dick . William . Scottish Football Annual 1877–78 . 1877 . Mackay & Kirkwood . Cranstonhill . 84.
  12. Book: Dick . William . Scottish Football Annual 1877–78 . 1877 . Mackay & Kirkwood . Cranstonhill . 84.
  13. Book: Dick . William . Scottish Football Annual 1878–79 . 1878 . Mackay & Kirkwood . Cranstonhill . 51.