Draft:History of Kilmarnock F.C.

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Kilmarnock Football Club – known as Kilmarnock or by the nickname Killie – is a Scottish association football club founded in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire in the late 1860s and is one of the founding members of the Scottish Football Association. Killie took part in the first competitive football match in Scotland in 1873 and moved to their current home ground, Rugby Park in 1877. They were founding members of the Scottish Football Alliance in 1891 and competed in the league for two seasons before joining the Ayrshire Football Combination in 1893 and the Scottish Football League in 1895.

Kilmarnock's first national success came in 1897 when they won the Scottish Qualifying Cup for the only time; reaching the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup in the same season. The following year, Killie reached the final of the Scottish Cup for the first time, finishing runners-up to Rangers, and won the Division Two title. In 1899, they were elected to Division One for the first time after successfully retaining the Division Two title with an unbeaten record. After maintaining their Division One status, the club won the Scottish Cup twice in the 1920s after the competition's resumption following the First World War and reached the final a further three times in the 1930s. However, Kilmarnock was inactive during the Second World War with Rugby Park used as a munitions store by the British Army throughout the conflict.

Killie's heyday came in the late 1950s to the mid 1960s when they finished runners-up in the League Cup three times, the Scottish Cup twice and Division One four times before winning the league title for the first time in 1965. It was one of the closest league championships with Kilmarnock winning the league by 0.04 of a goal after a 2–0 win against title rivals Heart of Midlothian in the final match.

After reaching the semi-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1967, a period of decline followed with Kilmarnock yo-yoing between the top two tiers throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1989, they were relegated to the third tier for the only time before returning to top tier – known as the Premier Division at the time – under manager Tommy Burns in 1993. A period of stability followed with Killie winning the Scottish Cup in 1997 and the League Cup in 2012 before being relegated in 2021. However, Kilmarnock were promoted back to the Premiership the following season.

Foundation and early years (1868–1918)[edit]

The exact date of Kilmarnock's founding is unknown[1] but it is intertwined with the founding of Kilmarnock Rugby Football Club.[2] Kilmarnock RFC was founded in 1868[3] and the founders of both clubs were one and the same.[2] Kilmarnock FC is commonly quoted, and stated by the club itself, to have been founded in 1869 in reference to the first written record that exists of the club.[4][5] This was an advert for a general meeting published in the Kilmarnock Standard on 2 January 1869:

A GENERAL MEETING of the above club will be held in Robertson's Temperance Hotel, on Tuesday First, at 8 o'clock, p.m. John Wallace, Secy.[6]

Football had taken place in the town since October 1868 after the town's sporting enthusiasts sought an alternative sport for the winter months.[1][2] The first matches were played at Rugby Park among club members and resembled more of a hybrid between football and rugby. No record of the outcome of these matches exists.[1]

In December 1872, Queen's Park Football Club wrote to Kilmarnock firstly to ask to play a match under association rules which was refused as, at the time, Kilmarnock was a rugby club. However, Queen's Park again wrote in March 1873 seeking to establish a cup competition. A split in the membership occurred as some were still inclined to stick to rugby but others sought to play football. As a result, the football and rugby clubs split and went their separate ways.[1]

As no members of the football could attend the meeting at the Dewar's Hotel in Glasgow that Queen's Park had invited them to, a letter of support was sent and Kilmarnock became founding members of the Scottish Football Association.[1][7][8] As founder members, Kilmarnock's subscription fee went towards the cost of the trophy for the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup which would first be competed for in 1873–74.[9] The draw pitted Kilmarnock against Renton in what would be the first competitive football match in Scotland. The teams played off at the neutral Hampden Park in Crosshill on 18 October 1873. Killie had the disadvantage of playing the entire game with 10 men and, with those players more used to playing rugby than football, they lost 2–0.[10][11]

Later that season, Kilmarnock would play their first home match against Queen's Park – losing 9–0 against a team which, at the time, had never conceded a goal – before recording their first victory – a 1–0 win over Paisley on 27 December 1873.[1]

The following season, Killie again entered the Scottish Cup and recorded their first competitive win in the first round as they overcame Vale of Leven Rovers 4–0 at the Grange. However, they fell at the second hurdle after losing 3–0 at the same venue to Eastern.[12]

First Scottish Cup win (1919–1945)[edit]

Back from hiatus (1946–1955)[edit]

Heyday (1956–1971)[edit]

Post-title decline (1971–1989)[edit]

Revival and top-flight stability (1990–2020)[edit]

Relegation and return (2021–present)[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Ross, David (1994). Killie, The Official History, 125 Years of Kilmarnock FC. Middlesex: Yore Publications. ISBN 1-874427-75-5.
  2. ^ a b c Cairns, Richard; Livingston, John (2019). 150 Years in the Making. Kilmarnock: Kilmarnock Football Club.
  3. ^ "Kilmarnock Rugby Football Club - can you help ?". Kilmarnock and District History Group. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  4. ^ "History, honours and records". Kilmarnock Football Club. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Kilmarnock Foot-ball Club". Kilmarnock Standard. 2 January 1869.
  7. ^ "Brief History of the Scottish Football Association". Scottish Football Association. Archived from the original on 1 July 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  8. ^ Mathers, Stewart (2017). The Beautiful Dribbling Game: The Scottish F.A. Challenge Cup in the 19th Century. Great Britain: Amazon. ISBN 978-0-9956998-0-9.
  9. ^ Scottish F.A. Cup 1873–2017: The Complete Results. Cleethorpes: Soccer Books. 2017. pp. 2–3. ISBN 978-1-86223-366-9.
  10. ^ "The Scottish Cup – Then and Now". Scottish Football Association. Archived from the original on 27 June 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  11. ^ Livingston, John (19 March 2020). "Kilmarnock in History: The very first steps". Kilmarnock Football Club. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  12. ^ Livingston, John (24 March 2020). "Kilmarnock in History: Birth of the Ayrshire Cup". Kilmarnock FC. Retrieved 1 September 2023.

https://www.scottishsporthistory.com/uploads/3/3/6/0/3360867/kilmarnock_history_1919.pdf

Category:Kilmarnock F.C. Category:History of association football clubs in Scotland

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