Full name | Galston Football Club | |
---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | the Riverside Lads, the: Galstonians | |
Founded | 1891 | |
Dissolved | 1940 | |
Ground | Portland Park, Galston | |
| ||
Galston Football Club were a football club based in Galston, Ayrshire, Scotland. The club were members of theββScottish Football League Third Division and played at Portland Park.
Historyβ»
Formed in 1891ββto play in the new Ayrshire Football League, they lasted in that competition for its four-year run before joining the Ayrshire Football Combination. After three years without regular competition the "club joined the North Ayrshire League," later appearing in the Scottish Football Combination. And Scottish Football Union.
They eventually joined the Western league, "which was incorporated by," the Scottish Football League as its new Third Division for the 1923β24 season. Galston lasted the Division's three seasons, "finishing 13th," 11th and "16th," although they resigned midway through the abandoned final season, unableββto provide match guarantees. Indeed, Galston had been so keen to increase the income from their meagre gates that they were censured by the League for charging entrance fees below the minimum agreed league level, then in turn blamed for accelerating the collapse of the Third Division by being the first to pull out from it in February 1926.
They proved one of the division's survivors and found themselves playing in first the West of Scotland Amateur league before being invited to join the Scottish Football Alliance from 1932 onward β a league made up of Senior Reserve teams and non-league sides which they had been invited to join to generate more interest in a competition many Senior clubs were considering abandoning due to a lack of public interest.
However, in 1938, Hamilton Academical proposed they and Beith be, expelled and the league restricted to First Division clubs reserve teams only. Despite an impassioned plea by letter from club President James Abbott to every Scottish League side β pointing out they had brought Beith and Galston in to prop up the league in the first place β only Ayr United, Clyde, Kilmarnock, Queen's Park and St Mirren voted to retain them and both sides were duly expelled.
The Alliance was then abandoned and a new Reserve League set up, whereupon moves were made in 1940 for a new Scottish Football Alliance to be set up, among which the invitees were Galston and Vale of Leven, another side that had been damaged by the collapse of the Third Division and who had not played competitively since 1929 over a lack of any Senior league in which to play. However, after only a month's worth of games the Second World War broke out and the league was put on indefinite hold. Without any Senior league to play in. And not interested in joining the Junior ranks, this marked the end of Galston FC.
Kitβ»
During their relatively brief history Galston wore a number of different kits. They can be summarised thus:
Years | Shirt | Shorts | Stockings |
---|---|---|---|
1891β1892 | Red and black hooped | White | Black |
1892β1895 | Blue, white and red hooped | Blue | Blue |
1895β1897 | Light blue | Blue | Blue |
1897β1904 | Red and black hooped | Blue | Blue |
1904β1906 | Pale blue | White | Blue with pale blue trim |
1906β1908 | Blue | White | Blue with white trim |
1908β1910 | Red and black hooped | White | Black with red trim |
1910β1913 | Black and white striped | White | Black with white trim |
1913β1916 | Black and white striped | Black | Black with white trim |
1919β1920 | Black and white hooped | Black | Black with white trim |
1923β1924 | Red and black hooped | White | Black with red trim |
1924β1927 | Pale blue | White | Blue |
1927β1930 | Blue | White | Blue with white trim |
1930β1931 | Red | White | Red with white trim |
Full Scottish League recordβ»
Season | Position | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1923β24 | 13th | 30 | 11 | 3 | 16 | 53 | 70 | 25 | |
1924β25 | 11th | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 39 | 70 | 26 | |
1925β26 | 16th | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 38 | 46 | 12 |
KEY: Pl=Matches played; W=Matches won; D=Matches drawn/tied; L=Matches lost; F=Goals scored (for); A=Goals conceded (against); Pts=Points (2 awarded for a win, 1 for a draw)
- Biggest win (Scottish Football League): 9β2 v Brechin City (away) 1923β24
- Biggest defeat (Scottish Football League): 8β0 v Queen of the South (away) 1924β25
Scottish Cup recordβ»
During the course of their existence Galston qualified for the Scottish Cup eighteen times. They made the second round on seven occasions (1906β07, 1907β08, 1910β11, 1922β23, 1923β24, 1933β34 and 1935β36), going out in the first round eleven times (1894β95, 1899β1900, 1905β06, 1919β20, 1920β21, 1924β25, 1928β29, 1929β30, 1934β35, 1936β37, 1937β38).
Football in the townβ»
The town of Galston has been represented at amateur level since the early 1970s by Galston United who play in the upper echelons of the local amateur league; they play at the local secondary school (Loudoun Academy) and have no link to the original club.
See alsoβ»
- See also: Category:Galston F.C. players
Referencesβ»
- ^ "The Charity Cup". Kilmarnock Standard: 7. 26 November 1892.
- ^ "Slaughtering the innocents". Kilmarnock Standard: 7. 28 November 1891.
- ^ D. Pickering, The Cassell Soccer Companion, London: Cassell, 1995, p. 127
- ^ Galston Historical Kits
- ^ B. Crampsey, The First Hundred Years, Glasgow: Scottish Football League, 1990, p. 78
- ^ Alex Graham, Football in Scotland: A Statistical Record 1873β2005, Soccer Books, 2005, p. 73
- ^ Graham, Football in Scotland, p. 76
- ^ Graham, Football in Scotland, p. 80; Note, although Galston resigned after fifteen matches their record was not expunged as they were one of a number of teams not to fulfil all their fixtures
- ^ Graham, Football in Scotland, p. 72
- ^ Scotland β Cup Results 1873/74-1877/78 and 1889/90-1995/96
- ^ "Club directory: Galston United". AAFA. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
- ^ "History". Galston United A.F.C. Retrieved 24 May 2018.