Stenhousemuir Football Club is a Scottish

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

located in Stenhousemuir,

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

. They are a member of the

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

and currently play in after achieving automatic promotion from Scottish League Two in 2024. Through much of its history, the team has competed in the lower leagues of Scottish football. In September 2009, Stenhousemuir Football Club, Ltd. was re-registered as a Community Interest Company.

History

1884–1989

The club claim to have been founded in 1884 following a breakaway from a local team called Heather Rangers.A Brief History of Stenhousemuir Football Club
www.stenhousemuirfc.com Retrieved 2011-06-02. However this cannot be substantiated through contemporary accounts, for instance it appears Heather Rangers did not exist until much later. There was a Stenhousemuir FC in existence between 1881 and 1885 with the current club not being reported in the press until 1886. Stenhousemuir Thistle Cricket Club was in existence c.1881. A reference to a "2nd Stenhousemuir (Windsor)", i.e. a reserve XI, match is made on 18 May 1882. A "Stenhousemuir (Larbert)" away match to Alloa Athletic is listed on 9 September 1882, with Vale of Bannock v Stenhousemuir Thistle on 16 September 1882. The team line ups for these two matches (one week apart) support Stenhousemuir and Stenhousemuir Thistle as being separate clubs. Stenhousemuir were admitted to the SFA on 21 August 1883 before being struck off from the SFA on 16 August 1885 for non-payment of subscription. This club played in the Scottish Cup in 1883–84 and 1884–85. There is further reference to a Stenhousemuir "junior" team on 13 March 1884. The club were likely not formed as a breakaway from Heather Rangers as they did not exist in 1884 but more likely c.1890. In 1890, the Warriors moved to Ochilview Park following spells at Tryst Park and Goschen Park. In the early 20th century the club had a brief spell of success, winning the

Scottish Qualifying Cup The Scottish Qualifying Cup was a football competition played in Scotland between 1895 and 2007. During that time, apart from a brief spell in the 1950s, it was the only way for non-league teams to qualify for the Scottish Cup. The Qualifying Cu ...

twice in 1901 and 1902. In 1902–03, the club reached the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers. The 1921–22 season saw Stenhousemuir compete for the first time in senior Scottish League Football. In 1925–26, Stenhousemuir

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Joe Shortt was offered a £50 bribe to throw a match against Broxburn United, but he rejected the offer and the Warriors won the match 6–2. A

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

from the Bainsford district of

, was subsequently jailed for attempted

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

. In 1928, the wooden grandstand at Ochilview Park burnt down in a fire, which led to a new stand being built in its place, although staircases reputedly had to be added later due to planning errors. The 1936–37 season saw the club register a record victory – a 9–2 home win against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

. More than a decade later in 1949–50, a Scottish Cup quarter-final tie against East Fife drew a record crowd of 12,525 – the highest ever at Ochilview Park. On 7 November 1951, the first floodlit game between two Scottish senior teams occurred at Ochilview Park, a friendly match between Stenhousemuir and Hibernian. The floodlights had been paid for three years earlier by Tommy Douglas, a butcher in King Street, Stenhousemuir. In the middle of 1964, Rangers revealed a plan to The Scottish Football League to remove the Warriors from the league, along with four other clubs, on the basis that they were poorest-supported clubs over the previous three seasons.Move to Oust 5 Football Clubs Halted
1964-05-26, Londonhearts.com. Four years later, Stenhousemuir, along with Albion Rovers, Berwick Rangers, Brechin City and

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

, with support from a number of clubs, including

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, Hamilton Academical and Airdrieonians, defeated the plan. In 1972–73, the Warriors defeated Rangers 2–1 at

Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Scottish Premiership team Rangers, Ibrox is the third-largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated ca ...

in Second Round 2nd leg of the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

. Notably, Rangers were the holders of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

at the time. Rangers progressed 6–2 on aggregate having previously won the 1st leg 5–0 at Ochilview.

1990–present

In 1992–93, the Club allowed their rivals Stirling Albion to

groundshare A groundshare, also known as a shared stadium or shared arena, is the principle of sharing a stadium between two local sports teams. This is usually done for the purpose of reducing the costs of either construction of two separate facilities and ...

at Ochilview Park. In the 1993–94 season, the Warriors were moved out of the bottom league for the first time, due to the formation of the Scottish Third Division. The mid-1990s would go on to be one of the club's most successful periods in its history. In 1994–95 they defeated St Johnstone 4–0 and

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

2–0, both higher league opposition, en route to the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

5–4 on penalties after a goalless 90 minutes and

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. In the process they reached their first national semi-final since season 1902–03. In 1997–98, Stenhousemuir were relegated from the Scottish Second Division to the Scottish Third Division for the first time in the history of the club. However, the next season (1998–99) the Warriors won promotion back to the Second Division, also for the first time in the history of the club. In 2006–07, the Club installed a new synthetic surface at Ochilview Park. It became the first in the UK to pass the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

2 Star category accreditation. A new synthetic surface was installed in the summer of 2014. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Stenhousemuir were promoted back to the Scottish Second Division (having been relegated from there in season 2002–03) after defeating Cowdenbeath 5–4 on penalties, this after drawing 0–0 on aggregate in the play-off final. The 2010–11 season saw the Club narrowly avoid another relegation after spending most of the season in the bottom two positions. On the final day of the season the club defeated Peterhead 3–0 to move above Alloa Athletic and therefore avoided the relegation play-offs. In 2013 Stenhousemuir reached their second Challenge Cup Semi-Final by beating Dundee on penalties after drawing 1–1 but went on to lose 1–0 to Rangers. In January 2014, after parting company with Martyn Corrigan, the Warriors appointed Scott Booth as their new manager. Booth was relieved of his duties on 1 February 2015 after winning just 12 from 42 games and failing to record any back to back victories. Assistant manager Brown Ferguson took temporary charge for the second time, and the club announced on 2 April 2015 that 'Bomber' Brown would take over as manager on a full-time basis for the 2015–16 season. After a poor season in 2016–17, the club found itself relegated to Scottish League Two. However, the club came straight back up the following season despite finishing in fourth spot, winning promotion through the play-offs after beating Queen's Park in the play-off semi-finals and then Peterhead in the final. 2018–19 saw the club relegated back to League Two after defeat to Annan Athletic in the play-offs. After five seasons in Scottish League Two Stenhousemuir won the first league championship in their 140 year history, winning the

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

on 6 April 2024 after a 0–0 draw with East Fife.

Supporters and rivalries

Stenhousemuir Supporters' Trust is the official supporters' club of Stenhousemuir FC. It is a democratic organisation based on one vote per person, and its committee is elected every year by the members. It is the largest shareholder in the club with about 11% of the shares with the aim to increase the shareholding so that no individual(s) can wrest the control of the club away from its supporters. The club also draws much international support: the Norwegian Supporters' Club is a small supporters' organisation based in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The Supporters Club was founded on New Year's Eve 1992 by Rolf Erik Wulff, Christian Wulff and Kjell Jarslett. In 1996 it was given one share of Stenhousemuir F.C. as a recognition of their support and promotion of the club. As of today, the supporters club and its members owns about 5% of the shares in Stenhousemuir. Stenhousemuir FC also has Danish support. The Denmark-based supporters club is an unofficial Warriors fan club founded and established in the summer 2000. The fan club has approximately 30 members. Stenhousemuir Supporters Trust, also known as The 'Warriors Supports Trust' is registered with the Financial Services Agency as a not-for-profit Industrial and Provident Society. It was established in 2003. It works with the Board of the football club and the Supporters Club to develop a more successful football club. The annual membership subscription of the Trust is £5 but Trust members can take out either a 'silver' membership of £5 a month, or a 'gold' membership of £10 a month. The cash obtained from membership of the Trust is used to buy shares the football club has for sale, and hence the club benefits financially. Since its inception the Trust has given money to the club and its members have given their time and labour towards several projects. The current Chairman of the Stenhousemuir Supporters Trust is Graeme Wallace, who is also the stadium announcer at Ochilview. Notable fans include ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'' actor Isiah Whitlock and

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

star

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knig ...

. The biggest rivals are East Stirlingshire with whom they share a fierce local rivalry, as they are both from the Falkirk area and have frequently played in the same division as well as sharing the same stadium for a period.Stenhousemuir 1 v 1 East Stirlingshire
Stenhousemuir F.C.. 22 November 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2013.Derby day for Stenny and Shire
''

Falkirk Herald ''The Falkirk Herald'' is a weekly newspaper and daily news website published by JPIMedia, National World. It provides reportage, opinion and analysis of news, current affairs and sport in the towns of Falkirk, Camelon, Grangemouth, Larbert, Ste ...

''. 21 April 2005. Retrieved 16 March 2013. There is a smaller rivalry with

Current squad and staff

First-team squad

Club staff

Board of directors

Source:

Achievements

* Scottish Third Division/

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

(fourth tier): ** Winners: 2023–24 ** Runners-up: 1998–99 ** Promoted: 2008–09, 2017–18 ''(via play-offs)'' *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,1995–96 *

: ** Winners (2): 1900–01, 1901–02 * Stirlingshire Cup: ** Winners (11): 1899–1900, 1901–02, 1921–22, 1932–33, 1936–37, 1962–63, 1970–71, 1975–76, 1986–87, 2001–02, 2014–15 * Central Combination: ** Winners (3): 1898–99, 1900–01, 1901–02 *

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

: ** Winners: 1895–96

Records

* Biggest league victory: 9–2 v

, 16 April 1937. ''(Scottish League – Division Two)'' * Biggest league defeat: 2–11 v Dunfermline Athletic, 27 September 1930. ''(Scottish League – Division Two)'' *Biggest home

attendance Attendance is the concept of people, individually or as a group, appearing at a location for a previously scheduled event. Measuring attendance is a significant concern for many organizations, which can use such information to gauge the effective ...

: 12,525 v East Fife, 11 March 1950. ''(Scottish Cup Quarter-Final)''

References

External links

* {{Scottish Football League Football clubs in Scotland Football in Falkirk (council area) Association football clubs established in 1884 Scottish Football League teams 1884 establishments in Scotland Scottish Challenge Cup winners Scottish Professional Football League teams Stenhousemuir