Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...
.
History
The club was founded in 1868. Although not a club with an explicitly Irish identity, the club was formed by Irish workers in the Lanarkshire area, originally played on a field owned by Major Archibald Gerard, a practising
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, and tended to attract players of Irish origin.
It was one of the first clubs to play association football in the world. Its match against Queen's Park in June 1870, played to 14 per side, was Queen's Park fourth association match. It remained the only senior club in Airdrie until the foundation of Clarkston in 1877 and
Excelsior
Excelsior may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry
* "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
* "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...
in 1878.
The club entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1875–76, its first Cup tie against
Hamilton
Hamilton may refer to:
* Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
* ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
ending in a goalless draw, although Airdrie played "apparently with the motive that charging was the sole motive and end of the game". Its best runs in the competition came in the three seasons between 1880–81 and 1882–83, when it reached the third round, albeit in 1881–82 thanks in part to a first round bye. In the third round that year, the club held
Shotts
Shotts is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The town has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertra ...
to a draw in the original tie, which was the closest the club came to the fourth round.
Airdrie was also one of the founder members of the Lanarkshire Football Association, and one of the entrants to the first
Lanarkshire Cup
The Lanarkshire Cup was an annual competition open to football teams in the Lanarkshire area. The competition is now defunct. The Lanarkshire FA was dissolved in June 1999 when it was merged with the Ayrshire and Renfrewshire FAs to form the Wes ...
in 1879–80. Its best run in the competition was in 1881–82, when it was one of the three semi-finalists, but lost 2–0 to
Cambuslang
Cambuslang (, from ) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th-largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a town hall, it may also be cons ...
; the game ended prematurely after Airdrie's nominated umpire attacked one of the Cambuslang players, which sparked a general brouhaha. Its biggest competitive win came in the Lanarkshire in 1884, with an 11–0 win at home to Rutherglen Clydesdale.
Despite the head start in the town, Airdrie soon fell behind the other clubs in the locality, given the other clubs' recruitment policies were more catholic than Catholic. Airdrie had 60 members in 1877, but by 1878 its membership had reduced to 25, with Clarkston and Excelsior claiming 30 members each. The club never caught back up with its rivals - indeed by 1881 its membership had dropped to 20 and it was forced to move back to Major Gerard's estate.
The number of games the club played also diminished, with only 5 matches in 1883–84. By 1884 the club was dwarfed by Airdrieonians - the new name for Excelsior - which boasted nearly six times as many members, and even the similarly moribund Airdriehill had a larger membership than Airdrie. Airdrie's last Scottish Cup entry was in 1884–85, and was a first round defeat to
Shettleston
Shettleston (, ) is an area in the Glasgow#East End, east end of Glasgow in Scotland.
Toponymy
The origin of the name "Shettleston" is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multitude of spellings. A papal bu ...
at neutral
Coatbridge
Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...
; it was Shettletson's only win in 7 Scottish Cup entries. Airdrie's last competitive match was a 7–2 defeat to Airdrieonians in the 1884–85 Lanarkshire Cup second round, and the formal end for the club was its being struck from the SFA's register in August 1885.
Colours
Its original colours were blue and scarlet jerseys and hose, with white knickers.
In 1882 the club changed to white jerseys and knickers with black and white hose; in 1884 it added green tassels to the shirts, and changed the knickers and hose to green, perhaps reflecting its Irish links.
Grounds
The club played at the following grounds:
*1868: the Rochsoles Estate, owned by Major Gerard
*by 1876: a pitch "three-quarters of a mile from town", the nearest station being South Side
*1877–78: Academy Park, 200 yards from Airdrie railway station
*1878–81 : Cairnhill Park, 5 minutes south of the station
*1881–84: Rochsoles
*1884–85: Smith's Field, between Airdrie and Coatdyke
{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed
Defunct football clubs in Scotland
Association football clubs established in 1868
1868 establishments in Scotland
Association football clubs disestablished in 1885
1885 disestablishments in Scotland
Irish diaspora sports clubs in Scotland
Airdrie, North Lanarkshire
Football in North Lanarkshire