football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
team from the
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 ...
town of
Ayr
Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...
.
History
The club was founded in October 1876, at a meeting at the Ayr Assembly Rooms, in which it was "unanimously agreed" to merge the
Ayr Academy
Ayr Academy (Scottish Gaelic: ''Acadamaidh Inbhir Àir'') is an 11–18 non-denominational secondary school situated within the Craigie Estate area at University Avenue in Ayr, South Ayrshire. It is the sixth largest secondary school in South Ayr ...
and Ayr Eglinton clubs, to form a new club, Ayr Academicals. The new club's secretary was to be the Eglinton secretary John Watt, with Eglinton captain John Holm captaining the Academicals side. The two clubs had previously been close, the Eglinton side which had played in the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1877–78, reaching the third round (last 34); in the second round the club beat
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
. The club was also a founder member of the Ayrshire Football Association and entered the first
Ayrshire Cup
The Ayrshire Cup was an annual association football regional competition in Scotland. The cup competition was a knockout tournament between football clubs in the historic county of Ayrshire. The Ayrshire Cup was first held in 1877–78, the tr ...
, losing in the first round to
Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie () is a small town of 7,280 (as of 2001) inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around southwest of Glasgow and approximately from Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley and ...
.
In 1878–79, the club lost in the second round of the Scottish Cup to
Mauchline
Mauchline (; ) is a town and civil parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. In the 2001 census Mauchline had a recorded population of 4,105. It is home to the National Burns Memorial.
Location
The town lies by the Glasgow and South Western Railway ...
, the club which had beaten the Academicals the previous year. The club did go further in the Ayrshire Cup; in the first round the club walked over Ayr Thistle and was eliminated in the fourth round (the final 6) by Kilmarnock Portland, the Portland side defending a one-goal lead through time-wasting tactics, continually sending the ball "into 'touch'".
The club entered the Scottish Cup for 1879–80, and was drawn to play Kilmarnock. This appears to have been a speculative entry, perhaps as a back-up plan, as the football club no longer existed. In April 1879, the club had merged with Ayr Thistle to form Ayr F.C., in time for a friendly match against Calthorpe F.C. of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, which was touring Scotland over Easter, and to whom Archie Hunter had recommended Ayr Thistle as an opponent. The name Ayr Academical (in the singular) survived as an athletics club.
Colours
The club played in navy shirts with a white Maltese cross badge, and white knickerbockers.
Grounds
At the initial foundation meeting, the club secured the use of the Cattle Show Ground, close to Ayr railway station, from the owner Mr Dewar. From its second season the club played at Springvale Park.
The club experimented with floodlit football in 1878, but the match (against Glasgow University F.C.) was not a success, thanks to continual rain causing intermittent blackouts.