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 ...
club from
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 ...
, Scotland. The club was one of the ancestral clubs to the current
Scottish League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 k ...
club
Ayr United
Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is The Honest Men, fro ...
.
History
The club claimed a foundation date of 1869, which would have made it the earliest football club in Ayr, although there are no recorded matches for the club until the 1873–74 season. The club played both association football and
rugby football
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league.
Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...
; as an example of the fluidity in codes, in October 1873 the club lost to
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 ...
in a game played to rugby rules. By 1874 the club had 73 members.
Proximity to Ayr Eglinton
The academy did not enter the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Ayr Eglinton club, which was formed in 1875. From the Ayr Academy cricket side, the King brothers played for Eglinton in the
1875–76 Scottish Cup
The 1875–76 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the third edition of Scotland's most prestigious Association football, football knockout competition. The number of entrants nearly doubled from th ...
, and of the XI which played against the Ayr Volunteers in the 1875–76 season, two players (Sliman and Reid) played for Eglinton in the 1875–76 Cup, and another five (goalkeeper Gemmell, three members of the Highet family, and Craig) played for Eglinton in the
1876–77 Scottish Cup
The 1876–77 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the fourth season of Scotland's most prestigious Association football, football knockout competition. Entries to the competition again increased wi ...
. Academy even played Eglinton in October 1875, winning 2–0.
Merger
The final Academy match was scheduled to take place on 14 October 1876, at
Girvan
Girvan (, "mouth of the River Girvan") is a burgh and harbour town in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Girvan is situated on the east coast of the Firth of Clyde, with a population of about 6,450. It lies south of Ayr, and north of St ...
. It is not clear whether this match took place. In a meeting at the Ayr Assembly Rooms that weekend, it was "unanimously agreed" to merge the academy and Eglinton clubs, to form a new club, Ayr Academicals.
Colours
Its colours were red cap, jersey, and stockings, with white knickerbockers, and a blue Maltese cross on the left breast.
Ground
The club played at the Low Green, using the Ayr Arms on the High Street for its facilities.
Notable players
*
William Beveridge
William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge, (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963) was a British economist and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was a Progressivism, progressive, social reformer, and eugenicist who played a central role ...
earned one cap for Scotland when registered as an Ayr Academy player