Ayr Thistle Football Club was a

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 ...

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 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

Founded in 1872 out of a cricket club, Ayr Thistle originally played the

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 ...

code, but switched to

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 ...

thanks to the influence of Queen's Park. The earliest recorded match for the club was in October 1874, a 3–0 defeat 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 ...

at Low Green. The club was the biggest in Ayr in 1876, with 52 members, and one of the biggest in the county. The club first entered the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1875–76, losing 1–0 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 ...

. The following season, Thistle reached the semi-final. All of the club's victories were 1–0 wins; the second round saw revenge over Kilbirnie and the third round a surprise 1–0 win over

Dumbreck Dumbreck (; or ) is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated south of the River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the Uni ...

, after an Aitken cross was only half-cleared by M'Geoch and Henry "cleverly shot it through". The club's fourth round tie with

Partick Partick (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to the north Broo ...

ended 1–1, but Partick was disqualified for "neglecting to take advantage of the dates fixed by the Association for playing their tie" - presumably not agreeing a replay date. That put the Thistle into the quarter-final, and the club secured a replay win over

Lancefield Lancefield is a town in the Shire of Macedon Ranges local government area in Victoria, Australia north of the state capital, Melbourne, 33.6km south of Puckapunyal and had a population of at least 2,743 at the 2021 census. History The are ...

, Hugh Cunningham scoring the winner with a quarter of an hour to go, after the original tie in

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

ended 2–2. The run ended with Thistle being defeated 9–0 by

Vale of Leven The Vale of Leven () is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning ''fie ...

at a snowy

Kinning Park Kinning Park is a southern suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. It was formerly a separate police burgh between 1871 and 1905 before being absorbed by the city. In 1897, it had a population of 14,326.Govan Parish School Board, ''The Members' Year Book ...

, then home of

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

. Thistle did not concede until the 32nd minute, and the score was still only 2–0 at half-time, the second of which had been a Vale counter-attack; Vale's superior fitness told in the second half and two further Vale goals were counted as disputed. After Ayr Eglinton and

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 ...

merged to form Ayr Academicals in 1876, Thistle was briefly only the second largest club in town. Thistle was much the more active club, playing nearly three times as many matches, and in April 1878 being the first club in the town to play an English club, hosting

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

- the game unfortunately affected by Aitken breaking his collarbone early on and Forest running out 3–0 winners. However Thistle suffered a blow before the 1878–79 season when captain Archie Hunter was "poached" by

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

, and the club only won one more Cup tie (against Auchinleck Boswell in the first round in the

1878–79 Scottish Cup The 1878–79 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the sixth season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Defending champions Vale of Leven met Rangers in the final but, afte ...

). Its final competitive match - a 3–1 defeat to

Beith Beith (locally ) is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) afte ...

in the second round of the Cup - had a bizarre aftermath with a hoaxer convincing one paper that the referee had agreed to chalk off one of the Beith goals. After the Thistle was drawn to play the Academicals in the 1878–79

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 ...

, the two Ayr clubs agreed to form the Ayr Club, the new club's secretary being the Academicals' secretary Robert Highet. In 1910, Ayr merged with Ayr Parkhouse to form

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 ...

. The Ayr Thistle name was twice revived in the 1880s for unrelated clubs.

Colours

The club's colours were blue and black jerseys with white knickers.

Grounds

The club played at the Low Green, before moving to Thistle Park in 1875 and eventually Robbsland Park in 1876.

Notable players

* Archie Hunter, later an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

winner with

, played as a back for Thistle in the 1876–77 season

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs Ayr United F.C. Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1872 1872 establishments in Scotland Association football clubs disestablished in 1879 1879 disestablishments in Scotland Sport in Ayr Football in South Ayrshire