Johnstone Athletic Football Club was a

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 ...

club based in

Johnstone Johnstone (,
) is a town in the

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

, in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

History

The club was one of three senior clubs in Johnstone formed in 1878, along with Cartside, Johnstone F.C., and Johnstone Rovers. It quickly became the biggest side in the town, with 140 members, compared to Johnstone's 90 and the Rovers' 120, by 1880, which also made it the biggest side in Renfrewshire. It was the only club from the town to enter the first

Renfrewshire Cup The Renfrewshire Cup was an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final was generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest team ...

, in 1878–79, although the club lost in the first round to the 23rd R.R.V. by 2 goals to 0. The appetite for football in Johnstone was such that the clubs formed their own Johnstone association, which created a cup competition from 1878 to 1879; the tie between the Athletics and Johnstone in September 1879, which ended 2–2, was attended by a crowd of 2,000, as was the second replay (at Mossdale Park), won 1–0 by Johnstone. The Athletic was the first in the town to enter the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1879–80. Its first season in the competition was its most successful. After getting a walkover in the first round, the Athletic beat Cartvale 6–0 (plus one disputed) in the second round and

Kennishead Kennishead (, )
is a neighbourhood in the

Rob Roy of Callander. The Athletic entered the Scottish Cup for the next four years, but lost in the first round every time. Its record in the Renfrewshire Cup was little better. Only in 1883–84 did the club win more than one tie; in the first round the club walked off the pitch when 6–3 down to the Sir John Maxwell and lost a replay 2–1 in extra time, but successfully protested that the Sir John had arrived 25 minutes late - despite being at home - and the Sir John was disqualified. In the second the club beat Clippens in a "somewhat rough game" 4–0 but, at 4–1 down to

Thornliebank Thornliebank ( Scots: ''Thonliebank'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach nan Dealgan'') is a suburban area in East Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, it is located on the Auldhouse Burn about ...

in the quarter-final, the Athletic walked off with 35 minutes to go and put in a protest regarding the weather, to no avail. With the growth of under-the-counter professionalism, Johnstone was too small a town to host three senior football sides; as early as 1881 the Johnstone chairman, Bailie Love, made tentative suggestions of combining the Johnstone and Athletic teams. The Athletic was the first to dissolve; although it had started out as the largest side in the area, it was soon overtaken in members by Rovers and ability by Johnstone (who won the first three Johnstone & District Cups), and in terms of membership size also by the clubs from Paisley. The club's last activity was hosting athletic games - which included a 4-a-side tournament, won by

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

- in July 1884. It did not pay its subscription for the 1884–85 season and was removed from the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

roll. The name was taken up by a Junior club in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Colours

The club originally played in navy blue jerseys and knickers, and navy blue and white stockings. It adopted white knickers in 1883.

Ground

The club played at Mossbank Park, 5 minutes' walk from the station.

External links

Scottish Cup results

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1878 Association football clubs disestablished in 1884 Football in Renfrewshire 1878 establishments in Scotland 1884 disestablishments in Scotland Johnstone