Kennishead 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 from

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 ...

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 ...

, Scotland.

History

The club was formed in 1875, the same year as village rivals

, under the name Caledonia. The club entered 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, and reached the semi-final against

Arthurlie Arthurlie is an area of the town of Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. History of Arthurlie The lands of Arthurlie were held in medieval times by the Stewart family, a branch of the noble Stewarts of Darnley. Later the lands became the prop ...

. The Caledonia thrilled the crowd "to the greatest excitement" with a goal from a passing move involving Muirhead, M'Farlane, Wotherspoon, M'Cabe, and Brannan. Arthurlie scored a late equalizer and time ended with Caledonia in front of the Arthurlie goal. The replay however at Dunterlie Park was one-sided, a crowd of 700 seeing Arthurlie win 5–0. Cross-village rivals Thornliebank gained revenge by winning the final. The club turned senior, by joining 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 ...

, in 1879, only on the condition that it change its name, to avoid confusion with the Caledonian; the club therefore changed its name to Kennishead, after the ground where it played. Its first season as a senior club was its most successful. It reached the third round of the

1879–80 Scottish Cup The 1879–80 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the seventh season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. With 142 entrants, this season saw the largest number of teams to c ...

, after wins over Glenkilloch and Cartside, but came up short at Johnstone Athletic. Kennishead however went one better than the previous season in the Renfrewshire Cup, its run to the final including a record 12–0 win over Clydevale of

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 ...

; the home side was so dominant that the Clydevale goalkeeper was singled out for praise, "saving his charge again and again". The final was against holders Thornliebank, played at Abercorn's Blackstoun Park, and Thornliebank duly retained the trophy thanks to two second-half goals. The match was the club's high peak. The Thornliebank club had, bit by bit, been taking the better players, including the Brannan brothers and McFetridge, from the club; before the start of the 1880–81 season, Thornliebank had also secured the services of McFarlane, Moonie, Wiseman, and captain M'Cabe. The diminution of the side was made obvious by a 6–2 defeat to Cartside in the first round of the Scottish Cup and Kennishead did not even enter the Renfrewshire Cup. Kennishead's final action was entering the

1881–82 Scottish Cup The 1881–82 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the ninth season of Scotland's most prestigious Association football, football knockout competition. A total of 147 teams entered the competition, f ...

; the club was dissolved before it could play its tie against

Yoker Yoker () is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, located on the northern bank of the Clyde east of Clydebank, west of the city centre. The name is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic ''Eochair'' meaning a river bank. From the fourteenth centur ...

Colours

The club wore black and white jerseys and hose, and white knickers.

Grounds

The club played at Kennishead Park, a 3-minute walk from Kennishead station.

Notable players

* Bill McFettridge, who played for Caledonia before joining Thornliebank, and later

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1875 Association football clubs disestablished in 1881 1875 establishments in Scotland 1881 disestablishments in Scotland Football in East Renfrewshire