Lyle Athletic Football Club was a Scottish football team located in the town of
Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...
,
Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland.
Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...
.
Ladyburn
The club was founded in January 1880 under the name Ladyburn, after the park where the club played. It entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1881–82 and 1882–83, but suffered heavy first round defeats both times; at half-time in its 1881–82 tie with
Kilbarchan
Kilbarchan ( gd, Cill Bhearchain) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The village's name means "cell (chapel) of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry.
History
...
, Ladyburn was 2–1 down, but conceded six goals in the second half without replying. In 1882–83 it lost even more heavily, 10–1 at
Abercorn
Abercorn ( Gaelic: ''Obar Chùirnidh'', Old English: ''Æbbercurnig'') is a village and civil parish in West Lothian, Scotland. Close to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, the village is around west of South Queensferry. The parish had a ...
.
It also entered the
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 teams ...
for the only time in 1881–82, losing 4–2 at
Sir John Maxwell
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
in the only tie it played, the Sir John holding Ladyburn to 2–1 when playing against the wind, and scoring 3 without reply when with it.
Lyle Athletic
After the defeat to Abercorn, the club was re-founded as Lyle Athletic, named in honour of
Abram Lyle
Abram Lyle (14 December 1820 – 30 April 1891) is noted for founding the sugar refiners '' Abram Lyle & Sons'' which merged with the company of his rival Henry Tate to become Tate & Lyle in 1921.
Early life
He was born on 14 December 1820 i ...
, albeit without a number of players, who had decamped to
Morton Morton may refer to:
People
* Morton (surname)
* Morton (given name)
Fictional
* Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3''
* A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise
* A character in the 2008 film ''Horton ...
. Its first match under its new name was a 7–3 win over Aldergrove at Ladyburn Park; the club reached the semi-final of the Greenock and District Cup that season.
It entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1883–84 and 1884–85, but again lost in the first round both times, the first time 4–2 at home to Johnstone Rovers and the second time 9–1 at
Johnstone
Johnstone ( sco, Johnstoun, gd, Baile Iain) is a town ...
.
The club was always one of the smallest in the shire; even in 1884 it only had 30 members. That year, in Greenock alone, the senior clubs included
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
Southern
Southern may refer to:
Businesses
* China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China
* Southern Airways, defunct US airline
* Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US
* Southern Airways Express, M ...
,
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ...
, Morton, and the 1st R.R.V.; the Athletic was easily the smallest senior club in town. At the end of the 1884–85 season it therefore did not renew its subscription to the
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility fo ...
and continued as a junior club.
Ironically, as a junior club, Athletic gained its one win in the county competition; in the 1886–87 Renfrewshire Cup the club beat Barrhead Victoria 3–1 in the first round, played at
Port Glasgow Athletic
Port-Glasgow Athletic was a football club based in Port Glasgow, Scotland. The club was formed in 1878 and originally named Broadfield before changing their name in 1881. They played in the Scottish Football League between 1893 and 1911, and were ...
due to the loss of Bogston. In the second the club turned up late at
Neilston
Neilston ( sco, Neilstoun, gd, Baile Nèill, ) is a village and parish in East Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the Levern Valley, southwest of Barrhead, south of Paisley, and south-southwest of Renfrew, at t ...
, having missed the Port Glasgow train. It scratched from the fixture, but played a 40-minute friendly out instead, which Neilston won. The club's final match appears to have been at the start of 1889, but the name was revived for a "fast-rising" team in 1892.
Colours
As Ladyburn, the club originally wore blue jerseys and white knickers, but changed to white jerseys and knickers with a red
Maltese cross
The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically.
It is a heraldic cross variant which develop ...
in 1882. As Lyle Athletic, the club wore white jerseys and blue knickers with a white stripe.
Ground
The club's first ground was Ladyburn Park, close to
Bogston railway station
Bogston railway station is on the Inverclyde Line, at Bogston in the East end of Greenock in Inverclyde council area, Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of G ...
. From 1882 it played at Bogston Park, shared with Northern (Greenock). It lost the ground thanks to railway operations, and had to find a new one "further east", although in 1886 it once more used Ladyburn Park thanks to new tenants Rangers.