Leith Athletic Football Club is 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 the

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

area of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. They compete in the

East of Scotland Football League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior association football, football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowlan ...

, First Division. First team matches are played at Meadowbank Stadium. The present club considers itself to be a continuation of the original Leith Athletic F.C., which was founded in 1887. They played in the

Scottish Football 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&nbs ...

in four different spells between 1897 and 1953, but went out of business in 1955. The name was revived at local youth level in 1996. In 2008, Leith Athletic returned to senior football when they amalgamated with Edinburgh Athletic and took the latter's place in the East of Scotland League.

History

Original club

Leith Athletic were founded in 1887 in the Port of Leith. In 1891, Leith replaced

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

side

Cowlairs Cowlairs () is an area in the Scottish city of Glasgow, part of the wider Springburn district of the city. It is situated north of the River Clyde, between central Springburn to the east and Possilpark to the west. Administratively, in the 21 ...

in the

. After a reasonable start (fourth out of 12 in

1892 In Samoa, this was the only leap year spanned to 367 days as July 4 repeated. This means that the International Date Line was drawn from the east of the country to go west. Events January * January 1 – Ellis Island begins processing imm ...

), Leith had to apply for re-election in

1894 Events January * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United States. * Ja ...

and

1895 Events January * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (off French Guiana) on what is much later admitted to be a false charge of tr ...

. They received only three votes in the latter year and were relegated to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. Leith fared rather better in the second flight, finishing second in

1896 Events January * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports Wilhelm Röntgen's dis ...

1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

and 1899, but they could not muster enough votes to be elected back into the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

. In 1905, having failed again in the end of 1905 season voting, Leith Athletic were wound up and a new limited company formed to take over the old club's assets. In 1891, Robert Clements and

Matt McQueen Matthew McQueen (18 May 1863 – 28 September 1944) was a Scottish football player, who later became a director and manager of Liverpool. Life and playing career Born in Harthill, Lanarkshire, Scotland, McQueen played for Leith Athletic (t ...

played for

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 ...

against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in Glasgow, McQueen having played a year earlier against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at Underwood Park in Paisley.

Geordie Anderson George Horsley "Geordie" Anderson (16 April 1870 – 10 February 1937) was a Scottish professional footballer. He played as a defender and, later, as a forward. Career Anderson was born in Edinburgh and played as a centre half, initially for ...

James Blessington James Blessington (28 February 1874 – 18 April 1939) was a Scottish football player (an inside right) and manager. Playing career Club Born in Linlithgow, West Lothian, Blessington began his playing career with several Edinburgh sides, includi ...

and Robert Laing would represent the

against the Scottish Alliance League and the Irish League in the 1892–93 season. Blessington was transferred to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

in June 1893 for £20, and would gain four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for Scotland against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and Ireland. Now playing as Leith F.C., the team comfortably won the Scottish Second Division championship in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

. Despite this triumph, they failed to be elected to the First Division, as runners-up Clyde and fourth placed

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

were preferred. Leith and

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...

finished level on points and were declared joint champions in

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

. Raith were promoted, but it appears that Leith did not contest the elections. The 1912–13 season saw Leith finish in last position and won re-election to stay in the league. They survived until the competition was suspended in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...

and they joined the Eastern League. Leith closed down for the duration of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1916. When the club was reformed in 1919, the old name of Leith Athletic was revived and the club joined the Western League. After playing for one season ( 1923–24) in the Scottish Alliance, Leith were admitted to the Third Division in 1924. Leith won the Third Division championship in

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

, but failed to win election to the Second Division. The club were eliminated on the chairman's casting vote in the third ballot. It was becoming apparent that the two most prominent

clubs, Heart of Midlothian and

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

were blocking attempts by Leith to progress. The abolition of the Third Division meant that Leith had to rejoin the Scottish Alliance, but in 1927 they were admitted into the Scottish League, replacing Nithsdale Wanderers. The club's fortunes improved and they won the Second Division championship in

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

and promotion to the First Division. Leith survived in the top division in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

, but were relegated in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

. The club were a middle-ranking Second Division side until the league was suspended in 1939–40. An attempt in 1945 to revive St Bernard's, who had lost their ground in 1943 through a merger with Leith Athletic came to nothing. In 1946, Leith became founder members of the new Division C (third tier). The Second Division was expanded from 14 to 16 clubs in 1947, and Leith were elected to one of the vacancies. They were relegated in

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

, however, when the third tier was split, Leith joined Division C (North & East). The C Divisions were made up largely of

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

s and Leith campaigned for the non-reserve teams to be included in the Second Division. They were not successful and were expelled in August 1953, when they refused to play any more fixtures in Division C. It was too late for the club to join another competition and the club went out of business in 1955. In a supreme irony, the two C Divisions were abandoned that summer and, just as Leith had wanted, the non-reserve sides were admitted to the Second Division.

Modern club

A new Leith Athletic was formed in 1996, primarily as a club for boys football, with teams at various age groups between the ages of 5 and 21, whilst the club's adult side joined the

Central Scottish Amateur Football League The Central Scottish Amateur Football League is a football (soccer) league competition for amateur clubs in the Central Belt The Central Belt of Scotland is the Demographics of Scotland, area of highest population density within Scotland. Depe ...

. In 2005, they attained their first Scottish amateur international, when Paul Lee played in a 2–1 win against Leinster. In the same year,

Danny Swanson Daniel Joseph Swanson (born 28 December 1986) is a Scottish footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club Cowdenbeath Swanson started his career at Scottish Third Division side Berwick Rangers before moving to Scottish Premier Leagu ...

, Douglas Thom and Shaun Woodburn were capped for the Scottish Youth Football Association under-19 team, playing against Mid Ulster and Wales. Leith Athletic amalgamated with Edinburgh Athletic in 2008 and took its place in the

. Leith were promoted to the East of Scotland Premier Division in 2011 but were relegated after one season. They regained their Premier Division place in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and later won the league when it became a single division in 2015–16.

Stadium

At the time of their election to the Scottish Football League in 1891, Leith played at Bank Park, which was renamed Beechwood Park in 1895. After the end of the 1898–99 season the club moved to St Bernard's'

New Logie Green New Logie Green was a football ground in the Powderhall area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the home ground of St Bernard's from 1889 until 1899, and was also used to host the 1896 Scottish Cup final, the only time the Scottish Cup final has ...

, where they played two league matches before moving to

Hawkhill Hawkhill was a cricket and football ground in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the home ground of Leith Athletic. History The ground was originally used by Leith Caledonian Cricket Club, before Leith Athletic started playing at ...

for the remainder of the 1899–1900 season. Between 1900 and 1904 Leith played at

Chancelot Park Chancelot Park was a football ground in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the home ground of Leith Athletic from 1900 until 1904 and again from 1919 until 1924. History Leith moved to Chancelot Park in 1900 from their Hawkhill grou ...

, before moving to

Old Logie Green Old Logie Green was a football ground in the Bonnington area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the home ground of Leith Athletic and St Bernard's between 1904 and 1926, both having previously played at the neighbouring New Logie Green ground. Hi ...

. After the SFL was suspended during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the club played some matches at Chancelot Park and Wardie Park. When the club returned to the SFL in 1924 they returned to Old Logie Green. At the end of the 1925–26 season the club moved again, this time to

New Powderhall Powderhall Stadium, formerly the Powderhall Grounds, was a multi-sports facility overlooking the Water of Leith on Beaverhall Road, in the Powderhall ( Broughton) area of northern Edinburgh, Scotland. It opened in January 1870 at the height of ...

. After only a season at New Powderhall, the club moved to

Marine Gardens The Marine Gardens was an entertainment complex located in the Portobello area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Opened in 1909 as a pleasure garden and amusement park on the shores of the Firth of Forth, most of its original attractions apart from the ...

, where they remained until moving to Meadowbank in 1936. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the ground required rebuilding, and Leith spent the 1946–47 season at the adjacent

New Meadowbank New Meadowbank was an athletics and football ground in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the home ground of Leith Athletic during the 1946–47 season. The site was later used to build the modern Meadowbank Stadium. History The ground was opened i ...

. When the original Meadowbank was reopened, it was renamed

Old Meadowbank Old Meadowbank was a multi-purpose sports facility located in the Meadowbank area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was mainly used as a football stadium by Leith Athletic between the 1930s and 1950s and as a motorcycle speedway track. The stadium was ...

. In the early 1950s an experimental floodlit match was played against an invitation XI including the then leading Arsenal player, Jimmy Logie. The reformed club played at

Leith Links Leith Links is the principal open space within Leith, the docks district of Edinburgh, Scotland. This public park is divided by a road into two main areas, a western section and an eastern section, both being largely flat expanses of grass bor ...

and Muirhouse Playing Fields before moving to the Meadowbank 3G pitch adjacent to

Meadowbank Stadium Meadowbank Stadium (officially the Meadowbank Sports Centre) is a multi-purpose sports facility located in the Meadowbank, Edinburgh, Meadowbank area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of the earlier New Meadowbank and Old Meadowbank spo ...

in 2013. When Meadowbank closed for redevelopment in December 2017, matches were relocated to Peffermill 3G.

Former players

Two players from the original Leith Athletic were

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

, who made two appearances, in 1890 and 1891; and Robert Clements, capped once in 1891.

Records

* Record attendance: 18,079 v East Fife, Division Two, 29 March 1930 (at

)

Honours

* Winners: 2015–16 East of Scotland Qualifying Cup * ''Runners-up:'' 2014–15 East of Scotland League Cup * Winners: 2014–15, 2016–17 * ''Runners-up:'' 2015–16, 2017–18 King Cup * Winners: 2015–16, 2016–17 Alex Jack Cup * Winners: 2009–10, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 *Runners-up: 2017–18

Original club

Scottish Football League Division Two 2 (two) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and the only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a Dualistic cosmology, duali ...

* Winners: 1905–06, 1909–10, 1929–30 *Runners-up: 1895–96, 1896–97, 1898–99, 1914–15 Scottish Football League Division Three *Runners-up: 1925–26, 1948–49

Scottish Qualifying Cup The Scottish Qualifying Cup was a football competition played in Scotland between 1895 and 2007. During that time, apart from a brief spell in the 1950s, it was the only way for non-league teams to qualify for the Scottish Cup. The Qualifying Cu ...

* Winners: 1905, 1909, 1925, 1948, 1949

East of Scotland Shield The East of Scotland Shield is a Scottish football trophy awarded by the East of Scotland Football Association. The only older cup competition in Scottish football is the Scottish Cup. The tournament is the third-oldest in world football st ...

* Winners: 1900–01

Rosebery Charity Cup The Rosebery Charity Cup was a football competition organised for senior clubs from the East of Scotland. History The tournament was organised by and named for an early patron of Scottish football, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery. It ...

* Winners: 1890–91, 1898–99, 1931–32, 1938–39 King Cup * Winners: 1922–23

References

* * Twydell Dave (1993). ''Rejected FC Edinburgh & District''. Yore Publishing * Aitken, John (2013). ''The Scottish Football League 125''. Scottish Non League publishing * McColl, Brian (2013). ''A - Z of Leagues & Colours''.

Scottish Football Archive 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 ...

* Nicol, N (1994). ''The Past Members of Scottish Football League''. Scottish Non League Publishing

External links

Official website

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Results and statistics for SFL entity
at ''Fitbastats'' {{Football in Edinburgh Football clubs in Edinburgh Football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1887 Association football clubs established in 1996 Association football clubs disestablished in 1954 Leith Scottish Football League teams 1887 establishments in Scotland 1954 disestablishments in Scotland 1996 establishments in Scotland East of Scotland Football League teams