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 ...

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

Falkirk council area Falkirk ( ; ; ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one of three parts of the Central r ...

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins can b ...

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,East Fife on 11 March

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

.

History

Stenhousemuir F.C. was founded in 1884 following the breakaway from a local team called ''Heather Rangers''. The club played at two other grounds, Tryst Park and Goschen Park, before moving to Ochilview in 1890.A Brief History of Stenhousemuir Football Club
Stenhousemuir F.C. Retrieved 16 May 2012. The name ''Ochilview'' derives from the nearby

Ochil Hills The Ochil Hills (; ) is a range of hills in Scotland north of the River Forth, Forth valley bordered by the cities of Stirling, Perth, Scotland, Perth and the towns of Alloa, Kinross, and Auchterarder . The only major roads crossing the hil ...

which are visible from the stadium.Ochilview
Stenhousemuir F.C. Retrieved 16 May 2012. In 1928 a new main stand was constructed with bench seating for 310 spectators. It was built to replace the previous stand which was gutted by a fire on 2 April that year. Club folklore has it that during the build it was discovered late into the project that the architect had omitted plans for access to the seating area which had to be quickly rectified; two external staircases were added later. Ochilview - geograph

Ochilview Park recorded its largest official attendance on 11 March 1950, when 12,525 spectators attended the club's

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,quarter-final tie against East Fife. A year later, Ochilview wrote itself into Scottish football history when it was the venue of the first ever floodlit match in Scotland, during a friendly against

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 ...

on 7 November 1951.Scottish Football Ground Guide – Ochilview Park
, ''scottishgrounds.co.uk''. 1 January 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012. In 1994, Stenhousemuir were considering relocation, having provisionally agreed to sell Ochilview to the Safeways supermarket chain for £2.5 million. The scheme, however, was frustrated by planning regulations, and instead it was decided to upgrade the existing stadium. At the end of season 1994–95, the covered terracing on the south side of Ochilview was removed to make way for a new 626 seater main stand. The new stand, which opened in season 1996–97, was subsequently named as the Norway Stand due to a sponsorship deal with Stenhousemuir's Norwegian supporters' club. It is now the only seated accommodation available at the ground, as the old main stand opposite had to be demolished in April 1999 after being refused a safety certificate. The north side of the ground is now largely used for car-parking.

Ground-sharing

Ochilview Park has played host to several ground-sharing agreements throughout its history from clubs near Stenhousemuir in towns such as

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

and

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

. However, the first to do so was Stenhousemuir Juniors in the late 1900s for one season in 1909–10. EastStirlingvDundeeUnited-20090111

The next club to share the ground was

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

who played their home games at Ochilview for the 1992–93 season whilst the club's previous home of

Annfield Stadium Annfield Stadium was a football stadium in Stirling, Scotland. The stadium was home to Stirling Albion F.C. for almost 50 years until 1993 when it closed after Stirling Albion moved to Forthbank Stadium. History Before World War II, King's Pa ...

was demolished. The club moved to their new home of

Forthbank Stadium Forthbank Stadium is a football stadium in Stirling, Scotland. Opened in 1993, it has been the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Stirling Albion since then. Since 2013 it has also hosted the first team matches of Lowland ...

in 1993. Other close rivals and neighbours to have shared the stadium include

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

in 2003–04, who did the same as Stirling Albion by sharing the ground for one season, whilst their home of

Brockville Park Brockville Park was a football stadium located on Hope Street in Falkirk, Scotland, north-west of the town centre. It was the home of Falkirk F.C. from 1885 until the end of 2002–03 Scottish football season.

was demolished and replaced by the

Falkirk Stadium The Falkirk Stadium is an all-seater association football, football stadium in Falkirk, central Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Falkirk F.C., Falkirk and Lowland Football League club East Stirlingshire F.C., East ...

on the outskirts of the town. Marquee-type stands were erected on the north and east sides of the ground to temporarily raise the ground's capacity to 5,267 during Falkirk's period of tenancy. The next club to ground share at Ochilview was the other Falkirk club

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins can b ...

, who played at the venue for a number of years commencing from the 2008–09 season, having moved from their ground at

Firs Park Firs Park was a football stadium in Falkirk, Scotland, which was the home of East Stirlingshire F.C. between 1921 and 2008. It was located on Firs Street, 0.3 miles north-east of the town centre. At the time of closing the ground had a capacit ...

the previous season. The agreement was initially intended to be for a period of five years, during which the club hoped to develop a new venue in Falkirk.Shire explain Firs Park Departure

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

. 30 April 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2011. In April 2018 it was announced that East Stirlingshire had agreed to play their home games at the Falkirk Stadium from the start of the 2018–19 season, signalling the end of a decade-long relationship with Ochilview for the club.

East of Scotland League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior 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 Lowland Football League. Fo ...

side

Syngenta Syngenta Global AG is a global agricultural technology company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. It primarily covers crop protection and seeds for farmers. Syngenta is part of the Syngenta Group, entirely owned by Sinochem, a Chinese state ...

, originally based in Grangemouth, agreed a ground share at Ochilview in 2021.

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

side Queen's Park would also briefly use the facilities in 2022 for the first few months of the 2022–23 season, while waiting for their new stadium of

Lesser Hampden Lesser Hampden is a football stadium in Mount Florida, Glasgow, Scotland, owned by Queen's Park F.C. and located immediately beside the western end of the national stadium, Hampden Park. Since 2023 its sponsored name has been The City Stadium ...

to complete its renovations.

Structure and facilities

Apart from the new main stand, only one side of the ground is usually in use for spectators, this being the terracing at the Tryst Road end (west). In season 2004–05, a new roof was installed here, constructed by club volunteers. The former grass banking at the east end of Ochilview was removed some years ago, and the area has since been flattened and replaced with artificial pitches for community use. The hard standing at this end of the ground has occasionally been used to accommodate standing spectators at higher profile games in recent years. Ochilview Park today has a total capacity of . Ochilview boasts a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

approved two star synthetic surface.Stenhousemuir Football Club 3rd FIFA recommended 2 STAR
GreenFields Sports Turf Systems. Retrieved 16 May 2012.

Other uses

In 1926–27,

greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a dog breed, breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Some are kept as show dogs or pets. Greyhounds are defined as a tall, muscular, smooth-c ...

racing was introduced to raise revenue.

Transport

The closest railway station to Ochilview Park is

Larbert railway station Larbert railway station is a railway station serving Larbert near Falkirk, Scotland. History The station was built by the Scottish Central Railway, opening on 1 March 1848. It is located on the main line from to Stirling and near to the tri ...

which is within a 15-minute walk of the stadium being approximately 1.0 km (0.6 miles) distant. The station is located on the main

Edinburgh to Dunblane Line 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 ...

and the

Croy Line The Croy Line is a suburban railway route linking Glasgow Queen Street and Croy in Scotland. It is part of the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport network. Following completion of the project to reopen the line to Alloa to passenger ser ...

from

Glasgow Queen Street Glasgow Queen Street () is a passenger railway terminus serving the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the smaller of the city's two mainline railway terminals (the larger being Glasgow Central) and is the third-busiest station in Scotland ...

, which alternates between

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; , possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where some say it ceases to ...

and

Dunblane Dunblane (, ) is a town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links to much of the Central Be ...

via

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

.

References

*Inglis, Simon (1997) ''Football Grounds of Britain'', CollinsWillow, London *Moulds, Peter; Richardson, James (1984). ''The Warriors: A Centenary History of Stenhousemuir Football Club'', Stenhousemuir Football Club, Larbert. .

External links

{{Football venues in Scotland East Stirlingshire F.C. Falkirk F.C. Stenhousemuir F.C. Stirling Albion F.C. Football venues in Scotland Sports venues in Falkirk (council area) Scottish Football League venues Scottish Professional Football League venues Sports venues completed in 1890 Lowland Football League venues Stenhousemuir Queen's Park F.C.

History

Ground-sharing

Structure and facilities

Other uses

Transport

See also

References

External links