Full name | Irvine Academicals Football Club | |
---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | the Acas | |
Founded | 1902 | |
Dissolved | 1905 | |
Secretary | A. P. MacLachlan | |
Irvine Academicals F.C. was a football club from the town of Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland.
The club was formed in late 1902 to provide a pure amateur side in the town, and had no exclusive link with the Irvine Academy; the club secretary, MacLachlan, had been involved with Glasgow University F.C., and it also had interest from Moffat and Fletcher from Queen's Park. [1]
The club had a bright start, beating the Ayr amateur side Ayr Parkhouse 2–1 in its first match, [2] and proved a popular attraction in the town, a good crowd defying the rain to support the side against a Scottish Amateur XI in February 1903. [3]
The club duly joined the Scottish Football Association in August 1903 [4] and entered the Scottish Qualifying Cup competition. The club however lost 6–0 at Kilwinning Eglinton in the first round, a result which "was in no way surprising". [5]
Undaunted, the club also entered the Ayrshire and Renfrewshire Football League, which was undertaking its first season in 1903–04, with six entrants. The Acas drew 2–2 with Paisley Academical in a "pleasant" first match, [6] but lost the other 4 matches it played before withdrawing from the competition. [7]
The Acas therefore found succour in the Scottish Amateur Football League, [8] but withdrew after losing its first two matches. [9]
Despite this first season of almost total blanks, it entered the Qualifying Cup again for 1904–05, but scratched when drawn to visit Beith. [10] Indeed, the club does not seem to have played at all in the season [11] and it was struck from the Scottish FA roll in August 1905. [12]
The club played in blue and white. [13]
The club's ground was at Kersland Field. [14]