| Full name | Coylton Coila Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | the Coila[1] | ||
| Founded | 1877 | ||
| Dissolved | 1883 | ||
| Ground | Bogside Park | ||
| Chairman/Club Patron | Claud Hamilton Esq. of Sundrum[2] | ||
| Match Secretary | Richard Thomson | ||
Coylton Coila Football Club was aScottishassociation football club based in the village ofCoylton,Ayrshire.
The club was founded in 1877[3] out of acurling club.[4] By 1879 it had enough members to form 2 sides.[5] The club was named afterCoila, the muse of national bardRobert Burns.
The club entered theScottish Cup for the first time in 1880–81. In the first round it was drawn to playKilmarnock Portland at the latter's Hamilton Park ground.[6] Despite being a "very powerful-looking team", the village side was outmatched by the experienced Portland; the Coila conceded the first goal after ten minutes and by the end of the match had conceded seven more.[7]
Coila also played in theAyrshire Cup from 1878 to 1881. Its last tie in the competition - and seemingly its last ever match - was a semi-final defeat toAnnbank in 1880–81.[8] The club's run to the semi-final included a 5–0 win overKilmarnock, Coila opening the scoring after three minutes; one report suggested that the heavier Coila team used hard charging to intimidate the Kilmarnock side although "we are happy to say that none of the casualties have, as yet, proved fatal",[9] but another report recorded that there was only one foul given, and Kilmarnock's focus was on measuring the pitch to support a futile protest.[10]
Although the club entered both the national and local competitions in 1881–82, it scratched before its first round tie in both; it was due to meetHurlford[11] in the Ayrshire Cup andBeith in the Scottish.[12] The club was removed from theScottish Football Association roll in August 1882 for non-payment of subscriptions.[13] The club tried to make a comeback by entering the Ayrshire Cup in 1883–84, but again scratched from the competition before playing, this time because the Coila fell out with the Ayrshire FA committee.[14]
The club played in all white.[15] In the Cup tie at Portland in 1880, the club wore red and white jerseys, as Portland's regular uniform was also white jerseys and knickers.[16]
The club played at Bogside Park, 2 miles fromDrongan railway station, and 300 yards from the Coylton Arms Inn, which originally provided the club's facilities.[17] In 1881 the club found a club house on premises in New Coylton,[18] owned by Matthew Leggatt, landlord of the Finlayson Arms.[19]
