| Full name | Mauchline Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname | the Boxmakers[1] | |
| Founded | 1873 | |
| Dissolved | 1897 | |
| Ground | Connel Park, Mauchline | |
| Secretary | William Murray, John Paton | |
| League | Ayrshire Football League (1891–1892) South of Scotland Football League (1892–1993) | |
Mauchline Football Club was a senior football team based in the small town ofMauchline inEast Ayrshire.
The club was founded in 1873. Its first match against another side was in February 1874, againstAyr Academy.[2]
The club was known known as a cup team, appearing in everyScottish Cup from 1875–76 to 1885–86 (and intermittently thereafter), and often reaching the later rounds. Its best run was to the quarter-finals in1877–78, at which stage the club lost 3–1 atRenton, going behind in the first three minutes after the ball was scrimmaged into the goal, but equalizing through M'Ilveen, who put in a "beautiful long shot" from near the corner-flag which saw even the Renton fans applaud. Renton however scored two second-half goals, the first from another scrimmage, to win through.[3]
In the same season, the club won theAyrshire Cup for the only time, beatingPortland 4–2 in the final, played at Holm Quarry, the home ground for a number of other Kilmarnock sides. The match proved to be a test between the Portland's wider wing play and Mauchline's more compact forward line; Portland's opening goal was a Goldie header from a Sinclair corner, and the club went 2–1 up after Mauchline's back Wilson impeded his goalkeeper, but two goals in the last 20 minutes won the trophy for Mauchline.[4] Portland had a measure of revenge in 1878–79 by winning the Burns Cup, an invitational tournament to raise funds for a statue toRobert Burns, coming from behind to beat Mauchline 2–1 in the final - the first time the Portland had beaten the Mauchline.[5]
Mauchline was an original member theAyrshire Football League in 1891–92, but only played in it for one unsuccessful season[6] The following season it was a founder member of theSouth of Scotland Football League,[7] but the season was never played out, and the championship abandoned.
A secondMauchline Football Club was founded in 1911 and existed until 1922 although all competitions were suspended throughout the First World War, 1914–1918.[8]
The club played in blue and white hooped jerseys and hose, with white knickers.[9]
The club's ground at Connel Park was a 3-minute walk from theMauchline railway station.[10] As late as 1886 the club did not have facilities on the ground, teams having to change at the Loudoun Hotel.[11]
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)Pagan, Malcolm. Senior Non League Football in South West Scotland, Stewart Davidson, Paisley, Scotland, 1996.