East Stirlingshire F.C. facts for kids
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| Full name | East Stirlingshire Football Club | |
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| Nickname(s) | The Shire | |
| Founded | 1 October 1880 (as Bainsford Britannia) |
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| Ground | Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk | |
| Capacity | 7,937 | |
| Chairman | Simon Dickerson | |
| Manager | Pat Scullion | |
| League | Lowland League | |
| 2015–16 | Scottish League Two, 10th (relegated via play-offs) | |
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East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scottish football team from Falkirk. The club started in 1881. It plays in the Lowland League, which is the fifth level of Scottish football. The club's story began in 1880. A local cricket team formed a football side called Bainsford Britannia.
East Stirlingshire joined the Scottish Football League in 1900. They have played in the league system for most of their history. The club has won the second level of Scottish football once. They also finished second once, which helped them get promoted to the top league. Their highest league position was in the 1932–33 and 1963–64 seasons. These were the only two times they played in the top league. In 2016, East Stirlingshire was the first club to be moved out of the national league system.
The club first played in the Scottish Cup in 1882. Their best result was reaching the quarter-finals three times. The last time was in 1981. In the 2000–01 season, they reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Challenge Cup. They lost to Livingston. In 2008, the club left their old stadium, Firs Park. They moved to Ochilview Park to share it with Stenhousemuir. Since 2018, the club has shared the Falkirk Stadium with their neighbours, Falkirk.
Contents
Club History
East Stirlingshire officially started in 1881. But their roots go back to 1880. That's when a cricket club, Bainsford Bluebonnets, created a football team called Britannia. Their first recorded game was a friendly match against Falkirk's second team in December 1880. They lost 7–0. Their first game as East Stirlingshire was against the same team in August 1881. The club's nickname is "The Shire". This comes from the "Stirlingshire" part of their name.
After joining the Scottish Football Association, they could play in the Scottish Cup. This is Scotland's main football knockout competition. They were knocked out in their first game in 1882. In December 1883, the Stirlingshire Football Association was formed. Clubs from Stirlingshire could join. This led to a new local tournament, the Stirlingshire Cup. East Stirlingshire reached the final in its first season. They were very strong in the early years of this tournament. They won it four times in a row between 1885 and 1890. This included a big 9–0 win against Falkirk in the 1888 final. Lawrence McLachlan scored two goals in that game. He was a key goalscorer for the club early on, with 135 known goals.
The late 1800s were East Stirlingshire's best time in the Scottish Cup. They reached the quarter-finals in 1888–89 and 1890–91. This was the last time for 91 years. They lost to Celtic and Hearts. In the 1888–89 tournament, they had their biggest wins. They beat Stenhousemuir 10–1 and Vale of Bannock 11–2. During this time, four East Stirlingshire players played for their national teams. Humphrey Jones, the captain of the Wales national football team, earned five caps while with the club. Three other players, David Alexander, Archibald Ritchie, and James McKee, played for the Scotland national football team between 1891 and 1898.
Between 1891 and 1899, the club played in local leagues. They won the Midland Football League and the Central Football Combination. Then, in 1900, they were voted into the second level of Scotland's main league. They finished 7th out of ten teams in their first season. In March 1905, there was a plan for the club to join with neighbours Falkirk. This would create a bigger, stronger club. Falkirk agreed, but East Stirlingshire voted against it.
The years after this included finishing last in the league in 1905–06. They won only one game out of 22. But they also finished as high as third in 1912–13. They just missed winning the championship by two points. The club stayed in Division Two until 1914–15. Then, the league and the Scottish Cup were stopped because of World War I.
After World War I, the club was voted back into Division Two. This league started again in the 1921–22 season. The year before, the club moved to Firs Park. They had left their old ground, Merchiston Park, in 1920. In the same year, a record 12,000 fans came to watch them. This was for a Scottish Cup game against Partick Thistle in February 1921.
The club was moved down to the new, but short-lived, Division Three in 1922–23. They earned promotion back to Division Two after just one season. They set a record of 23 home games without a loss. Ten years later, East Stirlingshire won promotion to Division One. This was Scotland's top league, for the first time. On their way to promotion, they were at the top of Division Two for 32 weeks. They finished with 55 points, the same as St Johnstone. East Stirlingshire won the championship because they had a better goal average.
East Stirlingshire spent only one season in the top league. They finished last in 20th place with seventeen points. Back in Division Two in the 1935–36 season, they had their biggest league defeat. Dundee United beat them 12–1 in April 1936. In 1938–39, the last season before the league stopped for World War II, East Stirlingshire finished second-to-last. But Malcolm Morrison became the club's top league goalscorer in a single season with 36 goals.
The club was not included in a wartime league in 1939. They were also not allowed back into the Scottish Football League Division Two after World War II. Six other small clubs were also left out. So, these clubs played in a new Division C. This league also included the reserve teams of some top Scottish clubs. In their second season in Division C, East Stirlingshire won the league. They were promoted back to Division Two, which was now called "Division B". But they finished last after one season in 1948–49 and went back down to the "C Division".
After six more seasons in "Division C", the club rejoined Division Two in 1955–56. This happened when the "C Division" was removed. The number of teams in the Scottish Football League grew. The club sold many young players to bigger clubs. One was defender Eddie McCreadie. He went to Chelsea in 1962. He played 23 times for Scotland and is tenth in Chelsea's all-time appearance list with 410 games. The money from this transfer helped them get new players. In the 1962–63 season, the club won promotion to the top league for a second time. They finished second in Division Two, behind St Johnstone. Like before, East Stirlingshire spent only one season in the top league before being moved down.
After being moved down from Scotland's top league, East Stirlingshire was controversially joined with Clydebank Juniors in 1964. The new club was called East Stirlingshire Clydebank. It moved to Kilbowie Park in Clydebank, even though fans didn't want it to. But the merger lasted only one season. East Stirlingshire shareholders won court cases against it. So the club went back to its original name and moved back to Falkirk. During the one season as E.S. Clydebank, the club set a record attendance at Kilbowie Park. 14,900 fans watched a Scottish Cup replay against Hibernian in February 1965.
In 1966, Lawrence Binnie became the club's first official manager. Before him, the board of directors managed the team. After separating from Clydebank Juniors, the club played ten seasons in Division Two. Then, due to league changes, they moved to a new Second Division for the 1975–76 season. This was now the third level, as the Premier Division was created at the top. During this time, the club got past the group stage of the Scottish League Cup for the first time since it started in 1947.
The year before, the club hired its most famous manager, Alex Ferguson. He was at the club in 1974 before moving to St Mirren. In 1979–80, East Stirlingshire won promotion to the First Division. This is the last time the club was promoted in the league. Managed by Billy Lamont, the club finished second by one point to rivals Falkirk in the Second Division. The clubs were at the top of the league for most of the season. They went into the final match with the same points. East Stirlingshire needed to do better than Falkirk to win the championship because their goal difference was worse. But Falkirk won their match, and East Stirlingshire drew, so they finished second.
In the 1994–95 season, the Scottish Football League changed again. East Stirlingshire moved to a new Third Division. This was now the fourth level. The club finished fourth out of ten in its first season in the Third Division. They did this again in 1997–98. Apart from these times, East Stirlingshire usually finished lower down the table. This included a win on the last day against Arbroath in 1996–97 to avoid finishing last. In 2000–01, the club reached the semi-final of a national cup competition for the first time. They lost 2–1 to Livingston in the Scottish Challenge Cup.
At the start of the 2000s, the club had money problems. Players were paid only £10 a week. Manager Dennis Newall became the first unpaid manager at a senior level in Scottish football. Because of this, the club finished last in the Scottish Football League for five seasons in a row, from 2002–03 to 2006–07. They lost 24 league games in a row in the 2003–04 season. They only got 8 points from two wins and two draws in 36 games.
From the 2005–06 season, if a club finished last in the Third Division twice in a row, they could lose their voting rights. In East Stirlingshire's case, a league vote was held. The club was allowed to keep its full member status. But they had to promise not to finish last the next season in 2008. The club won its final game of the season 3–1 against Montrose to move off the bottom. This was also the last game at Firs Park. The next season, the club moved to Ochilview Park. They shared the ground with neighbours Stenhousemuir.
Under manager Jim McInally, the club finished third for two years in a row. This meant they could play in the promotion play-offs to the Second Division. However, a second-to-last finish in the 2010–11 season led to McInally being fired. John Coughlin took over. The club then finished last two more times. This could have put them in danger again. But because of talks about changing the league for the 2013–14 season, the rule was not used.
These talks led to a new group, the Scottish Professional Football League. This happened when the Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League joined together. East Stirlingshire joined the Scottish League Two, which replaced the old Third Division. In October 2015, Jonny Court scored the 5000th goal in the SPFL. This was in a 2–0 home win over Elgin City. After finishing last in the 2015–16 Scottish League Two, East Stirlingshire played a play-off against Edinburgh City. The winner would get a spot in the 2016–17 Scottish League Two. Edinburgh City won 2–1 overall. This meant East Stirlingshire was moved down to the Lowland Football League. It ended their 61 years in the Scottish national league system.
Team Colours and Crest
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| Black and white hoops from 1882 |
East Stirlingshire's home colours have been black and white hoops for most of its history since 1882. The club's first kit was thin blue and white hoops between 1880 and 1882. Then they changed to colours similar to today's. An all-black shirt was used from 1960 to 1962, and again from 2008 to 2010. The club's 100-year anniversary kit in 1981 was all-white. In 1996–97, the stripes changed from horizontal to vertical for a whole season. A similar design was used for one month in August 1982 before changing back.
The club crest is a shield with black and white stripes. It has a football design and a banner with the club name at the top. There are different versions where the football and banner are black, white, or orange.
Stadiums and Home Grounds
East Stirlingshire has played at several stadiums throughout its history. When the club was called Britannia, they played one of their first games at Burnhouse. This was against a Falkirk second team. Burnhouse is believed to be the spot that later became Merchiston Park. The club played many of its games there in the late 1800s. Some home games were also played at Randyford Park in the town.
Merchiston Park was a football ground in Bainsford, about 1 km north of Falkirk. It was located near the Forth and Clyde Canal. The ground hosted East Stirlingshire's first Scottish Football League match in 1900–01. They lost 3–2 to Airdrieonians. Merchiston Park was the club's home until 1921. A nearby iron works bought the ground for expansion, so the club moved to Firs Park.
Firs Park was located in the centre of Falkirk. The club moved there in 1921. In the same year, the club's record attendance was set. 12,000 fans came to a Scottish Cup match against Partick Thistle. Firs Park was East Stirlingshire's home for 87 years. The only exception was one season in 1964. The club played at Kilbowie Park in Clydebank. This was after they were controversially joined with Clydebank Juniors. Firs Park was closed because of this merger. But after only one season, the merger ended. East Stirlingshire moved back to Firs Park. They stayed there until the end of the 2007–08 season. The club decided to close Firs Park because it was too expensive to update it. It needed to meet new stadium rules from the Scottish Football Association. When it closed, the ground could hold 1,800 people, with 200 seats.
After leaving Firs Park in 2008, they played their home games at Ochilview Park. This is the home of local rivals Stenhousemuir. The club agreed to share the ground with Stenhousemuir. This was planned for five years. During that time, the club hoped to build a new stadium in Falkirk.
Since the summer of 2018, East Stirlingshire has been playing its home matches at Falkirk Stadium. This is the home ground of local rivals Falkirk. In May 2014, the club planned to build a new playing facility at Little Kerse. This site would also host other sports. The plan was approved, but it didn't happen due to lack of money. The club trained at Little Kerse until 2018. Then, all their activities moved to the Falkirk Stadium.
Club Rivalries
East Stirlingshire's main rival is Falkirk. The club's first games as Britannia and East Stirlingshire were friendly matches against Falkirk in 1880 and 1881. Both clubs are based in Falkirk. They have played against each other in competitions like the Stirlingshire Cup since the late 1800s. East Stirlingshire joined the Scottish Football League in 1900. Falkirk followed two seasons later in 1902–03. The first league game between them was in August 1902. Falkirk won 2–0 at Merchiston Park. The old stadiums of both clubs, Firs Park and Brockville Park, were very close. They were less than half a mile apart.
On a local level, East Stirlingshire also has rivalries with clubs from the historic county of Stirlingshire. These clubs have played in the Stirlingshire Cup since the early 1880s. They include Stenhousemuir, and since 1945, Stirling Albion and Alloa Athletic. East Stirlingshire shared their home ground, Ochilview Park, with rivals Stenhousemuir until 2018.
Current Team Squad
As of 31 October 2024
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Coaching Staff
| Position | Name |
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| Manager | Pat Scullion |
| Assistant manager | Mark Leslie |
| Goalkeeping coach | Iain Ure |
| Sports scientist | Calum Dignan |
| Club physiotherapist | Shona Tait |
| Kit Managers | Tom & Gregor Muirhead |
Famous Players
Gordon Russell holds the record for the most league games for East Stirlingshire. He played 415 matches between 1983 and 2002. He also managed the club for a short time in 2002.
Four East Stirlingshire players have played for their country's main national team. This happened 9 times in total. The first was Humphrey Jones. He was captain of the Wales national football team four times out of his five games while at East Stirlingshire. His first game was against England in 1889.
The other three players who played for their country were Archibald Ritchie, David Alexander, and James McKee. All of them played for the Scotland national football team. Each of them played their first game against Wales, but in different seasons. Archibald Ritchie's only Scotland game was in March 1891 against Wales. Humphrey Jones, a former East Stirlingshire player, was captain of the Wales team in that game. David Alexander played two games. He scored against Wales in 1894, a year Scotland won the British Championship. James McKee scored twice in his only game for Scotland. It was a 5–2 win over Wales in 1898. He is the last East Stirlingshire player to play for his country.
Famous Managers
East Stirlingshire didn't officially have a manager until 1966. Before that, the club's board of directors made all the management decisions. The first person to manage the club was Lawrence Binnie in 1966. The club's most famous manager is Sir Alex Ferguson. His first job as a manager was at East Stirlingshire in 1974. He then moved to St Mirren.
No manager has won a league title with the club. However, Billy Lamont led East Stirlingshire to promotion to the 1980–81 Scottish First Division. They finished second in Division Two, just one point behind rivals Falkirk. He also took East Stirlingshire to the quarter-finals of the 1980–81 Scottish Cup. This was the furthest the club had reached in that tournament since 1889–90.
After five years of finishing last in the Scottish Football League in the mid-2000s, Jim McInally helped turn things around. He managed East Stirlingshire to finish third in the Third Division two years in a row, from 2008 to 2010. This allowed them to play in the promotion play-offs.
Club Achievements
Here are some of the main awards and titles East Stirlingshire has won:
League Titles
- Division Two (before 1975) and First Division (after 1975):
- Winners (1): 1931–32
- Runners-up (1): 1962–63
- Division Three (1923 to 1926) and Second Division (after 1975):
- Winners (1): 1947–48 (as Division C)
- Runners-up (2): 1923–24, 1979–80
Cup Competitions
- Scottish Qualifying Cup:
- Winners (2): 1888–89, 1910–11
- Lowland League Cup
- Runners-up: 2018–19
- Stirlingshire Cup:
- Winners (21): 1885–86, 1886–87, 1887–88, 1888–89, 1890–91, 1892–93, 1893–94, 1896–97, 1900–01, 1902–03, 1906–07, 1913–14, 1923–24, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1931–32, 1935–36, 1961–62, 1968–69, 1984–85, 2000–01
Club Records and Statistics
The club's biggest league win was 8–0 against Arthurlie in August 1927. Their biggest league loss was 12–1 to Dundee United in April 1936. In the Scottish Cup, their biggest winning difference was 9 goals. They achieved this twice in a row in 1888: 10–1 against Stenhousemuir and 11–2 against Vale of Bannock. Their biggest loss in the cup was 2–10 to Renton in October 1884.
East Stirlingshire's record for home attendance is 12,000 fans. This was for a Scottish Cup match against Partick Thistle on February 19, 1921, at Firs Park.
Gordon Russell holds the record for most league appearances for East Stirlingshire. He played 445 first-team games between 1983 and 2001. The record for most league goals in one season is 41 by Andy Rodgers in the 2016–17 Lowland Football League. Humphrey Jones holds the record for most international games played while an East Stirlingshire player, with 5 caps for the Wales national football team between 1889 and 1890.
The highest amount of money received for an East Stirlingshire player was £35,000. This was from English club Chelsea for Jim Docherty in 1978. The most the club has paid for a player was a development fee to Spartans for Jamie Dishington. This amount was higher than the previous record of £6,000 for Colin McKinnon from Falkirk in 1991.
See also
In Spanish: East Stirlingshire Football Club para niños
