Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday 27th July 2013
Probably for the only time this season, a chance to see Newcastle United on an unvisited ground as the club sent a development team up to Rugby Park to face a Kilmarnock XI. Also after the exploits in Europe last season, this is the closest I’ll get to see the club play in another country for quite a while, as I continue to slowly work my way through the Scottish 42.
Kilmarnock is a large burgh in East Ayrshire, being the second biggest town in Ayrshire and the 14th largest populated in Scotland. The name Kilmarnock comes from the Gaelic cill (cell) - and the name of Saint Marnoch or Mernoc who is said to have founded a church there in the 7th century. The town is renowned for its publications of Robert Burns’ first book, the very rare ‘The Kilmarnock Edition’ and the Johnnie Walker whiskey distillery, situated in Killie since the 19th century. John Walker was a local grocer, who had his own offy on the High Street in Kilmarnock. Although he was teetotal, Walker went on to produce his own whisky brand - Walker’s Kilmarnock Whisky. When his son Alexander took over the business he went on to create Old Highland Whisky which was later renamed Johnnie Walker Black Label - the spirit which made the Johnnie Walker brand world famous.
The football club's foundation dates back to that same old chestnut of local cricketers looking to keep themselves occupied in a sporting capacity during the long winter months. During this time football was in its infancy in Scotland, playing a game similar to rugby, hence the connection to the oval shaped game giving the club its eventual ground name. The cricket club formed to play the associated rules of football on the 5th January 1869 during a general meeting at Robertson's Temperance Hotel on Portland Street.Kilmarnock joined the Scottish League in 1885, twice becoming the Second Division champions to gain election to the top flight. They had originally made their competitive bow in the Scottish Cup in 1873, a trophy they went onto lift in 1920 against Albion Rovers and a second success in 1929, beating the mighty Rangers 2-0 in front of a 114,708 Hampden crowd.The club's greatest achievement came in the year of this author’s birth when under the management of Willie Waddell, the club were Scottish champions for the first and only time in 1965. Since then they’ve won a third Scottish Cup in 1997 and more recently the Scottish League Cup in 2012.
Kilmarnock played matches at The Grange, Holm Quarry and Ward's Park before the club moved to Rugby Park in 1877, a ground situated on South Hamilton Street which was shared by the local cricket and rugby teams. Kilmarnock moved a hundred yards to the present Rugby Park in 1899, kicking off in August with a 2-2 draw with the then-reigning champions Celtic. The club’s very first game in the top division was watched by a crowd of 11,000.The ground was originally constructed with a running track, a pavilion and a barrel-roofed main stand along the west side. In 1935 a covered structure, later known as the Johnny Walker Stand (because of its roof advert) was added to part of the south terrace which brought the capacity up to 35,000.Floodlights first came to light in 1953, before a roof was added to the east enclosure in 1959 and the opposite stand was renovated during the 1960–61 season. It was during this era that Rugby Park witnessed a record gate, as 35,995 fans saw Kilmarnock lose 4–2 to Rangers in the Scottish Cup in March 1962.After the Taylor Report in 1990 the club’s trio of new directors discussed the possibility of relocation to a new 20,000 stadium elsewhere, but after three years of pursuing this possibility, the board decided to redevelop Rugby Park by replacing the three sides of terrace with seated stands, plus replacing the banking and surrounding track. The new Rugby Park was rebuilt during the 1994–95 season, the capacity significantly reduced as the construction of three new stands gave the stadium a capacity of 18,128 on completion.The Moffat Stand and the Chadwick Stand (away end) behind the goals are identical, split into two sections of dark blue seats with an electric scoreboard on the facia. The East Stand is fitted with light blue seats with the cream back walls filled with advertising boards. The four floodlights look to be encroaching from the rooftop and peeping into the stadium. Because of residential reasons the stand doesn’t run pitch length, running about 15 yards short at each side and the structure is nicely finished off with Kilmarnock 1869 on the façade.
Kilmarnock Rugby Football Club was clearly marked on the town map so I headed off in that direction, until it dawned on me that no floodlights had yet to come into view, plus I had an inkling that I was going the wrong way. I approached a lad and asked if I was heading on the right track and he told me it was in the opposite direction, but he would show me to way. As it turned out this canny lad was a Killie fan and he told me he’s one of many supporters to give up his season ticket until the removal of the current regime, only supporting the club away from home, with a trip to Aberdeen next week his first match of the season. I told him that I understood, as I too gave up my season ticket which I held for donkeys’ years, because of my own club’s inept and pathetic hierarchy. (I was heading towards a rugby ground by the way)
Peter Beardsley’s young side looked out of sorts, with too many passes going astray and attacking play easily snuffed out by the young Kilmarnock side. The U-21 team aren't playing in the image of their manager, as one of the greatest players to wear the black and white shirt, more like the mirror image of the great man – not too pretty in the looks department!
Matchday Stats
KFCXI 2(Slater 70 Stewart 86) NUFCU21s 0
Att.1,000apx
Admission £8
Programme £2
(Double issue with Carlisle United the previous evening)
Ground no.354 Rugby Park - Matchday Web album (27 pictures)
