Irvine Meadow XI (Scotland)

Irvine Meadow XI FC is a Scottish non league football club from the large new town of Irvine in North Ayrshire. The club were one of the biggest names of the Scottish Junior FA set up after their formation in 1897.

Meadow lifted their first honour in 1921-22 as they won the Ayrshire League crown. They went on to repeat the feat a further seven times as well as winning many regional cups. The team reached the final of the Scottish Junior Cup on a couple of occasions, but both ended in disappointment.

In 1947-48 Bo'ness United won the showpiece 2-1 before Meadow went down to a solitary goals against Petershill in 1950-51 before returning to lift Junior Cup for the first time in 1958-59 as Shettleston were defeated 2-1 at Hampden Park as Morrison scored twice from the sport in front of a crowd of 65,211.

The 1961-62 season saw more league honours collected before going on to win the 1963 Junior Cup by beating Glenafton 2-1. The Ayrshire League was claimed once more in 1970-71 followed by a third Junior Cup in 1972-73 with a 1-0 win over Cambuslang Rangers with an O'Brien penalty after two drawn games.

Apart from an occasional cup triumphs, major honours were scarce at Meadow Park until 1988-89 when another league title was collected. This was repeated in 1993-94. Once again a decade or so of relative quiet followed before Irvine sprang to life once more as a major player.

Meadow were crowned as West of Scotland Super League Premier Division champions in 2008-09 and then 2010-11 when they also lifted the Ayrshire Cup for the fourteenth time. The title was retained in the 2011-12 season, in which the club won the West of Scotland Cup for the ninth time, to seal the double and make it a memorable campaign under manager Chris Strain.

‘The Medda’ fell short in attempting a hat trick of league titles as Stevie Rankin’s side ended in fifth place before slipping to third in 2014-15. Davie Greig replaced Rankin in January 2016 in a shocking season that saw Irvine go down in bottom place with Greig resigning.

The duo of Gareth Turner and Michael Wardrope took over team affairs with Meadow ending the 2016-17 in sixth place in the West Region Championship which was improve upon by one place twelve months later.

The top flight Premiership was restructured and enlarged as Meadow finished sixth under boss Brian McGinty in 2018-19 before fifth in the aborted Coronavirus hit 2019-20 campaign following which the club left the Juniors to join the SFA set up in the West of Scotland League.

Irvine Meadow XI FC will play in the West of Scotland League in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Sunday 29^th September 2013

I was staying in Glasgow for a couple of evenings while visiting football clubs as well as enjoying the brilliant pub scene of the city. Although I had a couple of matches lined up, I also wanted to visit as many Junior clubs as possible. As the game I was heading to was at Troon, I decided upon visiting the clubs of North Ayrshire on my way.

My attempts to have a look inside the ground of Kilwinning Rangers, Meadows traditional rivals proved fruitless, I was still optimistic of getting a decent view of Meadow Park. It was one of my must do’s after seeing pictures on a website. It looked a bit of a gem.

Some of my pals had stayed in the town on a couple of occasions as the Home Guard Club in Scarborough ran a trip to coincide with the nearby Ayr Races each year. I’d heard decent reports about the place.

The bus from Kilwinning dropped me just over five minutes from the ground. My pre planning assisted me as I found my way easily walking along Quarry Road and then up Wilson Avenue. The main gates were at the top of the road.

Unfortunately the big gate was locked but it still allowed me excellent views of the venue. The large Main Stand was down one side, with its raised seating deck above the facilities and the Medda Club. The rest of the ground had a few steps of terracing and open flat standing all the way around. Like most clubs in the Juniors, it had no floodlights.

Having completed my quest I also intended to visit the home of Irvine Victoria, and thought that my map reading skills would soon have me there. How little I learn at times!

I went down Castle Street, which indeed did head in vaguely the correct direction. I even crossed the River Irvine to get even nearer. What I couldn’t work out was how to get onto the road I required. I walked along the river bank and then up onto Marress Road. 

This later turned out to be my intended route, although it would not of been possible as it was a dual carriageway without footpaths. Instead I crossed the road and went down the bank at the other side and found myself in the Irvine Community Sports Club and even further away. I headed back along Waterside and admitted defeat. 

I went past the road I required by the roundabout near the station, but by then I was getting extremely tired after an overnight coach journey and visiting several venues.

It was a relief to get a seat on the station platform waiting for my train down to Troon. After the match I got to see the home of Irvine Victoria as my train back to Glasgow went alongside it. It would have to wait for another day.