KILBIRNIE LADESIDE
THE STORY SO FAR

The town of Kilbirnie has been home to a football team since 1874 when Kilbirnie FC was formed. This club who played at senior level, played at both Stoneyholm Park and Milton Park. It is unlikely that they survived beyond the end of the 19th century. Their most notable honour was the winning of the Ayrshire Cup in 1888 when they defeated Hurlford 4-3 in the final at Rugby Park. The club reached the final on three other occasions.
They could also boast a full Scottish Internationalist at one time. Francis Watt gained four caps between 1899 and 1891.
The Ayrshire Junior Football Association was formed in 1889 but there was no junior team from Kilbirnie until 1901 when Ladeside came into existence, probably filling the gap after the demise of the senior club. The name Ladeside comes from an old Scots word, Lade, which is a small river or burn. Their first park on Mill Road was adjacent to the Garnock river. The first Ayrshire League was formed the following year and Ladeside were one of the eight teams involved. Unfortunately the competition was never finished due to the difficulties of arranging dates for league games.
The same problems occurred for the next couple of seasons and so the North Ayrshire League was formed in 1904/05 to replace the Ayrshire League. Once again the league was never finished although Ladeside won their first trophy this season, The Irvine & District Cup.
In the Scottish Junior Cup they came close to success during this period with two appearances in the last sixteen (6th Round) in seasons 1906/07 and 1907/08.
In 1907 the league was re-structured again and Kilbirnie joined the Irvine & District League. Although not yet challenging for major honours they did win the Ayr Consolation Cup this season.
In 1909 Ladeside joined the first Scottish Junior Football League but they dropped out due to cost and travel problems and re-joined the Irvine District League the following season in which they won both the Irvine & District Cup and Ayr Consolation Cup for the second time. They made consecutive semi-final appearances in the Scottish Cup in 1912 and 1913.
They followed these successes by winning the Irvine & District Cup and were Ayrshire Junior Challenge Champions in season 1912/13.

During the 1st World War the Irvine & District League was cancelled and didn't start up again afterwards. The Western Junior Football League was formed in 1920, which included teams from Renfrewshire. It is rumoured that this new formula was the idea of Kilbirnie and William Menzies represented them on the first committee. Once again Ladeside won the Ayr Consolation Cup this season but they had to seek re-election to the league as they finished bottom. In season 1923/24 they recovered and were again crowned Ayrshire Junior Challenge Champions.In 1927 there was a split within the SJFA and the Western Junior League was dissolved and a breakaway movement of 18 Ayrshire Junior Clubs of which Kilbirnie was one formed a new league. This league was called the Western Intermediate League.
The dispute with the SJFA lasted until season 1931/32 when the Western League was re-formed. Ladeside took the League Cup and Ayrshire Consolation Cup this year.
The following season they once again won the Irvine & District Cup and then the Moore Trophy in season 1934/35. Kilbirnie, who were nicknamed "The Blasties" probably after the Blast furnaces at the nearby Ironworks, were now winning a trophy almost every season and this continued with the Irvine & District Cup again in 36/37 and the Western League cup, just before the breakout of the war in season 38/39.
During this successful spell in the thirties, inside forward George Stevenson, captured the attention of Motherwell and after joining the senior team he went on to win several caps for Scotland before becoming the manager of the Fir Park side.
With the advent of the war competitive football was banned and only friendlies took place. Even these were split up into North and South and Ladeside were entitled to play friendlies against 11 other North Ayrshire teams. The leagues did start up again but it became impossible to continue. In 1941 Kilbirnie closed down due to losing most of their players because of conscription.

The Western League started afresh immediately after the war without a side from Kilbirnie. The following season they were re-formed along with some other big clubs who had not been able to re-organise the season before. Ladeside's problem was that
Ladeside park had been put out of action during the war. The ground had been partly built on by the army and so they moved to Glengarnock Vale's Park, Valefield and played their home games there. In the 1946/47 season they reached the final of the West of Scotland cup but lost 4-1 to Saltcoats Victoria at Saracen Park in Glasgow.
The Ayrshire side, although always being known as a good footballing side, were known never to take any chances at the back and even today, in grounds throughout the country, a ball being cleared high into the stands is greeted with the cry "Kilbirnie Play".
Kilbirnie emerged as a force in season 47/48. They took the league for the first time, beating Auchinleck Talbot in the play-off, and captured the Ayrshire Cup when they beat Kello Rovers in the final. Both games were won 3-2 and both were played at Rugby Park. They followed this up the following season by winning the Moore Trophy for the second time. In season 49/50 the Irvine & District Association received a new trophy. It had previously been named the Mauchline Cup but was re-named the Land of Burns Cup and the first winners were Ladeside. They were Ayrshire Challenge Champions this year and won the league for the next 2 seasons in a row.
In 1951 J McCartney of Kilbirnie became the secretary of the Ayrshire Association.
The Golden Jubilee of Kilbirnie Ladeside in 51/52 season was a fairy tale year, for they celebrated their 50th anniversary by winning the Western League championship and made their first appearance in the Scottish Junior Cup final and won. The 1st round gave them a home win over local rivals Largs Thistle. In the 2nd round away from home Kilbirnie won 2-0 against Yoker Athletic and another tough away tie in round three took them to Cambuslang where they beat the local Rangers 3-2. South Ayrshire team, Auchinleck Talbot who were recent Scottish Champions visited Kilbirnie in the 4th Round and were trounced 5-1.

A local derby was the feature of round five when Kilbirnie visited neighbours Dalry Thistle and won 5-0. In the quarterfinals Kilbirnie went to Annbank and won 1-0 in front of a crowd of 10,000 at New Pebble Park. The semi-final took place at Rugby Park Kilmarnock and Kilbirnie and Lugar drew 0-0. In the replay Kilbirnie won 4-2.
A crowd of 69,959 attended the final with Camelon Juniors as Kilbirnie's opponents. Gordon McQueen's father played in goal for Ladeside and Alan Hansen's dad turned out for the Falkirk side. The Ladeside team was McQueen, Ross, Ryan, J Brown, Pearson, Fox, Clarke, Ashe, Dunbar, E Brown, McIntosh.
Ashe got the one and only goal in 55 minutes to take the cup to the Garnock Valley and thousands were out in Kilbirnie's streets to greet "the Blasties". A civic reception was held in their honour.
The only other trophy won by the Kilbirnie side in the 50's was in 58/59 when they won the Land of Burns cup. As this was the last time it was played for, Ladeside had won this trophy the first and last times and they then held the trophy permanently.

The mid fifties to the late sixties were poor times for the Valefield Club. Indeed there was a crisis which almost sunk the club in 1964 when they had no money, poor organisation and subsequently little support.
Four men were instrumental in preventing the demise of Ladeside; they were Henry Speirs, David Beattie, Bobby Jones and Bobby Davidson, who took a good juvenile team, The Strand to Valefield. With Bobby "Sconie" Davidson as team manager they built a team to be feared. In the first year they sold a young goalkeeper, Ernie McGarr, to Aberdeen and McGarr was to play for Scotland.

It was another two seasons before Ladeside cheered their supporters again by winning the I & D Cup in 1966/67. The Western League was contested for the last time in season 67/68 and Ladeside won it. There first league championship since 1952. They followed this in 69/70 with success in the Ayrshire District Cup, which replaced the Irvine & District Cup.
Kilbirnie teams were now famed for playing exciting attacking football. By the 70s Davidson was not far away from creating the ideal side. During this period another fine goalkeeper, Alan McCulloch played with Kilbirnie and he went on to be a regular in the Kilmarnock first team.
In 71/72 Cumnock became the first south team to win the Ayrshire League when they beat Kilbirnie in the decider. They were also beaten in the West of Scotland Cup final but gained compensation by taking the Ayrshire Cup which they had last won in it's original form in 1948.
In 73/74 Ladeside who have always had one of Ayrshire's most vociferous and active supports landed in trouble with the Scottish Junior Football association. Following trouble at Valefield Park in a Scottish Junior Cup tie they were ordered to display warning posters at the ground for the season, to stop rowdyism.
In the same season Ladeside played away to Dundee Osborne in the Scottish Cup and with 14 minutes to play Davie Clark jumped up and swung on the crossbar. It broke, the game was held up for 10 minutes as the Dundee officials made a haphazard repair to the goal. The game was played out, ending 2-1. Kilbirnie protested that the crossbar was not repaired properly but the SJFA turned the protest down. In season 74/75 they powered their way to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. Their blend of youth, strength and skill seemed capable of taking them to the final but the team played badly on the night and lost the semi-final at Rugby Park Kilmarnock 3-2 after holding the lead for most of the tie against Rutherglen Glencairn. Four of the young Kilbirnie players went senior. Jim Fleeting went to Norwich City, Ian Baillie to Celtic and both John McCool and Graham Kane to Notts County. They also had the experienced Ada McLaughlin who had been a vital factor in the Irvine Meadow cup winning team of 1973.
Ladeside had the consolation of winning the Ayrshire Drybrough Cup. The Scottish Junior International side toured West Germany this season and Ladeside's midfielder Tom McGill was in the squad.

In season 75/76 Kilbirnie were warned by the Ayrshire Regional Committee about their difference of opinion with Ardrossan Winton Rovers who also received a warning. The trouble developed out of arguments about the rival supporters whenever
The teams met. It came to a head at Winton park in a Jackie Scarlett Cup tie in 1975 when Kilbirnie claimed their supporters were not allowed in to the stand at the ground. Kilbirnie also complained that Winton, as host club, did not provide tea for them as usual.

Almost every year for 30 years there was a move in the Ayrshire Football for promotion and relegation. Once again this year it was proposed and was successful. Kilbirnie Ladeside led the opposition to it and their team manager Bobby Davidson attended the meeting in person to argue that only the top clubs would benefit and that most clubs would lose money from travelling expenses. Ironically Ladeside were the final league champions in the North/South format.
The Ladeside faithful felt sure that 1976 was to be their year when they marched right back to the last four in the Scottish Cup. In an all Ayrshire clash at Rugby park, Darvel beat them 2-1.Kilbirnie's star player this season was Paul McGuire who went on to play for Shrewsbury and Stoke City.
The following season, which was exactly 25 years after winning the Scottish cup, Ladeside strode the Hampden Park turf again to recapture the famous trophy. Earlier in the season, though they produced history in the Scarlett Cup when their goalkeeper, Jim Marner, who was also there penalty taker, scored a hat trick in a 6-1 defeat of deadly rivals Beith.
In the Premier competition a first round bye was followed by a home match and a 3-0 win over Johnstone Burgh. There was a massive Derby encounter in round 3 with Ladeside beating Beith 3-1 at Bellsdale.
There was sweet revenge in the 4th round when Darvel were overwhelmed 6-0 at their home ground. Round 5 produced an easy 5-0 victory against Winton Rovers. The Quarter final against Petershill was played at Valefield in front of a crowd of 4,000. Petershill dominated the game and Marner in the Kilbirnie goal was superb, pulling off save after save. With 4 minutes remaining little winger Bobby Davidson produced a wonder goal beating 4 players and the goalie before coolly slotting home the winner.

Rugby Park had become a home from home in recent seasons and so it was back there for the semi-final against Central League Lesmahagow. After a nervous 1-1 draw in which Davidson once again scored a very late goal, Kilbirnie finally made the breakthrough with a 1-0 win in the replay, Ada McLaughlin scoring the only goal of the game.
Pre-match nerves saw Kilbirnie lose two games in a row after the semi-final but the final was to be very special. At first Kirkintilloch Rob Roy seemed to be in the ascendancy with Taylor getting a 6th minute goal. However the first ever-live coverage of a junior cup final showed how Davidson and Harvey combined for Davidson to score with a rare header. Then, the big, skilful "Tam" McGill hammered a marvellous second goal from a free kick. Near the end Harvey headed a third from a McLaughlin free kick. Sweeper Ian Baillie, who along with John McCool had returned from a season in senior football, was voted man of the match but goalkeeper Jim Marner said of McGill's performance that " he could have slotted in to the Scotland team alongside Dalglish."
The Ladeside team was Marner, McFarlane, McMillan, McLaughlin, McGoldrick, Baillie, Davidson, McCool, Harvey, Inglis and McGill. Subs: Kerr and Cook (both used).
The referee for the final was Saltcoats man Joe Timmons who became the first senior referee to officiate in both Scottish and English football.
The '77 team must be regarded as the greatest Kilbirnie team ever as they also carried off the first Ayrshire League championship Div. 1 title.
Ada McLaughlin, who led both Irvine Meadow and Ladeside to Scottish Cup victories, emigrated to Cranbrook, British Columbia soon after the Hampden match.

Ladeside produced another good Scottish Cup run in 1986 and reached the semi-final. On a rainy night at Somerset Park, Ayr they had a ding dong battle with Auchinleck Talbot losing 1-0.
The following season they reached the final of the Scottish and once again met Auchinleck in what was only the second all Ayrshire final in the 101 years of the cup. It was to take two matches to separate the sides, by one goal.
On the ideal setting of Rugby Park, they drew 1-1, Chisholm putting Auchinleck ahead in the 8th minute but a Billy Muir free kick grabbed a deserved equaliser in the second half. In the replay it was a man who had won a Scottish Cup medal with Ladeside in "77 who gave Talbot victory with a brilliant free kick.
The Kilbirnie side was Bryden, Pirie, Lynn, Feeney, Rennie, O'Rourke, Lyden, Coll, Howie, Muir & Milne. Subs: Mills & Simpson. Alan Pirie and Hugh Lyden joined Partick Thistle after the final.

In 1988/89 after many attempts Ladeside finally won the Scarlett League Cup, beating Cumnock 4-2 at Rugby Park.
Under the reins of new manager Willie Kean who took over after the shock resignation of Bobby Davidson (the boss for 28 years) they triumphed in the Irvine Times cup in 1992 beating Irvine Meadow at Meadow Park. Two seasons later they won the Scarlett Cup for the second time beating Auchinleck on penalties at Somerset Park.
The latest triumph and their first silverware under current manager John Minford was a 3-1 win against Cumnock in the final of the Irvine Times Cup.
The future looks assured for Ladeside with a side gradually merging into a team with a good blend of youth and experience. Although they don't have the same financial clout as some other clubs. They have a well organised and hard working committee, an enthusiastic supporters club and the belief that in their centenary year 2001/2002 they can bring some "Major" success back to a club with a long and proud history.

Thanks go to various club's programmes and "The Story of Ayrshire Junior Football" for much of the information required for the above history.