History
Formed in 1897 they are one of the most successful Junior clubs still playing. Of the two junior football clubs in Irvine (the other being Irvine Victoria) they are the larger. Indeed, they are traditionally one of the biggest Junior clubs in Scotland. Meadow have set many attendance records at other Junior club's grounds and were at one stage invited to turn senior and play in the Scottish Football League. They decided to remain in the 'juniors' and at present compete in the Western Region Junior League.
Irvine Meadow's closest rivals are Kilwinning Rangers, who have been less successful in recent seasons, based in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, and Irvine Victoria, who play on the other side of the river Irvine at Victoria Park. An annual derby fixture is played each August to coincide with Irvine's Marymass Festival. After recent dominance in the fixture over the past decade, Meadow lost 4–3 at Meadow Park in 2006, the first time in 9 years that they have not won the fixture.
Irvine Meadow were the first junior club in Scotland to have a home game televised when the 1958 Scottish Junior Cup tie against Fauldhouse United was shown on Scotsport. Meadow are the only junior football club to have travelled by air to a game when they went to St. Andrew's stadium to play Birmingham City in a match in which they lost 3–2.
They have had a tumultuous and fairly barren period in recent times, however this has changed in the past few seasons, buying players from senior teams such as Brian McGinty and Mark Crilly with them doing well in the Scottish Junior Cup, winning promotion from the Stagecoach Ayrshire League in 2005–06 and winning promotion from the Stagecoach Super League Division One in 2006–07. They are based at Meadow Park and play in royal blue.
On 28 November 2009 Meadow became the first junior club to defeat a senior club in a competitive fixture when they beat Arbroath 1-0 in the third round of the 2009–10 Scottish Cup. The club were drawn away to SPL side Hibernian in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup. The game, which took place on 9 January 2010, was arguably the biggest game in the club's history. Irvine lost 3-0, but the club stood to make in the region of £55,000 from this fixture, and an estimated 2,000 Meadow fans made the journey to Edinburgh.
In the 2011-12 season, Meadow reached the third round of the Scottish Cup, where they hosted First Division side Livingston at Meadow Park. The tie took place on 19 November 2011. Meadow were well beaten by 6 goals to nil.
Read more about this topic: Irvine Meadow XI F.C.
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