Heretical Orthodoxy: Killie 150 - From Hurlford to Hampden: 1884-1899

This chapter takes us from Killie's breakthrough Ayrshire Cup triumph in 1884 to reaching the top flight of Scottish football fifteen years later, after an incredible four-year spell in which they joined the Second Division, won it twice, lifted the first national trophy to adorn the Rugby Park boardroom and played in their first Scottish Cup Final. This era also saw the first Kilmarnock players to be capped by Scotland.

On that last, I describe Killie's first cap Sandy Higgins in the following terms, "Even in those days there were dark mutterings as to how many more caps Sandy would have achieved had he worn the colours of a Glasgow or English club" I should explain that 'Glasgow' at this time meant Rangers or Queen's Park. Celtic weren't established until after Higgins' solitary cap. And I am in error when talking about English clubs. While top players did indeed travel south to play and there had been some capped in earlier days while based in England, the selection of 'Anglos' for the national team didn't become commonplace until a decade later.

I talk of Killie having to qualify for the Scottish Cup in 1893-94 and 1894-95. This is not strictly correct. For the first time they entered before the top clubs did but the Qualifying Cup wasn't instituted until 1895-96, For the four seasons 1891-95 inclusive there were four preliminary rounds with the clubs left standing at the end joining the top sides. Because that stage was denominated as the first round there are some who argue these earlier games weren't 'proper' Scottish Cup ties. This was my position at time of publication. I have since revised my thinking and my view now is that they were bona fide Scottish Cup ties. Top division sides in Scotland (plus leading teams in the second tier) have entered the Scottish Cup at a more advanced level than other entrants on many occasions in the tournament's history and currently have done so ever since 1964-65.

You may see a duplication of some photos on the stats pages. That's because I've taken these from my 2001 book 'Everygame' as the figures there were updated and hence more accurate than my earlier book and photos accompanying the statistical section were re-jigged in order to accommodate photos from 1994-2001 in the text.