poity_uk

Thanks for the excellent information guys. I saw Kenny Dalglish playing for Cumbernauld United in a Scottish Cup 1st round tie at Victoria Park in Irvine. It was on the 4th November 1967 and a young, red-cheeked Dalglish scored twice in Cumbernauld's 5-2 win. Both Joe Wark and Jumbo Muir played for Irvine Victoria that day. The Scottish Cup match was actually the second time he had played for Cumbernauld United at Victoria Park. A month previously Cumbernauld had come to Irvine to take on the Vics in the 1st round of the West of Scotland Cup but I can't remember whether I was at that game or not.

Many thanks, Statto 1967. I see that it was actually his second game for Cumbernauld, rather that his debut. By the way, I had actually checked that website but didn't find the page you directed me to, so thanks for that. So, that now throws up the related question; who did Cumbernauld Utd play on Dalglish's debut?

In his autobiography, Kenny Dalglish says that he scored four goals on his debut for Cumbernauld United in season 1967-68. Does anybody know who Cumbernauld's opponents were in that match? And can anyone confirm that he did score four in the game? Thanks :-)

Done. As a couple of posters have already said, we have two local newspapers in Irvine. They cover the games of the two Irvine clubs and Kilwinning Rangers extensively and are both willing to accept and print the wee extra pieces of news about the clubs. All in all, they give the clubs a lot of positive publicity.

Thanks, .Stuart. Is Spence playing, or is he cup-tied?

Shug2930 can you pm me, preferably with the name of your father, if you don't mind, and your email address, and I'll see if I have anything of interest for you.

Wasn't Dixie Deans actually John Deans?

Here are the books.

A wee bit more booky information for you, Shanner. As far as I know, there have been four books/booklets published about junior football in Irvine: "The History of Irvine Meadow XI F.C." by James F Delury (published around 1960) "The Wee Vics" by Forbes D Brown (pub. 1997) "The Legend of Vics & Meadow" by Lesley Hunter (pub 1986) "Irvine Meadow XI FC Centenary Brochure" (pub 1997) About a year or so ago, Vics were selling some second-hand copies of "The Vics" for £4 each. It's a really good book, which I often use for research, and I now wish I had bought myself a spare copy. Does anybody know if there are any left?

I'll make a point of advertising it here!!! :-)

The elusive James F Delury book makes the very occasional appearance on eBay. However, the last one I saw sold for £70. On the other hand, I'm hoping to self-publish an edited and expanded collection of the historical articles I've been writing for the match programme over the last few years. It will, however, be a collection of stories rather than a complete history. Ian King's meticulously researched history of the club must be more or less finished and a couple of us have been discussing self-publishing with him. (*sings*) "Have a little patience"

If I am free on Thursday morning I'll drop in for a wee visit. I jointly organize the Irvine Meadow Wednesday Club (guess what day it meets!) at Meadow Park. Our club isn't an alzheimers group, though he have been working with Jim Baird of Alzheimer Scotland, who runs the Kilmarnock Memories Group. We begin our second season tomorrow and if we can replicate the success of our first year, we will be delighted. It might be useful to exchange ideas and I'll certainly be interested in seeing your group getting set up. Good luck in your new venture - it's most certainly very worthwhile. By the way, if anyone wants to drop in to our group at Meadow Park tomorrow afternoon (2-4 p.m. 13th September) they will be made very welcome. :-)

When I wrote the account of Meadow's early years which Shannon included in his comment a few posts ago, I said that Meadow, a juvenile club at the time, were "sometimes mistakenly called Irvine Celtic Meadow XI in the local press at the time." I'm not so sure now that the press was mistaken. In fact, it probably wasn't.

To be honest, I wasn't thinking about it and didn't think to ask for him. Thanks for the jog to my memory though ... I'll try to get in touch (maybe at another Friday night match?)

I was there as a neutral and although the lights were dimmer than I would have expected, it didn't seem to affect the players adversely and the game was good. It also seemed to draw in a fair number of neutrals (I saw a guy wearing a jacket with a Pollok badge on it, for example) and there was a pretty good atmosphere. So, well done to both clubs on a worthwhile experiment. I'll be back if Winton give it another try.

I'll try that, Marlowe. Thanks :-)

I've checked the A&S Herald at the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats with no success. For both games only the scores are given. They were both midweek games late in the season, so I assume they were too close to print deadline day to have reports included.

In season 1957-58 Winton Rovers played Irvine Meadow XI twice in May, winning both matches. 14 May 1958 Rovers won 5-2 in the Vernon Trophy at Meadow Park. 30 May 1958 Rovers won 3-1 in the Western League at Winton Park. Can anyone tell me the goal scorers (Winton's and Meadow's) from both these matches?

If you want a copy, just let me know.

Tombo, a friend sent me a scan of a first half report. So, I now know it was 3-0 at half time. Andy Clarkson got the first two and Chris Strain scored with a penalty. I believe (because you told me :-) )Chris Strain scored the 6th goal. The reason I was asking is that I write historical articles for the Meadow programme and interviewed Bert Loach for Saturday's edition. He brought up the story, but wasn't too sure of the details, and I remembered the situation from reading about it in the Irvine local papers at the time. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure it was correct before I sent it in to the programme editor. Your help is much appreciated. Many thanks.

And as a wee bonus,, a friend sent me this scan of an article from the Evening Times. Thanks to everyone for all the help :-)

I've now had it confirmed that the opponents were Meadow. I remember reading about it in the local newspapers at the time, I just didn't remember who the opponents were. Trying to erase it from my memory no doubt :-)

Thanks, Tombo ... but who were Vics playing??? That's what I need to know. (And no inferences intended).

Here's a question for Vics fans who know a bit about the history of the club. In the 1980s (or maybe it was the 90s) Vics were second in their league cup section with one game to play. As it happened the last game was against the section leaders and a win for Vics would bring them level on points. However, they were, I think, 11 goals behind on goal difference, On the night Vics won 6-0 and assumed their opponents had won the section on goal difference. Later, somebody eventually realised that each goal FOR Vics also counted as a goal AGAINST their opponents and caused a 12 goal turn round. Vics qualified for the quarter finals. The question is.... who were their opponents in that game?

Here's a few that I took, too. https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/