Alloa
Athletic
Formed 1880
Elected to Scottish Division Two 1921
Kit History
1880-1882 v
1882-1890 a e v
1890-1895 m
1895-1897 a
1897-1898 a
1898-1900 a m
1900-1908 a m
1908-1914 m
1920-1927 m q
1927-1929 m
1927-1929 away m
1930-1931 m
1933-1939 b m
1939-1940 m
1945-1946 u
1947-1955 b l m
1955-1956 m
1956-1958 m t
1958-1959 m
1959-1960 u
1960-1962 m
1962-1965 m
1965-1968 m
1968-1972 m
1972-1973 m
1973-1974 l
1974-1975 s
1975-1976 m
1976-1977 m l
early 1977-1978 m
mid 1977-1981 m p u
1981-1982 p
1982-1984 f k u
1984-1985 u
1985-1986 b
1986-1987 l
1987-1988 p
1988-1990 n p
1990-1992 g h o p
1992-1993 i p
1993-1994 b i p u
1994-1995 t
1995-1996 p u
1996-1997 k
1997-1998 k p
1998-1999 k p
1999-2001 c k
2001-2002 j k
2002-2003 k
2003-2004 d
2004-2006 a k
2006-2008 a
2008-2010 a
2010-2012 a
2012-2013 a
2013-2015 a
2015-2016 a
2016-2017 a
2017-2018 a
2018-2019 a
2019-2020 a
2020-2022 a
2022-2023 a
Background
Although the official history claims that Alloa were formed as Clackmannan County in 1878, research by Stewart Mathers has established that this is untrue. Clackmannan County were formed on September 16 1879 at a meeting chaired by Henry Goodyear a teacher who became County's first captain. Alloa Football Club was constituted on August 6 1880 in McGechan's Hall by a dozen or so young men who elected James Rigg (who had previously played for Kings Park) as captain. The two teams played each other several times in 1880-81 and were clearly separate clubs.
Within a month or so Alloa extended their name to Alloa Association FC and had the letters AAFC embroidered on to their blue jerseys. When Dunfermline FC visited, their secretary, Mr JH Irvine, mistakenly took this to stand for Alloa Athletic FC. The committee rather liked this and the name stuck.
Alick Milne's research indicates that when the club registered with the SFA in 1883 it was as Alloa Athletic. However, when they joined the Scottish Football League in 1921 they registered as "Alloa". In 1997 the club applied to the Scottish Football League to formally adopt "Alloa Athletic ".
Alloa's colours have varied between orange and black and gold and black over the years. In modern times the main colour has been an attractive shade of deep amber.
Alloa competed in the Central League prior to World War One, when the competition was suspended. After the war ended the Scottish Football League refused to reinstate the old Second Division and some of the member clubs joined the reformed Central League instead. Since this competition was independent, members could attract players by paying higher wages than those allowed under the maximum wage rules that applied in the Scottish League, a threat to their interests that could not be ignored. In 1921 the Central League, with Alloa among them, was incorporated as the new Scottish Second Division.
They took the Second Division by storm, winning the championship by
13 clear points. This was the first 
season of automatic promotion and
relegation so the Wasps immediately took their place in the Scottish
First Division but they went down again the following season. In 1939,
Alloa won promotion for the second time and were doing well before competition
was suspended due to the outbreak of World War Two. When the 
League
resumed in 1946, the league was restructured into three divisions and
Alloa were unfortunate to find themselves placed in Division B (the
second tier). From
then on Alloa rarely finished above mid-table and when the League was
again restructured with the introduction of the Premier Division in
1975, they went into the third tier (still called Scottish Division
Two).
The switch from the old hooped tops to plain 
ones in 1972 was apparently a cost-saving measure and it was 27 years before anything like the traditional hoops would reappear.
The team started to wear a crest on a regular basis in 1985-86, taking its motif from 
their traditional nickname of "The Wasps". Several versions were tried out before a rather elegant design was adopted that placed the club's name in full on a scroll below a shield. The background colour of these designs varied to match the shade the team's shirts.
In the late 1990s Alloa reached the First Division
(now the second tier) but they could not sustain 
themselves at this
level and spent most of their time playing in the Second Division (third tier).
They did, however, win their first major trophy, beating Inverness
Caledonian Thistle on penalties after a 4-4 draw in the Challenge Cup
final of 2000.
In 2010 the club introduced a new crest with a rather jolly cartoon wasp as its centrepiece. Three years later they won through the play-offs to earn a place in the second tier of what became the Scottish Professional Football League. In 2016 they were relegated back into League One but two seasons later they were promoted back into the second tier via the play-offs.
The team struggled in the higher division and dropped back into League One after finishing last in 2021.
Sources
- (a) Alloa Athletic Official Site
- (b) e-bay
- (c) no.net
- (d) Colours of Football
- (e) Brian McColl
- (f) Pete's Picture Palace
- (g) Cowdenbeath.net
- (h) blue-brazil.co.uk
- (i) Classic Football Shirts
- (j) Airdrieonians FC - Images of Sport (Brian Bollen 2002)
- (k) SNSpix
- (l) Ralph Pomeroy
- (m) Alick Milne
- (n) jumpers4goalposts.com
- (o) Willie Kay
- (p) Donald Gellatly (HFK Research Associate)
- (q) Keith Ellis
- (r) Tony Sealey
- (s) Shire History on Film submitted by Ralph Pomeroy
- (t) Alloa Athletic programme (27 September 1994)
- (u) Ian McConnel
- (v) Dunfermline Journal 27 November 1886 submitted by Stewart Mathers
Crests are the property of Alloa Athletic FC.