Club Stats

Meadow have won the Scottish Junior Cup three times - the first was in 1959 when they beat Shettleston 2-1 - the second was in 1963 when in an all Ayrshire final they beat Glenafton 2-1 - and the third was ten years later when they beat Cambuslang 1-0 after two replays.

During the Scottish Cup glory years Irvine Meadow attracted phenomenal crowds - 77,560 v Petershill in 1951 (a record which will never be surpassed) - 65,211 v Shettleston in 1962 (third highest Hampden Junior attendance) - 55,600 v Bo'ness United in the 1948 Final. Although Meadow failed to win the trophy that year their Cup campaign that season was watched by a crowd of 221,500, a tournament record.

The ground record at Meadow Park is 13,470 who watched the Scottish Cup fifth round tie against Stonehouse Violet in 1949.

Irvine Meadow were the first junior club in Scotland to have a home game televised when the 1958 Scottish Cup tie against Fauldhouse United was shown as highlights on Scotsport. Then in 1962 with the senior card decimated by the elements STV dashed to Meadow Park on January 2nd to film the Meadow - Dundee Downfield Scottish Cup tie. Meadows' 9-1 win was the first time a Junior football match had featured as the main game in a televised sports programme.

Bobby Carroll who played at outside right in the 1959 Scottish Cup winning team hit a total of 75 goals that season. This is not even the highest total for goals scored for Irvine Meadow. In the 1963-64 season centre-forward Billy McPike scored an incredible 82 goals for the club. This included two five goal games, four 4 goal games, five hat-tricks, fourteen 2 goal games and thirteen one goal games. He was also capped that season for junior Scotland. In Scotland's 6-3 victory over Ireland in Belfast McPike's goal was widely regarded as the goal of the match.

Meadows' exploits in 1959 saw their fame spread across the border as Birmingham City invited them to play a friendly under the floodlights at St. Andrews. The Club flew to Birmingham on the afternoon of March 16th and were only beaten after a last minute penalty gave their hosts a 4-3 win later that evening. The invitation gave Meadow the honour of being the first Scottish Junior club side to play English opposition.

On the afternoon of June 16, 1962 Irvine Meadow and Greenock drew 2-2 in the West of Scotland Cup Final. As the season was due to finish that day the Clubs met again that same evening and Meadow collected the silverware with a 4-0 win.

Three International football matches have been played at Meadow Park. Th first was in 1968 which was the first to be held at a Junior ground since 1900 when Scotland beat Wales 5-2. The second was in 1974 with Scotland beating Wales 3-0 and the third in 1981 when the Republic of Ireland beat Scotland 1-0.

Meadow went through season 2006/07 without losing a game over 90 minutes.

Meadow are the first Junior team to beat a Senior League team in a competitive match. Meadow beat Arbroath 1-0 in the Active Nation Scottish Cup 3rd Round on Saturday 28th November 2009 at Meadow Park.

Meadow are also the first Junior team to play a Scottish Premier League club in a competitive match. Meadow lost 3-0 to Hibernian in the Active Nation Scottish Cup in the 4th Round on Saturday 9th January 2010 at Easter Road, Edinburgh.

More than 100 Irvine Meadow players have stepped up to the senior ranks. Among the most notable are: Terry McGibbon (Ayr United), Willie Kilmarnock (Motherwell), Tommy Gemmell (St.Mirren), Bobby Carroll (Celtic), Eric Morris (Rangers), Ally Mauchlen (Kilmarnock), Gary Faulds (Kilmarnock).

The first of many Irvine Meadow players to play for Junior Scotland was Alex Moffat in 1901 and the Club's most capped player is Willie Niven who represented his country 7 times. In most recent years the Club has been represented at International level by Brown, Faulds, Essler, Wingate, Swift, Barr and Halliday.

Irvine Meadow won two different cups on the same day in two separate towns against two separate teams. In season 1932-33 on June 3rd (3pm) Meadow beat Ardeer Recreation 3-0 in the Irvine & District Cup final replay at Victoria Park, Saltcoats. At 6:30pm, less than two hours after this game finished, Meadow beat Irvine Victoria 3-2 in the Ayrshire Consolation Cup final replay at Abbey Park, Kilwinning. Meadow had a fairly large squad but the same eleven turned out in both games.