Kilwinning Rangers

Kilwinning Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kilwinning, Ayrshire. Formed in 1899, the club competes in the West of Scotland Football League, and are eligible to participate in the Scottish Cup. Nicknamed The Buffs, they play in blue and white hoops. Home matches are played at Buffs Park, within Kilwinning Sports Club, where the club moved prior to the 2019–20 season having spent 90 years at Abbey Park.

History

Kilwinning Rangers were originally formed as a Juvenile football club in 1899, sharing Blacklands Park with the local senior club - the now defunct Kilwinning Eglinton. In 1902 the club joined the Junior grade however it was three years before the club won their first honour, emerging as winners of the Ayrshire Junior Challenge Cup in 1904–05.

They became the first Ayrshire club to win the Scottish Junior Cup in 1908–09 with a 1–0 victory over Strathclyde A second appearance in the final followed in 1909–10, however Kilwinning were defeated 3-0 by Ashfield. Ninety years later, Kilwinning regained the Scottish Junior Cup with a 1–0 victory over Kelty Hearts, in a season which saw them win six out of the seven trophies available to them.

Kilwinning became the first Ayrshire side to win the West Super League in 2003–04 however financial issues resulted in the team finishing bottom of the league the following season and subsequently relegated. Most of the following decade was spent in the Ayrshire District League with a promotion to the Super First Division achieved in 2012–13. The following season almost resulted in Kilwinning avoiding relegation, however the club had fielded an ineligible player for twelve matches and the resulting nineteen point deduction relegated the side to the bottom division.

A change in management occurred in February 2014 with the appointment of Chris Strain and Colin Stewart, although Stewart left to take up a coaching role at Rangers in 2015 and Strain assumed the role of sole manager.