Wick Academy

Wick Academy Football Club are a senior football club founded in October 1893, who currently play in the Scottish Highland Football League at Harmsworth Park. They represent the Caithness town of Wick, making them the most northerly professional football league club, not only in Scotland, but in the United Kingdom.

History

The club was known in Wick simply as Academy and sometimes in other parts of Caithness as Pulteneytown Academy. An indirect and unofficial connection with the local school of the same name was maintained with the election of a teacher, John Davidson as the first captain or ‘leader' as it was termed in the minute book of the first meeting. The club's first game was a friendly away to Castletown. Home games were played at Harrow Park, now known as Harmsworth Park. Ten matches, with only two defeats, were played in that first season against teams like Dunbeath, John O'Groats (formed that same year in Wick), Lybster Portland, Thurso Thistle and Wick Thistle.

The Wick League was started in 1896, and Academy won the championship in the third season in 1898–99, the first of 17 league titles. From 1907 to 1914, Academy had virtually a clean sweep of league and local cups and in 1911, applied successfully for full membership of the SFA, so they could play in the Qualifying Cup.

Academy's Qualifying Cup debut was a home tie on 2 September 1911, and a crowd of about 800 saw a 4–0 win against Inverness Thistle. Men paid 6d, boys 3d, ladies were admitted free and gate receipts were £17. Caledonian won a 2nd round tie in Wick 4–1.

The right winger in those games was Jimmy Miller, who was later secretary and president of the club, his commitment to the club continued almost 50 years to 1954.

A Caithness County League was started in the 1926–27 season, by which time the Harmsworth family had bought the park and donated it to the town with the Burgh Council as trustees and local sports clubs formed a management committee. Only the football clubs seemed prepared to do