Ayr Parkhouse F.C.
| Full name | Ayr Parkhouse Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Parkies |
| Founded | 1886 |
| Dissolved | 1910 |
| Ground | Ballantyne Drive (1886) Racecourse (1886–1888) Beresford Park (1888–1910) |
Ayr Parkhouse Football Club were a football club from the town of Ayr in Scotland. The club was a member of the Scottish Football League until 1910, when they merged with neighbours Ayr to form Ayr United.
Ayr Parkhouse were formed in 1886 and took their name from the Parkhouse farmhouse where the club's players trained. They initially played their home games at Ballantine Drive, before moving to the Ayr Racecourse ground. In 1888 Ayr vacated the better developed Beresford Park, and Ayr Parkhouse moved in, where they played for the remainder of their existence. In 1891 they joined the Ayrshire Football League, but moved onto the Ayrshire Football Combination in 1893, of which they were founder members along with Ayr with whom they would develop a healthy rivalry.
However, Ayr Parkhouse took the decision to remain a faithfully amateur club, only turning professional in 1905. Despite the club's amateur status, they competed well in their league and performed well in Scottish Cup competition, reaching the quarter finals of the competition in season 1894–95, where they fell to that year's runners-up Renton.
Local success continued, but the rivalry that was built up with Ayr ceased to have a regular outlet when that club were admitted to membership of the Scottish Football League in 1897. Ayr Parkhouse's ambitions were beginning to outgrow their local successes and the club's early amateur fuelled hostility to membership of the professional Scottish Football League was waning. In 1901 they unsuccessfully applied for membership, but after finishing second in the Scottish Amateur Football League the following year they managed to get elected to full league status in 1903, just ahead of St Johnstone. Their initial season in the league was a disaster. They finished bottom of Division Two and therefore had to reapply for membership, but they declined to do so.Aberdeen were elected instead.
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