East Kilbride Pirates
| Established | 1985 |
|---|---|
| Based in | Hamilton |
| Home stadium | Hamilton Rugby Club |
| Head coach | Ross Templeton |
| League | BAFA National Leagues |
| Division | Northern Premiership |
| League titles | 1 (2011) |
| Division titles | 11 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) |
| Current uniform | |
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The East Kilbride Pirates are a British American Football team based in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. They currently play in the BAFA Premier Division North and are both the most successful and the oldest surviving American Football team in Scotland having being formed in 1985. The club were 2011 British Champions and are eleven-time Conference champions. They currently play home games at Hamilton Rugby club.
The East Kilbride Pirates were formed in 1985, following a notice appearing in the local newspaper asking any interested parties to attend training. The club was named in a competition through the local newspaper, the East Kilbride News. The winning name was a strange choice, given that East Kilbride is miles from either the West or East coast and therefore unlikely to have any historical connection with pirates. 1985 was a formative year, and the club played three unkitted games, winning 2 and losing 1.
For the 1986 season, the Pirates merged with the nearby Rutherglen Ironhogs, producing a suitably sized squad to take part in the British American Football League (Anglo Conference). Things started brightly under Head Coach, Steve Gulley, a player with the club, as a 13–0 win was recorded over the Clydesdale Colts in the first kitted game. Unfortunately, this was to be the last win of the year, as the team ended up with a 1–6 record.
1987 saw a new head coach with the appointment of Bill Walsh, an American working in East Kilbride. Walsh's influence was apparent as East Kilbride went 4–4 to finish second in Division One of the new, Budweiser American Football League.
With Coach Walsh's return to the States, a new head coach was appointed in 1988. Another American, Nick Fantini, was in town on a 12-month exchange visit, and he agreed to take over the reins during his stay. Unfortunately for both Fantini and the club, the previous year's success had resulted in promotion to the Premier Division of the Budweiser League. The higher standard of football quickly became obvious, as the Pirates tumbled to a 0–10 season. Included in those 10 losses was a 110–0 defeat at the Granite City Oilers. To date this is still the second heaviest defeat suffered in domestic American Football games in the United Kingdom (only Mersey Centurions 148–6 defeat of Halton Demons in a 1989 BNGL game was more emphatic).
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