Royal Albert F.C.
| Full name | Royal Albert Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) |
The Royalists (as seniors) The Albert |
| Founded | 1878 |
| Ground | Tileworks Park, Stonehouse |
| Manager | Jamie Nesbitt |
| League | West of Scotland League Central District Second Division |
| 2015–16 | West of Scotland League Central District Second Division, 12th |
Royal Albert Football Club are a football club, historically based in the town of Larkhall, Scotland but currently playing out of the nearby village of Stonehouse. Formerly a member of the Scottish Football League they now play in the Scottish Junior Football Association, West Region.
The formation of the club dates back to 1878, when two Larkhall pit sides joined together to form one team. These pits were owned by a Capt. Johns and he named the team after his boat the Royal Albert. The club spent over fifty years in Senior football, and qualified for the Scottish Cup on twenty occasions. Their greatest run came in the 1890–91 competition where they reached the fifth round before losing to Celtic in front of a record crowd of 5,000 at their Raploch Park ground. In the same season, centre half James Clelland became the clubs' one and only full Scotland international when he was capped against Ireland in March 1891. Royal Albert also have the distinction of scoring the first ever penalty kick in Scottish senior football, James McLuggage scoring against Airdrieonians in a local cup tie on 6 June 1891.
The club competed in various leagues such as the Scottish Football Federation, Scottish Football Alliance, Scottish Football Combination, Scottish Football Union and Western Football League before becoming a founder member of Scottish League Division Three in 1923. After the Third Division was abandoned in 1926, Albert briefly returned to the Scottish Football Alliance and Provincial Football League before being wound up in 1927 and re-forming as a Junior club the following year. The Royal Albert name continued to appear in the Scottish Qualifying Cup until 1936 and they qualified for the tournament on two further occasions, their last game being a 16–0 thrashing by Partick Thistle in January 1931.
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