page_title: Kilmarnock
section_title: Sports
hierarchical_section_title: Kilmarnock / Sports
caption_attribution_description: English: Rugby Park
context_page_description: Kilmarnock is a large burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland, with a population of 46,350, making it the 15th most populated place in Scotland and the second largest town in Ayrshire. The River Irvine runs through its eastern section, and the Kilmarnock Water passes through it, giving rise to the name 'Bank Street'.
  The first collection of work by Scottish poet Robert Burns, Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect, was published in Kilmarnock in 1786 by John Wilson, printer and bookseller and became known as the Kilmarnock Edition. The internationally distributed whisky brand Johnnie Walker originated in the town in the 19th century and until 2012 was still bottled, packaged and distilled in the town at the Johnnie Walker Hill Street plant. Protest and backing from the Scottish Government took place in 2009, after Diageo, the owner of Johnnie Walker announced plans to close the bottling plant in the town after 189 years.
context_section_description: The town is host to Kilmarnock F.C., a member of the Scottish Premiership and the  oldest professional football club in Scotland. Their home ground is Rugby Park. The location of the stadium came about by the works of Ross Quigley, whom at the time was one of the first directors of the club. The etymology of the ground is that when founded, the club played both football and rugby. Rugby Park was one of the first football grounds in Scotland to have floodlights installed. In recent years the stadium has been modernised, firstly to bring it in line with the all-seating regulations, then rebuilt totally to make a new ground. It has also hosted international football matches and music concerts, most recently Elton John in June 2005. The club's foundation dates back to the very earliest days of organised football in Scotland, when a group of local cricketers looking for a sporting pursuit to occupy them outwith the cricket season formed a football club in 1869. Originally they played rugby rules, but the difficulty in organising fixtures and the growing influence of Queen's Park soon persuaded them to adopt the association code instead. These origins are reflected to this day by the name of the club's home ground – Rugby Park.
  Although not amongst the founder members of the Scottish Football Association in 1873, Kilmarnock F.C. did send a letter of stating their willingness to join and did so in time to compete in the inaugural Scottish Cup tournament in 1873–74. Their 2–0 defeat against Renton in the first round on 18 October 1873 is thought to have been the first match ever played in the competition. Kilmarnock joined the Scottish League in 1895 and after winning consecutive Second Division titles were elected to the top flight for the first time in 1899. The club's greatest success was in 1965 under the management of Willie Waddell. On the final day of the season, they travelled to face Hearts at Tynecastle requiring a victory by two goals to nil (due to the competition being decided by goal average at that period if teams were equal on points) to win the league at their opponents' expense. A 2–0 win saw Kilmarnock crowned Scottish League champions for the first, and to date only, time. This capped a period of strong consistency which had seen them occupy runners-up spot in four of the previous five seasons.
  After a period of decline in the 1980s which saw the club relegated to the Second Division, Killie have returned to prominence, holding top division status since being promoted in 1993 and lifting the Scottish Cup for the third time in 1997 after a 1–0 victory over Falkirk in the final. In March 2012, Kilmarnock won the Scottish League Cup for the first time under the management of their manager Kenny Sheils, beating Celtic 1–0. Kilmarnock have qualified for European competitions on nine occasions, their best performance coming in the 1966–67 Fairs Cup when they progressed to the semi-finals, eventually being eliminated by Leeds United. The club have played in all three European competitions (European Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup).
  There are two golf courses in the town, Annanhill Golf Course and Caprington Golf Course, which has both an 18-hole course and a 9-hole course. Both these courses are council owned and run by East Ayrshire Council. The local leisure complexes include the Galleon Centre: with a 25-metre swimming pool, baby pool, ice rink, squash courts, sauna, gym, games hall, bar area, bowling green and the New Northwest Centre (formerly the Hunter Centre) which contains a community gym and various local medical facilities. The new Ayrshire Athletics Centre was constructed in the Queens Drive area which includes a 400m running track outside of the main building.
caption: Rugby Park, home of Kilmarnock F.C.
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