1877 - 1880

Although St. Mirren Football Club was founded in 1877, it was not until the 1880’s that they came to prominence in the national game.

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Their first match was played at Shortroods on the 6th October 1877 against Johnstone Britannia.

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The first Saints line up was: - J. Adam, J. Fisher, J. Stewart, J. Goold, W. Reid, J. Shearer, J. Paterson, J. Galbraith, F. Muir, T. Graham and D. Drennan. John Goold had the honour of scoring St.Mirren’s first goal in a 1-0 victory.

 

They were to come back down to earth in the following weeks however as first Vale of Caldon visited Shortroods and inflicted Saints first defeat and then Saints travelled to Pollokshields in Glasgow to play Ailsa Reserves in their first away match. They were soundly defeated 7-1! 

 

After a year playing at Shortroods, St Mirren were on the move to a new home, Abingdon Park. The first game played there was against Regent FC of Glasgow on 21st September 1878. Not much is known about the exact location of this ground and it is believed that Saints played no more than four or five matches here before moving again in 1879 to Thistle Park, Greenhill.

 

The first match was played at Thistle Park on the 6th September 1879 when John Elder FC of Govan were the visitors and they left with a 2-0 victory.

 

The main rivals at this time were Abercorn who were formed in Paisley in November 1877, just after Saints. The first match between the two teams was Abercorn’s first ever match in February 1878, Saints showing their experience by winning 7-0! However over the next few weeks Abercorn played several more games and met St.Mirren again at the end of March 1878. The result was a 0-0 draw. The Abbies had arrived and a great rivalry was born!

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There were no competitive fixtures played during this period.