A wee bit of history about the Wasps

The club has been the centre of many WASP’s Saturday afternoons since 1878. It joined the SFA in 1883 and was admitted into the league in 1921.

Recreation Park, now Indodrill Stadium, has played host to the team and its many supporters since 1895. So where did Alloa Athletic play for the first 17 years of its life?

It all began at West End Park, a public park in the West of Alloa. They then moved to Gaberston Park in 1883, and to Bellevue Park in 1890 before setting down in the place they call home today.

The Indodrill Stadium currently has a capacity of 3,100. It’s where Alloa played and won their first Scottish Football League match in a 1-0 victory against Stenhousemuir in August 1921.

In February 1955, the club’s record attendance was set for a Scottish Cup match against Celtic when an impressive 15,467 spectators attended. Celtic won the match 4-2, but we won’t dwell on that.

A better record to remember is the club’s best victory to date. This came in November 2005, when the Alloa team beat Selkirk an impressive 9-0.

For the majority of its existence, Alloa’s home colours have been black hoops with gold stripes. However in 1897-98 the strip featured blue and white vertical stripes for one season before returning to their traditional black and gold the following year.

Did you know that the pitch was replaced with artificial turf in 2007? The turf at the ground today is actually made from recycled tyres! This alteration meant that in 2010, a match at the ground between Alloa and  Peterhead  was the only fixture in Scotland to be played after all 20 other  SPL  and SFL matches were postponed due to freezing weather conditions.

Did you know that the club was not always called Alloa Athletic FC? From 1878-79 it was called Clackmannan County. From 1897-83 it was called Alloa Association FC before gaining the title we all know and love today.

Do you have any old pictures of Alloa Athletic? Send them to: editorial@alloaadvertiser.co.uk