Musselburgh Athletic - Olivebank Stadium

Musselburgh Athletic FC

Olivebank Stadium

Market Street

Musselburgh 

EH21 6QA

0131 6657389

Official Website

EOSL Page

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Ground Number: 1158
Saturday 18th March 2018

Musselburgh Athletic 0-4 Broxburn Athletic
East Of Scotland Premier

MUSSELBURGH ATHLETIC FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1934. There's not a huge amount of information about the club online but they've spent most of their history in Scottish Junior football. League-wise, they have won the East Region Division 2 in 2001 but were more successful in 1971 when they won Division 1. In 2018, they joined the East Of Scotland League Premier Division. Their best finish was 4th in the abandoned 2020/21 season, a placing that they are currently matching this season.  In 2011 and 2015 they reached the final of the Scottish Junior Cup, both times narrowly losing 2–1 to Ayrshire team Auchinleck Talbot.

Local cup wins include the South & East of Scotland Cup-Winners Shield in 2020, the Alex Jack Cup in 2020, the Dalmeny Cup in 1909 & 1912, the East Lothian Cup in 1912, the Simpson Shield  in 1912 & 1915, the Marshall Cup in 1915, the Musselburgh Cup in 1936, the East of Scotland Cup in 1937, the St Michael Cup on five occasions, the Thistle Cup in 1973, the Brown Cup three times and the Lothian League Cup in 2006.

The town of  Musselburgh is the largest settlement in East Lothian,  Firth of Forth, 5 miles east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of just over 21,000. The name Musselburgh is Old English in origin, with mussel referring to the shellfish. Musselburgh is home to both Musselburgh Racecourse and Musselburgh Links golf course. Musselburgh RFC play in the Scottish Premiership at Stoneyhill. The most famous person from Musselburgh is Jim Jefferies, who saw great success as a player and manager with Hearts. Kenny Miller, a Scottish International who played for both Celtic & Rangers hails from the town as does Scotland's manager for the 1974 World Cup Willie Ormond.

MY VISIT

Typically for a Saturday night, this was the ground with the best things around it. This had been the case in the past and it made me wish that we had more time pre-match to have a look around. This town included several attractive takeaways, but more importantly, a Wetherspoons. I'm not an obsessive Spoons ticker and don't go out of my way to visit them. They do add an attraction to a weekend day out, with reliable and comfortable venues, reasonable food and fingers crossed, a pint of nice cider. It is far from my favourite overall, but a pint of Black Dragon is always good to see at a Wetherspoons and you can use the app to check in advance whether a visit is worthwhile in this respect. So far, I had done 247 in the chain, the best being in Tiverton with a huge fridge of cider and the worst being The Kings Head Hotel in Beccles where it had no real cider and I stood for 15 minutes without being served before giving up. The one in Wycombe is a right dive too, run-down, no real cider and you'll often encounter beggars or other dropouts in there.

The main talking point of the day was the prize at Tranent. Bolton fan Gibbo had wound Dan up by buying a ticket to stop him from winning a much-cherished prize. He asked for £50 for it but Dan only offered a tenner. The next thing, it was up on eBay for £1000 on Kizzye's account. From Tranent, it was a traffic-strewn journey and a tricky one for the coach driver to negotiate. It was also tight for time but with this delay, I decided to sack off Spoons. Musselburgh reputedly had a bar, so I'd give them the money instead. They had a merchandise stall but the prices put me off. But it was my favourite ground and the bar was good.

 Musselburgh Athletic were doing well in 4th place and had enjoyed some big wins lately. This included a 6-1 win at Blackburn United in their last game as well as a 10-2 win against Vale of Leithen and a 7-0 victory over Oakley United. They'd also beaten Penicuik Athletic 3-1 but had suffered a surprise 2-0 home defeat to strugglers Hill Of Beath Hawthorn. Broxburn Athletic were in 10th place and were in mixed form. They'd lost 5-1 to Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale in their latest game and had also lost 4-1 at home tp Tynecastle and 1-0 at Sauchie Juniors. On the positive side, they'd beat Hill Of Beath Hawthorn 3-1 and Vale Of Leithen 8-0. They'd also drawn 2-2 against Oakley United. It was a bullet header from Josh Wright that gave the visitors the lead, deserved it too. The second goal I didn't have a great view of the goal, I was down the other end as Erroll Douglas netted. Douglas netted his second on 67 minutes, a quick break and a nest finish. Finally, it was 4-0 on 70 minutes, a penalty by Gary Brass. 

It had been a good day. Musselburgh had been great hosts and their young ultras had done them proud. I'd also has a good time with Dan and George, the latter popping down to Aldi to get us some cider, a real top lad. After a sensible start to the day, I got stuck in, a good time was had by all. Back to Lidl for our coach, we were soon on our way in the great company of our fellow travellers. Due to the lack of anything but pies at the ground, we had some chicken wings and chips back at the hotel. Match Of The Day was watched but I held off doing my blog until the morning.

THE GROUND

THE OLIVEBANK STADIUM is a decent venue and my favourite so far of the hop. It is set into lovely grass banks and is very well kept. There's only one covered area, a small stand. The bar is also great but I didn't try the food. Merchandise prices are very steep. It was a shame that I didn't have time to look around the town, as it looked great. Overall, a great place to visit.