Ground 29: Rugby Park

Rugby Park hosting a game between teams who play in blue & white and green, who both wore their away shirts...

Game: Kilmarnock 2 v 4 Hibernian

Date: Saturday 3^rd March

Competition: Scottish Cup 6^th Round

Attendance: 7,272

Admission: £20

Programme: £2.50

This is a quick post, as I’ve been rather busy. Normal service will be resumed for the next post about Firhill.

Quite simply, this was an exhilarating game that was a great advert for Scottish football.

I wouldn’t even pretend to be a neutral when covering this game – it was fantastic being a Hibee at this match.

Hibs took a phenomenal amount of fans to a match that was being televised, the estimated number being around 4,000, which meant there were more Hibs fans there than Kilmarnock supporters.

Rugby Park is always a favourite destination for many Scottish football fans and it’s not because of what’s served up on the pitch, but rather what’s served in the concourses – the famous Killie Pie. We arrived at the ground with about 15 minutes to spare so we made a beeline for the catering kiosk and headed to our seats in the Chadwick Stand. However, for the 90 minutes the seats were unoccupied as every Hibs fan stood. Aside from the Edinburgh derby back in January this was the loudest game I’d been at all season, and the Killie fans made a racket at times too.

Rugby Park has been home to Kilmarnock since 1899. The ground was formerly much larger in size as this photo demonstrates. The ground was redeveloped in the mid-1990s, leaving the ground with a capacity of 18,128. One of the more usual aspects of the ground is the tapering of the East Stand around 15 yards before the north end. One could argue that Rugby Park is too big for Kilmarnock’s needs, and on this day the Moffat Stand was closed. One of my favourite features of Rugby Park is the tunnel, which is so small than only one player can come out at a time.

As for the game itself, it was great. Both teams tried to play football on a pitch that has seen better days. Kilmarnock shot themselves in the foot several times with some Hibs-esque defending. Hibs were clinical when they needed to be (or more accurately Leigh Griffiths was clinical) and the referee had a shocker. So pretty much your standard Scottish football match.

A Hibs-themed empire biscuit, a nice touch from the Killie caterers

The pie was excellent by the way!