On That Windswept Plain: The First One Hundred Years of East Fife Football Club

“That windswept plain above the town” was how the local press often referred to Town Hall Park, a sports field situated on high ground above the town of Methil, during the early 1900’s. It was on that windswept plain that the newly formed East Fife Football Club set up home during the summer of 1903. After re-naming the field Bayview Park, the “Fife” played their first ever match on 15th August 1903 against Heart of Midlothian. None of the spectators who lined the ropes that afternoon could possibly have known that they were witnessing the birth of a football club destined to have a huge impact on the Scottish game. In 1927, just six years after being admitted to the Scottish League, the Fifers achieved the remarkable feat of reaching the Scottish Cup Final whilst still a Second Division side. Eleven years later, again as a Second Division club, the men from Methil went one better and brought Scottish Football’s greatest prize home after beating Kilmarnock at Hampden on 27th April 1938. The decade following the Second World War, however, was undoubtedly the best period in the club’s history, when they won the Scottish League Cup three times and were widely regarded as Scotland’s most successful provincial football club. This book tells the story of East Fife’s first 100 years, from their foundation in 1903 through to May 2003, when the club won promotion in their Centenary year by scoring with virtually the last kick of the ball in the final match of the season against Queen’s Park at Bayview Stadium.