Ross County
Formed 1929
Elected to Scottish Division Three 1994
Kit History
1929-1931 b
1931-1946
1946-1948 k
1948-1949 b
1949-1950 b
1950-1954 b
1954-1955 b
1958-1959 b
1963-1965 b
1965-1966 b
1966-1968 b
1968-1975
1975-1977 g
1977-1978 b
1978-1984
1984-1985 j
1985-1987 j
1987-1990 h j
1990-1993 j
1993-1994 a h j
1994-1995 j
1995-1996 f j
1996-1997 l
1997-1998 j
1998-1999 d
2000-2002 a
2002-2004 a
2004-2005 a
2005-2006 a
2006-2007 a i
2007-2008 c
2008-2009 a e
2009-2010 e
2010-2011 e
2011-2012 e
2012-2013 e
2013-2014 e
Background
In 1929 officials of the amateur side, Dingwall
Victors decided to disband and form a new club that would represent
the whole of Ross & Cromerty in the Highland League. Their ground
was renamed Victoria Park (a nod to the predecessor club) and the new
club adopted the Caberfeidh or Stag’s Head of the Seaforth
Highlanders as their badge. To this day the club are known as “The
Staggies.”
Ross County were admitted immediately to the Highland League and won the North of Scotland Cup in their first season. They had a largely undistinguished career although they did win the Highland League Cup in 1950. In 1967 they won the Highland League title for the first time, followed two years later by a second League Cup. The North of Scotland Cup was won again in 1970 and 1972.
Their next league success did not arrive until 1991 and was followed by a Highland League and North of Scotland Cup double the following season. This gave the management the confidence to prepare an application to join the Scottish Football League in 1994 when restructuring created two vacancies in the new Third Division. Five clubs applied for the two places, three of them from the Highland League. Ross County’s chairman, Hector MacLennan and club secretary Donnie MacBean made their pitch to the League using cue cards worked out on the train while the competition had pipers and video presentations. Sincerity appears to have triumphed over presentation and the modest Ross County were elected along with near neighbours, Inverness Caledonian Thistle (a combined bid from the two leading Inverness clubs). The SFL had traditionally been loath to admit members from the north of Scotland: this election marked a change in attitude that would open the doors to Elgin City and Peterhead some six years later (albeit at the cost of severely weakening the Highland League).
The Staggies made an immediate impression on the new Third Division and in 1999 they won the championship followed by promotion to the First Division the following season. In 2007 Ross County were relegated back to the Second Division although they had some compensation, having won the League Challenge Cup in November 2006. The following season they bounced straight back up, wrapping up the divisional title on 5 April.
In 2010 the team finished fourth in the First Division and reached the Scottish FA Cup final for the first time in their history but were beaten by Dundee United. Two seasons later they won the SFL First Division and took their place in the SPL for the first time in the 2012-13 season.
Ross County are the most northerly of the Scottish League clubs and one that is firmly committed to involving the community and representing the Highlands & Islands on the national stage.
Sources
- (a) SNS Pix
- (b) Alick Milne
- (c) dsargent.co.uk
- (d) Ross Hamilton
- (e) Ross County Official Website
- (f) Ricc Attanasio – www.jumpers4goalposts.com
- (g) Ross Matheson
- (h) Willie Kay
- (i) David Redshaw
- (j) Donald Gellatly (HFK Research Associate)
- (k) Roddy Gray
- (l) Scott (The Tannerba')
Photograph provided by Roddy Gray