Laurieston FC were one of the longest lasting of the small senior clubs in Falkirk District, which, in my opinion, counts greatly in their favour: although always struggling in the face of clubs with a larger support, they never gave up the ghost until League football finally killed off the village club.
Coming from just a mile or two direcly East of Falkirk, Laurieston was a newtown of its era, originally called New Merchiston [along with Grangemouth the Laird was Lawrence Dundas, who also owned Merchiston in Edinburgh] it was created to situate some nail factories, and though Laurieston was soon superceded by Camelon in the nail business, Laurieson remained, though have never discovered which industries replaced the nails!
The club itself seems to have been formed about the summer of 1884, and as far as I know played their home matches throughout at Zetland Park, just below the village toward Grangemouth [though whether this is the same ground as the current football pitches located there is impossible to ascertain]. However much is known of the club, many of the players are clearly named in many of their matches, so there is more known of the club. The players who were randomly 'snatched' by Falkirk & East Stirlingshire just show the big fish nature of football. But Laurieston were also a big fish in their own little pond, often 'pilfering' players from Rumford Rovers & Redding Athletic in their own right.
They were sometimes, but not always, knockovers, but were fully part of the local senior scene, entering the Scottish Cup, Stirlingshire Cup and the two local cups for most of their lifespan, as well as other cups where they had the opportunity. I do not think they won anything in their time, but nor do I think they expected to, they played for their village and they hoped against hope that they could pull off a result.
Among the players they reared were Peter Steele [East Stirlingshire], David Fleming [Falkirk FC], Mathew Myles [many clubs].
One of the few teams where it is known their colours, as the Falkirk Herald in 1889 stated that they played in Amber & Black stripes. It is an absolute shame we went the way of splitting out football on senior/junior lines as they could have survived in a Division 8-10 of Scottish Football, with the odd draw against a big team in the cup keeping them going, but that was not to be: they were replaced by the Junior Club Laurieson Villa soon after, who produced the mighty Jock Simpson.
I would put all of Laurieston FC's competetive matches here, but they did play a lot, am working on it!
18th Oct 1884 King's Park 13 Laurieston 0 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd
26th Sep 1885 Laurieston 0 Campsie Central 4 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd
17th Apr 1886 Falkirk 7 Laurieston 0 Falkirk District Charity Cup 1st Rd
11th Sep 1886 Grahamston 0 Laurieston 2 Scottish Cup 1st Rd
25th Sep 1886 Grahamston 3 Laurieston 0 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd [Grahamston disqualified]
2nd Oct 1886 Laurieston 1 Falkirk 3 Scottish Cup 2nd Rd
30th Nov 1886 Falkirk 4 Laurieston 1 Stirlingshire Cup 2nd Rd
19th Feb 1887 East Stirlingshire 6 Laurieston 0 Falkirk District Charity Cup 1st Rd
7th Sep 1887 Slamannan 5 Laurieston 4 Scottish Cup 1st Rd
29th Oct 1887 Campsie 11 Laurieston 0 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd
25th Feb 1888 Laurieston 6 Camelon 3 Falkirk District Charity Cup 1st Rd
7th Apr 1888 Laurieston 1 Grangemouth 3 Falkirk District Charity Cup Semi-Final
1st Sep 1888 Vale of Bannock 3 Laurieston 2 Scottish Cup 1st Rd
27th Oct 1888 East Stirlingshire 11 Laurieston 2 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd
20th Apr 1889 Laurieston 8 Stenhousemuir 1 Falkirk District Charity Cup 1st Rd
8th May 1889 Camelon 5 Laurieston 4 Falkirk District Charity Cup Semi-Final
11th May 1889 Denny 7 Laurieston 2 Kilsyth Charity Cup 1st Rd
7th Sep 1889 Dunipace 2 Laurieston 3 Scottish Cup 1st Rd
28th Sep 1889 Laurieston 1 East Stirlingshire 4 Scottish Cup 2nd Rd
2nd Nov 1889 Laurieston 1 Kilsyth Wanderers 0 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd
16th Nov 1889 Falkirk 6 Laurieston 2 Stirlingshire Cup 2nd Rd
22nd Feb 1890 Falkirk 4 Laurieston 1 Falkirk Cottage Hospital Shield Semi-Final
6th Sep 1890 Campsie 4 Laurieston 1 Scottish Cup 1st Rd
1st Nov 1890 Laurieston 3 Bridge of Allan 2 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd
22nd Nov 1890 Laurieston 1 Stenhousemuir 1 Stirlingshire Cup 2nd Rd
29th Nov 1890 Laurieston 2 Stenhousemuir 1 Stirlingshire Cup 2nd Rd Replay
13th Dec 1890 Campsie Hibs 1 Laurieston 6 Stirlingshire Cup 3rd Rd
17th Jan 1891 Grangemouth 4 Laurieston 0 Stirlingshire Cup Semi-Final
28th Feb 1891 East Stirlingshire 7 Laurieston 1 Falkirk Cottage Hospital Shield Semi-Final
25th Apr 1891 Falkirk 8 Laurieston 0 Falkirk District Charity Cup Semi-Final
31st Oct 1891 Laurieston 4 Bridge of Allan 2 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd
12th Dec 1891 Falkirk 3 Laurieston 2 Stirlingshire Cup 3rd Rd
18th May 1892 Falkirk 7 Laurieston 0 Falkirk District Charity Cup Semi-Final
29th Oct 1892 Laurieston 3 Camelon 7 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd
12th Apr 1893 Falkirk 12 Laurieston 0 Falkirk District Charity Cup 1st Rd
17th May 1893 East Stirlingshire 5 Laurieston 1 Falkirk Cottage Hospital Shield Semi-Final
16th Sep 1893 Denny 5 Laurieston 0 Stirlingshire League
14th Oct 1893 Laurieston 1 Dunipace 4 Stirlingshire League
21st Oct 1893 Gairdoch 8 Laurieston 0 Stirlingshire League
28th Oct 1893 Laurieston 2 Bridge of Allan 4 Stirlingshire Cup 1st Rd
4th Nov 1893 Grasshoppers 6 Laurieston 2 Stirlingshire League
11th Nov 1893 Laurieston 5 Grangemouth 7 Stirlingshire League
3rd Feb 1893 Grangemouth 8 Laurieston 3 Stirlingshire League
10th Feb 1894 Laurieston 2 Denny 1 Stirlingshire League
24th Feb 1894 Laurieston 7 Slamannan Rovers 4 Stirlingshire League
10th Mar 1894 Laurieston 3 Grasshoppers 3 Stirlingshire League
31st Mar 1894 Laurieston 1 Gairdoch 7 Stirlingshire League
18th Apr 1894 East Stirlingshire 8 Laurieston 2 Falkirk District Charity Cup 1st Rd
15th May 1894 Falkirk 7 Laurieston 0 Falkirk Cottage Hospital Shield Semi-Final
1st May 1895 Camelon 3 laurieston 1 Falkirk Cottage Hospital Shield Semi-Final