13 November 2010 - The Other Poppy Controversy

In the wake of this past week's debate over whether FIFA would allow England to wear poppies on their shirts for their friendly against Spain, we look back at another poppy-related controversy from last year.

On 13 November 2010, Airdrie United printed a special prematch program in honor of Remembrance Day. But made a pretty embarrassing mistake.

The club sold the program before a Scottish Division Two match against Livingston. As a nod to match sponsors Network Rail, Airdrie selected a cover photo of soldiers on a train, accompanied by the words "Lest We Forget" and the logo of veterans' charity PoppyScotland, which included the legend "Supporting Our Heroes."

Unfortunately for Airdrie, the soldiers in the photo weren't who the club thought they were. Instead, the picture showed a group of Nazi soldiers. After a supporter brought that fact to the club's attention, chairman Jim Ballantyne quickly apologized for the error. Club secretary Ann Marie Ballantyne added "It certainly was not deliberate. We were told the soldiers were Australian." She further explained that they had received the photo from PoppyScotland, but the charity denied the claim, calling the program gaffe "unfortunate."

It wasn't the day's only disappointment for Airdrie, as Network Rail--whose sponsorship prompted the use of the photo--withdrew prior to the match. And Airdrie lost, 0-1.

1 May 2002 - Diamonds In The Rough

On 1 May 2002, Scottish First Division club Airdrieonians F.C. officially went out of business due to crippling debts.

The club, commonly known as Airdrie and nicknamed the Red Diamonds, began in 1878 as Excelsior F.C., but changed its name to Airdrieonians in 1881 to reflect the North Lanarkshire town of Airdrie in which it was based. They joined the Scottish League as a member of the Second Division and regularly moved between the top two flights.

Airdrie won the Second Division title three times, in 1903, 1955, and 1974, and also won the Scottish Challenge Cup three times, first in 1995, then in their last two seasons, 2001 and 2002. They also qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup after finishing as runner-up to Rangers in the 1992 Scottish Cup Final. Their greatest success, however, was winning the Scottish Cup in 1924, beating Hibernian 2-0.

At the time they went out of business, Airdrie had just missed out on promotion to the Scottish Premier League, finishing in 2nd place of the then second-tier First Division. The club's debts had been steadily rising, however, and Airdrie had been in administration for the previous two years. By 1 May 2002, administrator KPMG had failed to find a buyer for the club and ordered it to shut its doors.

Their last match was away to Ayr United on 27 April 2002, but was abandoned by the referee when Airdrie supporters staged a protest pitch invasion, breaking the crossbar of one of the goals. The match was never replayed, but was officially recorded as a 1-0 loss for Airdrie.

In 2002, ardent Airdrie supporter Jim Ballantyne purchased Second Division side Clydebank F.C., relocated it to Airdrie, and renamed it Airdrie United. The new club currently plays in the First Division, after earning promotion in 2008.