Hibernian F.C.
Rod Petrie | manager =
Tony Mowbray | league =
Scottish Premier League |
season = 2005-06 |
position =
Scottish Premier League, 4th |
shirtsupplier= |Le Coq Sportif|
shirtsponsors= |Whyte & Mackay|
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leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=008000|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=008000|socks1=008000|
pattern_la2=_blackborder|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=|
leftarm2=2C5D3F|body2=2C5D3F|rightarm2=2C5D3F|shorts2=2C5D3F|socks2=2C5D3F|
There is also a Maltese football club called Hibernians F.C.Hibernian Football Club (informally known as "Hibs") is a
Scottish football club from
Edinburgh. Along with city rivals
Hearts, they represent
Edinburgh in the
Scottish Premier League. They are currently managed by
Tony Mowbray.
The club was founded in 1875 by
Irish born football enthusiasts, the most prominent being Canon Edward Joseph Hannan and Michael Whelahan. The team originally played at a ground near the Meadows in the south of Edinburgh's Old Town, moving to its current home,
Easter Road in
Leith, in the 1880s. They were the first major club in
Scotland formed out of the immigrant
Irish Catholic population (hence the name, from
Hibernia, the
Latin name for Ireland). A strict translation of the name Hibernian FC would be
"Irishmen Football Club." As the first such team, their example led to the creation of Dundee Hibernian (now
Dundee United) and
Celtic, who when they were formed were nearly called Glasgow Hibernian. The club is seen as being less of a Catholic institution now than it was in the past, and geography rather than religion is the primary reason that association fans support the team (Hibernian being the club for East Edinburgh).
On
August 13 1887, Hibernian defeated
Preston North End in a match tagged as the World championship decider, due to the two teams' achievements in their respective domestic cup trophies.
Hibs introduced white sleeves to their shirts on
13 August 1938 against
Hamilton Accies after a major brightening up of Easter Road had taken place. The harp and shamrocks at the entrance had been repainted as had the stand and the wall round the pitch and the terracing barriers had all been painted white. The goalposts had been replaced with oval ones with green nets. On that day, Harry Swan addressed the large crowd over new loudspeakers about "the brighter Easter Road" before the team appeared in their new strip.
Hibs were the first British club to appear in European competition,
UEFA's
European Cup, in its inaugural 1955/56 season. Participation was not through qualification as it is now: Hibernian finished 5th in the Scottish League in the previous season. Playing their first game against German side Rot Weiss Essen, Hibs won 4-0 in Essen and the return tie in Scotland ended in a 1-1 draw. That year, (1955) Hibs went on to reach the semi-finals only to be defeated by a Reims side inspired by the great French footballer Raymond Kopa.
The last major trophy won by the club was the 1991
League Cup, when they defeated
Dunfermline in the final. They also reached the League Cup final in 2004 losing to
Livingston. Hibs have not won the
Scottish Cup since 1902. Their last appearance in the final was a 3-0 loss to Celtic in 2001.
Hibernian's most recent relegation to the
First Division came at the end of the 1997-98 season. However, the team's form improved dramatically from here, and a run of 12 wins in a row helped Hibs to the
First Division championship, winning a record 89 points, 23 ahead of second-placed
Falkirk.
The team colours are emerald green and white. The strip is a green body, with white sleeves, with a white collar, and green cuffs. The shorts are white, and the socks are green with white tops. For the 2004/2005 season the colour of the shorts was changed to a green which matches the shirt colour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the club's 2-0 win over
Real Madrid, as this was the kit originally worn for this friendly match.
Tony Mowbray was appointed Hibs manager on 24 May 2004, replacing the unpopular
Bobby Williamson[
1]. His appointment came as a surprise because the media had been speculating about many other possible candidates, such as
John Gorman[
2],
David Hay and
Tommy Burns[
3].
Mowbray has placed an emphasis on playing attacking, passing football, despite the relative youth of the team and the pressure for results.
2004/05 season
These policies were rewarded with a 3rd place finish in Mowbray's first season as manager (
2004/05), and a place in the
UEFA Cup for the following season (
2005/06). Hibs reached the Semi Finals stage of the Scottish Cup where they lost 1-2 to Dundee United, despite taking the lead early in the second half.
2005/06 season
In the
2005/06 season, Hibs got off to an excellent start, winning 10 of their first 14 league games. This form led to speculation by some commentators that they could put in a challenge for the championship, but Tony Mowbray played down the club's chances, pointing to the lack of squad depth and the much higher budgets of Rangers, Celtic and even Hearts. Some injuries and the sale of Garry O'Connor to
Lokomotiv Moscow exposed this lack of depth. After a largely disappointing second half of the season, Hibs finished 4th in the SPL and qualified for the
Intertoto Cup.
Hibs were beaten 5-1 on aggregate by
Ukrainian club
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the first round [
4] of the
UEFA Cup. They showed promising signs in the
Scottish Cup, beating Arbroath 6-0, Rangers 3-0 and Falkirk 5-1, but they were defeated 0-4 by rivals Hearts in the semi-finals.
2006/07 season
The competitive football started early in
2006/07 for Hibs due to their qualification for the
Intertoto Cup. They beat their first opponents
Dinaburg on a comfortable 8-0 aggregate, but were eliminated on the
away goals rule by Danish team
OB in the third round.
In their first game of the new league season, Hibs drew with Aberdeen at home. A
Stevie Crawford goal for the away side was cancelled out on the 31st minute by Hibs midfielder Dean Shiels.
The team are known by their fans by the nickname "the Hibees" (pronounced "high-bees"). The club's name is almost universally shortened to
Hibs. Hibs supporters are known as "Hibbies" (singular: "Hibby").
*
Willie McFarland 1969 - 1970
*
Dave Ewing 1970 - 1971
*
Eddie Turnbull 1971 - 1980
*
Willie Ormond 1980
*
Bertie Auld 1980 - 1982
*
Pat Stanton 1982 - 1984
*
John Blackley 1984 - 1986
*
Alex Miller 1986 - 1996
*
Jocky Scott 1996
*
Jim Duffy 1996 - 1998
*
Alex McLeish 1998 - 2001
*
Donald Park (twice) 2001 and 2002 (Temporary)
*
Franck Sauzee 2001 - 2002
*
Bobby Williamson 2002 - 2004
*
Tony Mowbray - 2004 - present
Famous players have included:
The Famous Five -
Gordon Smith,
Bobby Johnstone,
Lawrie Reilly,
Eddie Turnbull and
Willie Ormond; in the seventies
Pat Stanton,
Alex Cropley, Alex Edwards,
John Blackley and
Arthur Duncan,
Eric Schaedler, in the 1980s
Alan Rough and
Gordon Durie, and in the 1990s
John Collins,
Andy Goram and
Jim Leighton. Turnbull also managed the team in the seventies, and at that time his team was nicknamed the "Turnbull's Tornados". In the early eighties former
Manchester United legend
George Best played with the club for half a season: he played 22 games and scored 3 goals.
Other more recent noted players include:
*
Franck Sauzee - European Cup Winner
*
Garry O'Connor - current Scotland Player
*
Derek Riordan - rising Scotland star
*
Chris Killen - current New Zealand international
*
Ivan Sproule - current Northern Ireland Player
*
Scott Brown - rising Scotland star
*
Kevin Thomson - current Under 21 Scotland Player and Hibernian Captain
*
Russell Latapy- current Trinidad and Tobago World Cup member
*
Ulises de la Cruz- current Ecuador World Cup member
*
Amadou Konte- current Malian international
The club has been mentioned in many works of literature, mainly by local authors.
The works of author
Irvine Welsh (
Trainspotting) contain several references to Hibernian, presumably due to his being a native of Leith. The team is often mentioned in casual conversation and is the team most of his characters support. There are many references to Hibernian's firm support. Visual references to the Hibs are noticeable in the films adapted from his works. More observant persons would have spotted many images of Hibernian in
Danny Boyle's film,
Trainspotting. During the famous baby on the ceiling/detox scene, many posters and pictures of Hibernian can be seen.
In the final short film in the trilogy
The Acid House, with the same title as the movie, Coco Bryce, a boy from the "Hibs firm", is struck by lightning while under the influence of LSD in a Pilton park only to have his soul transferred to the body of an unborn child from one of the more affluent areas of Edinburgh. The final scene of the movie is that of Coco in the baby's body strapped to his mother's back with a Hibs top in the pub chanting "Oo to, oo to be, oo to be a Hibee".
Hibernian are also frequently referred to in the
Inspector Rebus detective series by
Ian Rankin. In the later books, Rebus's colleague DS Siobhan Clark is a season ticket holder at Easter Road. Contrary to the 2006 television adaption of the series, Rebus is not a Hibs fan in the books.
*Highest home Attendance: 65,860 vs
Heart Of Midlothian F.C.; 1950
*Biggest ever win: 22-1 vs.
Black Watch Highlanders F.C.;
3 September 1881*Next biggest ever win: 20-0 vs.
Emmet F.C.;
10 January 1885*Biggest League win: 11-1 vs.
Airdrie F.C.;
24 October 1959, 11-1 vs.
Hamilton Academical F.C.;
6 November 1965*Next biggest League win: 10-1 vs
Port Glasgow Athletic F.C.;
19 May 1894*Biggest derby win: 7-0 vs.
Heart Of Midlothian F.C.;
1 January 1973*Biggest loss: 0-10 vs.
Rangers F.C.;
24 December 1898*Most capped player:
Lawrie Reilly, 38
Scotland*Most League appearances:
Arthur Duncan, 446
*Most League goals:
Gordon Smith, 364
*Most goals in a season:
Joe Baker, 42
*'''
Scottish football champions: 4
** 1903, 1948, 1951, 1952,
* Scottish first division champions 1981, 1999
*
Scottish Football League Division Two: 3 **1894, 1895, 1933
*
Scottish Cup: 2**1887, 1902
*
Scottish League Cup: 2**1972-73, 1991-92
*
"Championship of the World": 1**1887
*
Drybrough Cup: 2**1972, 1973
*
Tennents' Sixes Champions:1
**1990
Notes
1981 and 1999 represent second-tier championships, after the advent of the higher Scottish Premier Division/League in 1976
Current Club Ranking* 155 La Louvière
* 155 Excelsior Mouscron
*
157 Hibernian* 157 Aberdeen
* 159 Viktoria Zizkov
*
Full ListCurrent National League Ranking* 09 Russian League
* 10 Belgian League
*
11 Scottish League* 12 Ukrainian League
* 13 Greek League
*
Full List*
Official Site*
Famous Five*
HibeesBounce (unofficial, independent site)*
Mass Hibsteria (unofficial, independent site)*
Hibees-Mad (unofficial, independent site)*
Easter Road (unofficial, independent site)*
Hibs.Net (unofficial, independent site)*
Northern Ireland Hibs SC (unofficial, independent site)
