Sports
See also: List of football clubs in ScotlandCoatbridge's local football team are Albion Rovers. Albion Rovers play in the Scottish second division, and Cliftonhill is where they play their home games. The 'wee rovers' were founded in 1882 when two local Coatbridge clubs, Rovers and Albion, amalgamated to form the club bearing the current name. The clubs greatest success came in 1920 when they reached the final of the Scottish Cup at Hampden Park. Noted Albion Rovers players from the past have included Jock Stein, Bernie Slaven and Tony Green. Former Celtic players John Hughes, John McNamee, Gerry Creaney and Peter Grant are all from Coatbridge. Current Scottish internationalist Chris Iwelumo was born in Coatbridge.
Drumpellier Cricket Club has been in continuous existence for around 150 years and the club have a ground in the Drumpellier area.
Speedway racing also took part in the town, using the Albion Rovers FC ground. The Edinburgh Monarchs rode there in 1968-69 (as the Coatbridge Monarchs) after losing their track at Meadowbank Stadium to the developers for the 1970 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow Tigers moved from Hampden Park to Coatbridge in 1973, and stayed there until June 1977, when they were forced out for the introduction of greyhound racing.
Coatbridge was the home of former boxer Bert Gilroy, Scotland's longest-reigning champion. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Los Angeles, California, in 2006. Coatbridge is also home to the current WBO World Super-Featherweight Champion Ricky Burns. Walter Donaldson, former World Snooker champion, also hailed from Coatbridge.
There are 2 golf courses: the municipal course bordering Drumpellier Country Park and the nearby private member's club Drumpellier Golf Course. Clare Queen, Scotland's number one female golfer on the women's European tour, is from Coatbridge.
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Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“I looked so much like a guy you couldn’t tell if I was a boy or a girl. I had no hair, I wore guys’ clothes, I walked like a guy ... [ellipsis in source] I didn’t do anything right except sports. I was a social dropout, but sports was a way I could be acceptable to other kids and to my family.”
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—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)