Hamilton Academical FC, often known as Hamilton Accies, is a football club from Hamilton in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Hamilton Academical was formed in late 1874 by the Rector and pupils of the local school, Hamilton Academy.  The club joined  the Scottish Football League in November 1897 when Renton was forced to resign.  In the 1905–06 season they were promoted into the First Division, despite finishing 4th place (although they had won the championship two years before, they had not been promoted due to the ballot-promotion system then in place). The club subsequently reached the Scottish Cup Final twice, losing to Celtic and Rangers in 1911 and 1935 respectively, but never made much of an impact in the League. Another era of success came in the late 1980s when Hamilton were promoted to the Premier Division twice (in 1986 and 1988), but both spells in the top division lasted for one season only. In 1991 and 1992 the club won the Scottish League Challenge Cup. New ground regulations imposed by the safety authorities saw the club vacate Douglas Parkin 1994 but the hoped for move to a new stadium did not materialise as planned and the club ground shared with Albion Roves and Partick Thistle (two spells) for seven years.  By 1996, Hamilton was in the third tier (Second Division) for the first time in their history, and although they won promotion the next season, they were relegated again two years later. Hamilton were relegated to the Third Division at the end of the 1999–2000 season because of a 15-point deduction imposed on them by the league for failing to turn up to a match at Stenhousemuir on 1 April; at the time (the players were on strike over a pay dispute at the time). The club's fortunes have since improved : in the 2001–02 season they finally returned to Hamilton, to a stadium just yards from the old site, and also secured a place in the First Division for the 2004–05 season. This was followed by promotion to the Scottish Premier League in the 2007–08 season where they remained until the 2010-11 season. They returned to the Premier League in 2014 after a memorable two leg aggregate win over Hibernian. They remained in the Premier League until relegation at the end of the 2021-22 season. Hamilton won the winners of the 2023 SPFL Trust Trophy in a closely fought game against Raith Rovers desite going down to 10 me early in the second half.