Blantyre Victoria F.C.

Blantyre Victoria Football Club, also known as Blantyre Vics,[1] are a Scottish association football club based in the town of Blantyre, South Lanarkshire. Nicknamed the Vics, they were formed in 1890 and play at KG Stadium (traditionally Castle Park)[2] where their record attendance is 6,000. They currently compete in the West of Scotland Football League. They shared a healthy rivalry with Blantyre Celtic who played nearby at Craighead Park,[3] until Celtic were dissolved in 1992. The team are managed since June 2016 by former Alloa and Stirling Albion midfielder John Gibson.[4]

Blantyre Victoria
Full nameBlantyre Victoria Football Club
Nickname(s)The Vics, The Tory
Founded1889
GroundKG Stadium (Castle Park)
Blantyre, South Lanarkshire
Capacity2,500
ManagerJohn Gibson
LeagueWest of Scotland League Premier Division
2019–20SJFA West Championship, 1st of 16 (joint-champions)

History

Blantyre Victoria were founded in 1889 by a Mr S. Dawson, who remained working with the club until his death in the 20th century. When they were founded, they initially had no permanent ground so played on Glasgow Road in Blantyre. They won the Larkhall Junior league in 1892 and in 1893.[5] The club then went senior however then temporarily dissolved due to a lack of success on the pitch.[5] The club was refounded in 1900 by a group of teenagers who paid for it with their own money. They won the Lanarkshire Junior Cup in their first year. In 1907, they won both the Lanarkshire Junior League and the Scottish Central League.[6] Historically the club took younger players to give them a challenge and become tougher. The future Celtic player Billy McNeill started his career at Blantyre Victoria.[7]

They became members of the Scottish Junior Football Association. In 2020, they announced they had applied for membership of the West of Scotland Football League. They did this to gain more competition but retain their junior status which allowed them to continue to enter the Scottish Junior Cup.[1] Later in the year, a Blantyre Victoria player contracted coronavirus and the club stated that they would have to stop paying the players' wages as a result of the suspension of Scottish Junior football.[8][9]

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References
  1. "Blantyre Vics apply to join new West of Scotland League set-up". Daily Record. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  2. Blantyre, general view, showing Blantyre Engineering Co. Ltd. Works, John Street and Bothwellbank Sewage Works. Oblique aerial photograph taken facing north, Canmore, 29 September 1950
  3. Blantyre Engineering Co. Ltd. Works, John Street, Blantyre. Oblique aerial photograph taken facing south-east, Canmore, 29 September 1950
  4. O'Donnell, Jim (10 June 2016). "Back to the future for John Gibson as he returns to first club Blantyre Vics...as gaffer". Evening Times. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  5. Veverka, Paul (17 October 2016). "Blantyre Vics - Part 1 Beginnings". Blantyreproject.com. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  6. Veverka, Paul (21 July 2019). "Blantyre Vics". Blantyreproject.com. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  7. "Celtic icon Billy McNeill remembered by Blantyre Vics to mark 80th birthday". Daily Record. 2 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  8. "Blantyre Vics winger told to self-isolate amid coronavirus fears". Daily Record. 19 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  9. "Blantyre Vics 'temporarily halt' players wages during coronavirus shut down". Daily Record. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.

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