Broxburn United Football Club was a football club based at Sports Park in

Broxburn, West Lothian Broxburn ( gd, Srath Bhroc, IPA: �s̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston. Etymology The name Broxburn is a corruption of " ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. The club was formed by the amalgamation of the town's two senior clubs Broxburn and Broxburn Athletic in 1912, and was a member of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km so ...

from 1921 until 1926.

History

Broxburn Football Club was founded in 1883 as Broxburn Thistle, adopting their regular name in 1889. The club was the more senior of the town's two teams and first came to attention as members of the Eastern League in 1891–92. The club went on to appear in many of the top competitions below the

in subsequent seasons, appearing in the

Central Football Combination Formed in 1897 by Camelon F.C., Dunblane F.C., East Stirlingshire F.C., Fair City Athletic F.C., Falkirk F.C., Kilsyth Wanderers F.C., King's Park F.C., St Johnstone F.C. and Stenhousemuir F.C.. This Scottish football competition was basically ...

, the

Scottish Football Alliance The Scottish Football Alliance was a football league football structure set up in Scotland in competition with the Scottish Football League. Its success in the early years of professional football in both England and Scotland made Alliance the bas ...

, the

Scottish Football Union The Scottish Football Union was a football league competition that existed from 1906 till the outbreak of the First World War. It was formed after the collapse of the Scottish Football Alliance. Initial membership of the Union was: Alloa Athlet ...

and the

Central Football League There have been at least three competitions in Scotland known as the Central Football League The first was originally formed in 1896 by five clubs - Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline Athletic, Fair City Athletic, Kirkcaldy and St Johnstone. In 1897 this v ...

. Broxburn Athletic joined the Eastern Football League in

1905–06 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

and the

1909–10. Broxburn United emerged in 1912 when it became clear that a small town like Broxburn could not support two senior sides. United became members of the Central Football League (apart from a spell in the Eastern Football League from 1915 to 1917) and along with much of the membership of this group they were admitted to the newly expanded

Scottish Football League Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (S ...

in 1921. It appeared to be unrealistic for a town of just 3,000 people to sustain a league club, and although the club's first match in the SFL attracted a crowd of 3,500, an economic downturn meant that too many clubs were trying to attract too few spectators. Broxburn were censured in 1922 for fielding only two first team players in a league match against St Bernard's.

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nea ...

player Joe Shortt reported to the League that he had been offered £50 by the representatives of a

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Book ...

from

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

to play poorly in a match against Broxburn United. The club struggled in the League and finished bottom in the 1925–26 season. Facing re-election, they were rejected in favour of

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games at ...

and dropped out of the League. Broxburn United joined the

for the 1926–27 season, but found this level to be too financially taxing and soon joined the ranks of

Scottish junior football Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: * Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland * Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ...

by joining the Midlothian Junior League. The club continued until 1932 when financial troubles finally claimed them.

Colours

*1912–1920: Black & white striped shirts, white shorts. *1920–1932: Maroon shirts, white shorts.

Honours

*Leith Burgh Cup: 1919-1920Honours
Broxburn Athletic FC *Linlithgowshire Junior Cup: 1900-01, 1901–02, 1919–20, 1920-21 *East of Scotland Consolation Cup: 1906-07 *Lumley Cup: 1918-19, 1919–20 *Dow Cup: 1919-20 *Broxburn Charity Cup: 1900-01 *Dalmeny Cup: 1920-21 *Moffat Cup: 1895-96, 1896–97, 1897–98, 1898–99, 1899-1900 *East of Scotland Cup: 1896-97, 1903–04

References

External links

Historical Kits {{Scottish Football League Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1912 Association football clubs disestablished in 1932 Football in West Lothian Scottish Football League teams 1912 establishments in Scotland 1932 disestablishments in Scotland Broxburn, West Lothian