Dukla Pumpherston is a charity
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
team based in Scotland, and is captained by Scottish football
pundit
A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...
Chick Young
Charles "Chick" Young (born 4 May 1951) is a professional association football pundit (expert), pundit who regularly appears for BBC Scotland on ''Sportscene'' and ''Sportsound''. He is known for his trademark laugh and speech patterns, which h ...
.
The name was based on the fictional team "Dukla Pumpherston Sawmill and Tannery" created by
Tony Roper in 1980s comedy programme ''
Naked Radio''; the name is a comic juxtaposition of the sophisticated European-sounding name of Czech team
Dukla Prague
Dukla Prague () was a Czech football club from the city of Prague. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966–67 season, reached the semi-finals of the ...
with that of tiny Scottish village
Pumpherston
Pumpherston is a village in West Lothian, Scotland. Originally a small industrial village housing works for the nearby shale mine and works, it now forms the eastern part of the new town of Livingston, which was constructed to the west of Pumph ...
. Roper himself has also played for the team.
The players have been described as a motley crew of former professional players and television personalities who tour the country - indeed the world - enjoying themselves while raising cash for worthy causes. They have been described as "a drinking team with a football problem". The ''ad hoc'' roster (or that of similarly informal opposing charity teams) has, at various times, included football broadcaster
Chic Charnley,
politician
Tommy Sheridan,
boxer
Willie Limond,
airport worker
John Smeaton
John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent scholar, who introduced various ...
,
and footballers
Ally McCoist
Alistair Murdoch McCoist (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who has since worked as a Manager (association football), manager and TV pundit.
McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Jo ...
,
Neil Lennon
Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He currently manages Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic.
During his playing career he represe ...
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
and
Brian Martin.
Dukla is not a regular member of the Scottish amateur league system; the team only plays occasional exhibition matches, generally in support of charity. Due to the informal nature of the games and the widely varying ages and footballing histories of the players (and those of their opponents) Dukla matches are usually friendly, light-hearted affairs. One exception was an October 2008 match against a team of
MSPs and other politicians; the match was abandoned after three politicians were sent off and players from both sides squared up to each other.
In 2021, the club enlisted the help o
Clan United€”a football design agency—t
revitalize the club crest
Paying homage to the fictitious backstory, the new crest adopted inspiration from Sparta Praha, FK PÅ™Ãbram, and Dukla Praha.
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite news , url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/st-andrews-hospice-benefit-charity-6374241 , title=St Andrew's Hospice benefit from charity football match in Blantyre's Castle Park , newspaper= Daily Record , date=4 September 2015 , author=Leona Greenan]
[{{cite web , url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/dukla-pumpherston-charity-match-gatehouse-8869692 , title=Dukla Pumpherston charity match in Gatehouse of Fleet raises £600 for two injured players , newspaper= Daily Record , date=19 September 2016 , author=Stuart Gillespie]
[{{cite news , url=https://www.carlukegazette.co.uk/sport/football/tommy-sheridan-among-stars-lined-up-to-play-football-in-carluke-this-sunday-1-4901605 , title=Tommy Sheridan among stars lined up to play football in Carluke this Sunday , newspaper=Carluke Gazette , publisher= JPIMedia , date=4 April 2019 , author=Craig Goldthorp]
["Celebrity charity match at Firhill"](_blank)
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228065515/http://www.ptfc.co.uk/news/2008-2009/february_2009/celebrity_charity_match_at_firhill , date=28 February 2009, Partick Thistle FC official website, 25 February 2009
["Stars set to shine for charity day in Wishaw"](_blank)
'' Hamilton Advertiser'', 30 April 2008
["Stars come out for Wishaw charity match"](_blank)
'' Hamilton Advertiser'', 27 May 2008
["Fans turn out in force to honour Johnstone Burgh"](_blank)
''Paisley Daily Express
The ''Paisley Daily Express'' is a Scottish newspaper based in Glasgow, covering the Renfrewshire area. The paper, which is currently owned by Reach plc has its main offices in Glasgow. The paper is sold in newsagents and general stores throu ...
, 11 June 2008''
["The Wembley miss that has become a myth"](_blank)
Phil Shaw, ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 28 November 1996 (via findarticles.com)
["Charity is the winner"](_blank)
Dumbarton FC website, 15 September 2008
["Radio Clyde What's On"](_blank)
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613143058/http://www.clyde2.com/community/communityCalendar.asp?DATE=20%2F05%2F2006 , date=13 June 2011, Radio Clyde community calendar, 20 May 2006
["MSP match abandoned after clash"](_blank)
''BBC News'', 29 October 2008
["Maradona could learn so much from our foul-minded MSPs"](_blank)
Brian Morton, ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 2 November 2008
["Disgraceful, foul-mouthed thugs – that's our footballing MSPs, according to Chick Young"](_blank)
David Maddox, ''The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...
'', 29 October 2008.
External links
Amateur footageof Dukla Pumpherston in November 2006; the DP team includes Tommy Sheridan, Ally McCoist, and former footballer *
Andy Walker.
Football clubs in Scotland