Mossend Swifts were a Scottish senior football club from the shale mining village of

Mossend Mossend is a village in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, located beside the town of Bellshill, west of the villages of Holytown and New Stevenston, north of the larger town of Motherwell and south of the Eurocentral industrial park and the M8 motor ...

, just to the north of the town of

West Calder West Calder (, ) is a village in the council area of West Lothian, Scotland, located four miles west of Livingston. Historically it is within the County of Midlothian. The village was an important centre in the oil shale industry in the 19th a ...

West Lothian West Lothian (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, bordering (in a clockwise direction) the City of Edinburgh council area, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk (council area), Falkirk. The modern counci ...

. There is now little left of this village (not to be confused with

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

– contiguous with

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

– which also had teams operating in the same era). Mossend Swifts support card

History

The club was founded in 1880. The Swifts won the first

Linlithgowshire Cup The Linlithgowshire Cup was an association football cup competition for senior clubs in the historic county of Linlithgowshire, Scotland. The competition was founded in 1884 and the last completed competition was in the 1925–26 season. Format Th ...

- also known as Lord Rosebery's Cup - in 1884–85 unusual circumstances. In the semi-final, the Swifts beat Durhamtown Rangers, who then protested on the basis that Mossend was not actually in

Linlithgowshire West Lothian, also known as Linlithgowshire (its official name until 1925), is a counties of Scotland, historic county in the east central Lowlands of Scotland. until 1925. It is bounded geographically by the River Avon, Falkirk, Avon to the wes ...

, and so the club should not be allowed to enter. Mossend pointed out that it had been invited to join the association and paid its scrip; the Rangers produced a letter from

Lord Rosebery Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death of h ...

setting out the terms of the competition, namely it was for clubs in the county only. The compromise was to let the Swifts complete the tournament, which his Lordship considered "quite satisfactory", and the Swifts beat Armadale 3–2 at

Bo'ness Borrowstounness, commonly known as Bo'ness ( ), is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically part of the county of West Lothian (historic), ...

in the final. For the 1885–86 tournament, the Linlithgowshire Association simply "forgot" to invite the Swifts to defend the trophy, which had not had the Swifts' name inscribed thereon. The club joined the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

in August 1886 and entered the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1886–87. Its first season as a senior club saw it win the

King Cup The King Cup (sometimes spelled King's Cup) (), officially known as The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Cup (), is the Saudi Arabian football knockout cup competition. The King's Cup is the second-oldest knockout competition in Saudi Arabian ...

(for members of the East of Scotland FA), beating Burntisland Thistle 4–1 in the final; the club went behind in the first five minutes, but goals from Howieson, Boyd, and Ellis put the Swifts 3–1 up at the break, and the Swifts employed a tactical change - Howieson stepping back to midfield, to make two banks of four in front of the full-backs - to preserve the lead. Ellis rounded off the scoring with a long, low shot late on. The club's best run in the national competition came in 1888–89, reaching the final 16; in the first round the Swifts caused a major shock by defeating

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

2–1at Mossend Park in front of a crowd of 2,000. The club was eliminated in the fifth round at

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

; the club was unlucky as the original tie was declared a friendly because of a waterlogged pitch, and, as the Swifts had drawn 1–1 (albeit in a match of one hour's duration), it lost the potential to host the replay. The Swifts protested its defeat in the re-played tie on the grounds of roughness on the part of Dumbarton, but to no avail; although the referee reported Dumbarton's Madden to the Scottish FA for repeated tripping, he also reported the Swifts' Ellis and Mackay for kicking their opponents in the stomach, Mackay kicking Stewart so hard that Stewart was knocked unconscious for an hour. Already by 1891 there was talk of a possible merger with West Calder F.C. on the basis that West Calder could not support two football clubs. Nevertheless, the Swifts continued successfully for a number of years, including winning the King Cup and East of Scotland Shield (the new name for the Edinburgh Shield) in 1895–96, both times beating Polton Vale in the final. The club had an easy 4–1 in the former, in front of 2,000 spectators at

Bathgate Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...

; a Vale protest was dismissed for lateness. The Shield was a different matter, the Swifts apparently losing 2–1 at

Tynecastle Park Tynecastle Park, also known as Tynecastle Stadium, is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). A UEFA category four stadium, it ha ...

, but a protest that Vale's left-back Oag and inside-right Phillips for "professional irregularities" was upheld. In the re-played final at

Easter Road Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-largest ...

, the Swifts again won by 4–1. The merger with finally took place in May 1903, the merger creating a new club, West Calder Swifts F.C.; although the name was a merger of the two teams' names, the combined club played at West Calder's ground, wearing West Calder's kit. The club's trainer however was the Mossend Swifts trainer David Bowman, who finished with 23 years' service at both sides.

Colours

The club originally gave its colours as red and white, and by 1889 was wearing blue and white stripes. From 1900 to the club's end it wore maroon shirts. The club's change kit was dark blue.

Ground

The club originally played at Burnvale Park. From 1888 it played at Mossend Park.

Honours

East of Scotland Shield The East of Scotland Shield is a Scottish football trophy awarded by the East of Scotland Football Association. The only older cup competition in Scottish football is the Scottish Cup. The tournament is the third-oldest in world football st ...

* Winner: 1887–88, 1895–96

* Winner 1886–87, 1887–88, 1895–96 East of Scotland Qualifying Cup * Runner-up 1897–98

* Winner 1884–85

Rosebery Charity Cup The Rosebery Charity Cup was a football competition organised for senior clubs from the East of Scotland. History The tournament was organised by and named for an early patron of Scottish football, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery. It ...

* Winner 1888–89 * Runner-up 1887–88

Notable former players

Two players were capped for Scotland whilst with Mossend Swifts. Robert (Bob) Boyd won two caps against Ireland in 1889 and Wales in 1891. Dave Ellis was one of five brothers who played for Swifts and earned his solitary cap against Ireland in 1892. * Bob Boyd * Dave Ellis * James Ellis * George Hogg * Tom Nicol

External links

Mossend
Museum of Shale Oil Industry in Scotland
Mossend
Vision of Britain

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs Association football clubs established in 1880 Association football clubs disestablished in 1903 Football clubs in Scotland Football in West Lothian 1880 establishments in Scotland 1903 disestablishments in Scotland West Calder