association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...
.
History
The club was founded in 1883, and played in local five-a-side tournaments; in 1884, the club took over Drumlanrig Rangers, which had been founded in 1877 and which had taken part in the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1883–84, losing in its only match in the competition to fellow Dumfriesshire side East End Rovers.
The club is notable for playing in the main rounds of the Scottish Cup 14 times, without ever winning. The club's first entry, in 1884–85, saw the club suffer its record Cup defeat, losing 13–0 to Queen of the South Wanderers.
The club avoided defeat in matches in the main rounds on only two occasions. The first time was against the Vale o' Nith, with whom East End had merged, in 1888–89. This was however because the game ended (while the score was 2–2) when the referee walked off, having been "caught by the throat" by a Thornhill player. Thornhill had four players suspended in the aftermath - Marchbanks for 6 months and M'Credie, Graham, and M'Lachlan for 3 - and rather than play a replay, Thornhill withdrew.
The second time was at home to Clyde in 1923–24; the 0–0 draw was watched by 2,000 spectators. The club went from Showfield to Shawfield for the replay, in front of another 2,000 crowd, but this time Clyde won with ease, Brown and Ballantyne both scoring in each half. The following season, the club lost 12–1 at
Brechin City
Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club w ...
, the latter club's record victory.
The club's best run in the
Scottish Qualifying Cup
The Scottish Qualifying Cup was a football competition played in Scotland between 1895 and 2007. During that time, apart from a brief spell in the 1950s, it was the only way for non-league teams to qualify for the Scottish Cup. The Qualifying Cu ...
was to the final in 1928–29, where the club met Murrayfield Amateurs F.C., which was entering the competition for the first time. Thornhill was hammered 8–1 in the final at
Ibrox Park
Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Scottish Premiership team Rangers, Ibrox is the third-largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated ca ...
, before 4,000 spectators; it marked both the first time that an amateur club had won the Qualifying Cup, and the first time that a club had won the competition in its first entry. To Thornhill's misfortune, the clubs were drawn together in the first round proper, the Amateurs winning again despite Thornhill's home advantage.
On a local level, the club was a member of various attempts at the Southern Counties League, although none of the league competitions was played on a regular basis until the club's final season, in 1930–31; Thornhill finished 7th out of 9 and did not enter again. The club also entered the Southern Counties Cup from 1891 to 1935, after which there is no record of the club playing. The club's best showing was reaching the final for the only time in 1926–27, where the club lost 3–1 to
Stranraer
Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...
.
Colours
Thornhill originally played in blue shirts, but after the merger with Drumlanrig Rangers, the club took on the Rangers' navy outfit. The club's most familiar colour was blue shirts, but the club also wore the following:
*1886–88: white shirt, navy shorts
*1888–90: black and white vertical stripes
*1897–1905: red
*1922–26: green and white
Ground
The club played at Drumlanrig's Tibbers Holm ground until moving to Kirkbog Farm at an unknown date, and in 1891 the club moved to Showfield Park, which remained its ground until the club's end.
Blantyre, South Lanarkshire
Blantyre ( or ; ) is a town and Civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, with a population of 16,900. It is bounded by the River Clyde to the north, the Rotten Calder to the west, the Park Burn to the east (denoti ...