West Calder was a Scottish senior football club from the town of
West Calder
West Calder ( sco, Wast Cauder, gd, Caladar an Iar) 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 t ...
,
Midlothian
Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east- central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinbur ...
.
History
The club was founded in 1878 and entered the
Edinburgh Cup
The Dewar Cup Edinburgh was an indoor men's and women's tennis event held from 1968 to 1972, and played in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of the second leg of Dewar Cup Circuit of indoor tournaments held throughout the United Kingdom.
History
Th ...
in 1879–80 for the first time. The club's first tie, at
Bathgate F.C.
Bathgate Football Club was a football club based at Mill Park in Bathgate, Scotland. The club was a member of the Scottish Football League from 1921 until 1929.
History
The club was formed in 1893, as the result of a merger of Bathgate Rover ...
, had the Bathgate Reed Band as pre-match entertainment, and the home side won 2–0.
1881–82 season
The club's most successful season was 1881–82. It saw the club enter the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Kinleith F.C. was due to take place on 17 September 1881, and the club arranged a "double-header", with a scratch team playing the 42nd Highlanders first, but Kinleith did not turn up. The match instead took place the following week, West Calder scoring four in the second half to win 5–1. The club benefitted from two withdrawals and wins over
Brunswick F.C.
Brunswick Football Club was an association football club from the city of Edinburgh.
History
The club was founded in 1877 by George Howell, a professional cricketer, out of the Brunswick Cricket Club, and who started the football section by ...
Falkirk F.C.
Falkirk Football Club is a Scottish professional association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1876 and competes in Scottish League One, the third tier of Scottish football, as a member of the Scottish Profess ...
(coming from behind to win 4–2) to reach the quarter-finals at home to Cartvale. West Calder took the lead, against the run of play, after half an hour; the score was still 2–2 early in the second half, but superior fitness for Cartvale on a pitch in "wretched" condition saw the visitors score three more to win 5–2.
The club also reached the semi-final of the Edinburgh Cup, although the tie with the experienced
Hibernian F.C.
Hibernian Football Club (), commonly known as Hibs, is a professional football club based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The club plays in the Scottish Premiership, the top tier of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). ...
was a step-up in quality for the club, and Hibs won 7–1.
Further Edinburgh Cup semi-finals
The club reached the semi-final of the Edinburgh Cup twice more, in 1883–84 and 1884–85. The club lost to Edinburgh University F.C. in the latter season; there was a complaint that the university had been exempted until the final four, because of the need to play within term times, and West Calder protested as the field was unfenced, with spectators standing on the playing surface, but the protest was dismissed.
King Cup entries
The other main local competition for the club was the King Cup, for members of the East of Scotland Football Association, and donated by the athletic outfitter Percival King. The club entered the first edition of the competition in 1886 and played at
Broxburn Thistle F.C.
Broxburn F.C. was an association football club from Broxburn in West Lothian.
History
The club was founded in 1883 as Broxburn Thistle, its founder members including Thomas Paterson, who had been involved with the junior club Broxburn Star, a ...
in the first round, where, "according to the referee", Thistle won 2–1; "the Thistle got 2 goals for scoring 1, and West Calder got 1 for scoring 3".
The club did not win a tie until 1897–98, when it won through three rounds (and enjoyed a bye) to reach the final, played at the
Mossend Swifts F.C.
Mossend Swifts were a Scottish senior football club from the shale mining village of Mossend, West Lothian, Mossend, just to the north of the town of West Calder, West Lothian. There is now little left of this village (not to be confused with Mo ...
ground in a snowstorm; West Calder lost to
Cowdenbeath F.C.
Cowdenbeath Football Club ( ) is a Scottish semi-professional football team based in Cowdenbeath, Fife. They are members of the Lowland Football League, the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system after their relegation from Scottish ...
4–2. The following season the club made the final again, this time at Newtown Park in
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...
, before a crowd of 3,000; despite taking the lead with a long shot from Crawford, the club lost 2–1 to
Raith Rovers F.C.
Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...
, before a crowd of 3,000.
Difficulties and merger
By the late 1880s the club was finding it increasingly difficult to guarantee fixtures, professionalism enticing players away and difficult economic circumstances causing others to look for work outside the area; in 1887–88 alone the club lost 30 of its 130 members. Already by 1891 there was talk of a possible merger with Mossend Swifts on the basis that West Calder could not support two football clubs. After the introduction of qualifying rounds to the Scottish Cup, the club did not make the main section of the draw until 1898–99.
The club won its first-ever trophy in 1892, albeit via its new reserve side (known as the Wanderers) winning the Midlothan Junior Cup, but by 1893 the Wanderers was operating as a separate organization, on the basis that "there was hardly any use carrying on a senior club because of the difficulty in getting senior players, and of keeping them when they had reared them". By 1899 the club was in financial difficulties, with £177 expenditure against £190 income for 1898–99, but excluding several expenses which fell to be paid after the season ended.
The club at least had made the full stages of the Scottish Cup in 1898–99, albeit only having won two ties in the Qualifying Cup, as two byes took the club into the fifth round of the qualifying stage, entitling it to entry into the main stage; one of the ties was an 8–1 win over Mossend Swifts. In the first round, the club beat
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 ...
in the first round 5–4 thanks to an 88th minute "long, raking shot, which took everybody by surprise", but lost 3–1 at
Port Glasgow Athletic
Port-Glasgow Athletic was a football club based in Port Glasgow, Scotland. The club was formed in 1878 and originally named Broadfield before changing their name in 1881. They played in the Scottish Football League between 1893 and 1911, and were ...
, despite taking the lead, in the second. It also won another trophy, albeit only the prize for winning the Qualifying Competition for the East of Scotland Shield (the renamed Edinburgh Shield), beating
Lochgelly United F.C.
Lochgelly United Football Club was a football club based in Lochgelly, Scotland. Nicknamed the 'Happylanders', the club were members of the Scottish Football League between 1914 and 1926.
History
The club was formed in 1890 by the merger of t ...
3–0 in the final at Mossend Park.
The merger with Mossend Swifts finally took place in May 1903, the merger creating a new club,
West Calder Swifts F.C.
West Calder Swifts Football Club was a Scottish senior football club from the town of West Calder, Midlothian.
History
The club was founded in May 1903, as a merger between West Calder F.C., West Calder and Mossend Swifts F.C., Mossend Swifts ...
; 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 played in the following colours:
*1878–1885: navy shirt, white knickers, white hose
*1885–1888: maroon and black halved jerseys, white knickers and hose
*1888–1897: maroon and black halved jerseys, blue (serge) knickers
*1897–1902: royal blue shirts, white knickers
*1902–03: red and black stripes
Ground
The club's ground was Burngrange Park. The facilities were spartan, lacking large dressing rooms, so clubs had to change in the pavilion or in a nearby hotel. The ground was formally fenced off in 1888 at a cost of £22 10s.