Lochore Welfare F.C.

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Lochore Welfare F.C. are a Scottish Junior Football club playing in the Fife Junior League. They play at Central Park in the small Fife village of Crosshill. Lochore Welfare were formed in 1934 and their present home colours are vertical black and white stripes, change colours are presently black with a horizontal red strip.

Central Park has a capacity of 1,300. There is a small covered enclosure and a refreshment kiosk. The pitch itself was relaid at considerable cost to the club in 1998. The ground itself is credited as being of a very clean and tidy standard. Home attendances can reach around 200 for more significant games.

Lochore Welfare is a club formed from mergers between various other junior clubs over the years, firstly with local amateur side, Lochore Miners to become Lochore Miners Welfare. Then in the late 1990s they merged with Benarty JFC and reverted back to their original name of Lochore Welfare. Crosshill was once a prosperous mining village but the decline of this industry has had a substantial impact on the community and hence the club, although the community is making strong efforts to fight against this.

The club can boast of giving some football’s talented players their first footing on the ladder to success and stardom. Willie Johnston could often be seen playing for Lochore before going on to play for Rangers and Scotland. Ian Porterfield, whose greatest moment of glory was scoring the winning goal for Sunderland in the FA Cup final. Craig Levein was another Lochore old boy who went on to play for Scotland and Hearts and most recently Colin Cameron. Other Lochore players who went onto bigger and better things include Tommy Callaghan with Celtic, Willie Gibson, Arthur Mann and Willie Benvie at Hearts. Jimmy Logie with Arsenal, C. Anderson at Blackburn, Garry Patterson with Dundee. Manager John Devine resigned at the beginning of March leaving his assistants Garry Paterson (ex Dundee, Stirling Albion)and Ally Mitchell (ex Kilmarnock)to look after team affairs. League record since 1990:

1990-91: 3rd Fife Division B, 23pts from 21 games (2pts per win)
1991-92: 13th Fife League, 10pts from 26 games (2pts per win)
1992-93: 8th Fife League, 25pts from 26 games (2pts per win)
1993-94: 12th Fife League, 25pts from 28 games (2pts per win)
1994-95: 9th Fife League, 29pts from 28 games (2pts per win)
1995-96: 14th Fife League, 7pts from 28 games (2pts per win)
1996-97: 15th Fife League, 4pts from 28 games (2pts per win)
1997-98: 9th Fife League, 33pts from 28 games
1998-99: 7th Fife League, 38pts from 30 games (as Lochore Miners Welfare)
1999-00: 4th Fife League, 53pts from 28 games (as Lochore Miners Welfare)
2000-01: 3rd Fife League, 60 pts from 28 games (as Lochore Miners Welfare)
2001-02: 5th Fife League, 52pts from 28 games
2002-03: 4th Fife League, 38pts from 22 games