Wishaw Juniors F.C.
 | |||
| Full name | Wishaw Juniors Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1885 | ||
| Ground |
Beltane Park Alexander Street Wishaw, North Lanarkshire | ||
| Chairman | Bill Kilgour | ||
| Manager | Chris McGroarty | ||
| League | SJFA Central District First Division | ||
| 2013–14 | SJFA Central District Second Division, 3rd (promoted) | ||
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| |||
Wishaw Juniors Football Club are a Scottish football club, based in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire. Members of the Scottish Junior Football Association, the club currently compete in the SJFA Central District First Division.
The club traces its beginnings back to Wishaw Thistle founded as a Junior club in the 1880s. The generally accepted foundation year was 1885 but recent research suggests this may in fact be as early as 1880. Thistle were winners of the Lanarkshire Junior Cup in 1886,87 & 88 and are the second and longest surviving winners of the Scottish Junior Cup winning the cup in 1888 to complete an early cup double. The club turned Senior the following season remaining a Senior club until football recommenced at the end of World War 1 when it restarted as Wishaw YMCA Juniors. The name was changed to Wishaw Juniors in 1924.[1]
The Club has had several homes and has played at Stewarton Street, the old Public Park off Main Street and Belhaven Park (the site of the former Wishaw Dog Track )but for most of its existence was based at Recreation Park at Kirk Road, Wishaw. The ground was lost in the early 1990s and thereafter Wishaw shared with Coltness United for a number of years until 1999 when they secured tenancy at Wishaw Sports Centre. This agreement did not work out though and they returned to sharing with Coltness. Wishaw secured a second deal to play at the Sports Centre, before moving into the nearby Beltane Park for the beginning of the 2011–12 season.[2] The Beltane, as it is known locally, is likely to be the team's home in the short to long-term future.
The club had a women's team, which was formed in 1995 and has had its name changed several times. It was originally Wishaw Ladies then Lanarkshire Ladies and then Motherwell Ladies Football Club until it was changed to, Wishaw Juniors Ladies.[3] The ladies team folded midway through 2011.
The team are managed since October 2014 by former Dunfermline Athletic midfielder, Chris McGroarty.[4]
Honours
- West of Scotland Cup winners: 1933–34
- Lanarkshire League winners: 1925–26, 1934–35, 1945–46
- Lanarkshire Junior Cup: 1925–26, 1933–34, 1937–38, 1941–42, 1965–66
- Lanarkshire Hozier Cup: 1946–47, 1950–51, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1966–67
Former players
1. Players that have played/managed in the top two divisions of the Scottish Football League or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
2. Players with full international caps.
3. Players that hold a club record or have captained the club.
References
- ↑ Scottish Football Historical Archive - Lanarkshire Junior League, Brian McColl
- ↑ Wishaw Press, 20 April 2011.
- ↑ Wishaw Juniors Ladies team section Wishaw Juniors Unofficial Website.
- ↑ Thomson, Nick (29 October 2014). "McGroarty: I'll take Wishaw onwards and upwards". Daily Record. Retrieved 8 November 2014.