Wishaw Thistle F.C.
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|
| Full name |
Wishaw Juniors Football Club ' The Pride Of Wishy' |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1885 |
| Ground |
The Beltane Alexander Street Wishaw, North Lanarkshire |
| Capacity | c1,000 |
| Manager | Chris McGroarty |
| League | West of Scotland League Central District First Division |
| 2015–16 | West of Scotland League Central District First Division, 3rd |
Wishaw Juniors Football Club
Wishaw Juniors Football Club are a Scottish football club, based in the former heavy industrial town of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire. The club plays at adult semi-professional level (termed 'Junior' football in Scotland) and plays its football in the West Region (one of three Regions) of the Scottish Junior Football Association. The club currently competes in the Central District First Division in what is effectively the third of four tiers within the Region.
The club traces its origins back to Wishaw Thistle (which may itself have been an offshoot of Wishaw Swifts). For many years it was generally accepted that the foundation year was 1885 but recent research suggests this may have been several years earlier. There are no definitive records available. The 'Thistle' were winners of the Lanarkshire Junior Cup in 1885/86, 1986/87 and 1987/88, and the Scottish Junior Cup in 1887/88 (the second and longest surviving winners of the Scottish Junior Cup and possibly one of the first clubs to complete a cup double). The Thistle subsequently turned 'senior'.
After a long period in the junior football 'wilderness' dating back to the late 1960s, Wishaw finally secured promotion out of the bottom tier of the S.J.F.A. West Region in season 2013/14 under then manager John McKeown who left the club shortly thereafter to take over as manager of Cumnock Juniors. The club moved quickly to secure a replacement and since October 2014 has been managed by former Dunfermline Athletic midfielder, Chris McGroarty. Despite losing several key players, Chris was successful not only in keeping the club in the 1st Division in his first season but also in building an attractive team which was to mount a serious challenge for further promotion in season 2015/16, only to miss out on this by a single point. The team has started season 2016/17 well and having been drawn against Cumnock Juniors at home in the 1st Round of the Scottish Junior Cup then defeated the Premier League side by two goals to nil.
Wishaw has had a number of home grounds down the years and has played at Stewarton Street, at the Old Public Park (off Main Street) and at the original Belhaven Park (better known as 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 which had banked terracing, a stand and a covered area and Social Club was lost to the club in the early 1990s and thereafter Wishaw were homeless sharing with Coltness United at Victoria Park 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.The Beltane, as it is known locally, is likely to be the team's home for the foreseeable future. Originally just an open public pitch, the Club's enthusiastic small committee has managed to develop The Beltane into a mini stadium despite only having a very modest budget. The ground is fully fenced off and offers a mixture of hard and grassed standing accommodation for c1,000 persons with Ladies and Gents toilets, Snack Bar, Hospitality Facility, a covered wheelchair viewing platform and a small covered enclosure for 50/60 persons. The Beltane was opened on 28 July 2012 with a match against a Motherwell F.C XI. The current record attendance is 300 set in a West of Scotland Cup tie against Auchinleck Talbot and won 3-2 by the home team despite a three-division gap between the two clubs.
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